Line #33 Main/EvilPoacher


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15	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bisonrustlers.png]]]]
16
17	->''"Whoever hits the most manatees wins!"''
18	-->-- '''Hoggish Greedly''', ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers''
19
20	Be aware! The wild is just filled with Evil Poachers willing to murder any human who gets in their way. Poaching means any illegal hunting, but in fiction it is usually associated with the hunting of endangered species, such as [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter cute panda babies]] or [[YouMeddlingKids meddling kids]].
21
22	Many Evil Poachers have no motivation to hunt and threaten people other than [[CardCarryingVillain to be evil]], which puts them on the same level as the various GreenAesop villains who seemingly pollute out of malice rather than because they are manufacturing anything. If Evil Poachers do get a motive, it will probably be selling their prey on the BlackMarket.
23
24	HuntingIsEvil is the SuperTrope.
25
26	Evil Poachers are [[VillainByDefault Villains by Default]] in a KidsWildernessEpic, a genre in which they tend to [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily end up as slapstick idiots]] dressed in scary [[NemeanSkinning animal skins]], sometimes resulting in them seeming less threatening than real poachers can be.
27
28	In RealLife, poachers are a diverse group. They include subsistence poachers (the vast majority) and farmers, commercial poachers, organized crime, rebel and insurgent militia, military and corrupt officials (the most untouchable), wildlife traffickers, buyers of various animal parts, and illegal trophy hunters. While some are [[TragicVillain poor people trying to get out of poverty]], this is not the case for all of them, though in the case of the ones that are poor, they are typically unable to afford a license. This is also a major reason why poor poachers will often target endangered animals - the rarity of their parts increases the value. However, they do often shoot at park rangers if they encounter them (they're the reason why most rangers in Africa are heavily armed) and are often hired by people in [[TheMafia organized crime]] (which means media that ''does'' acknowledge the average poacher's real circumstances is likely to reserve this trope for the mobsters who hire them). It must be noted however, that some fictional poachers do not fit into any of the aformentioned categories. If a poacher does fit any of them, they will typically be a commercial poacher. In addition, due to the various types, their motives vary, with the motives for rebel and insurgent militias for example being to fund their battle against local ethnic groups, state militaries and other militias, making them as far from a real-life example of TragicVillain as you can possibly get and some poachers-turned-ranger have reported individuals who poach for entertainment rather than for food, money or to fund a campaign.
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30	The inversion, RoguishPoacher, is most common in older works, particularly {{fairy tale}}s and FolkMusic. The Roguish Poacher always hunts for food (usually [[JustifiedCriminal for his starving family]]) and lives in a [[Literature/TheTaleOfPeterRabbit Peter Rabbit-vs-Farmer MacGregor]] kind of relationship with the [[AristocratsAreEvil Evil Fatcat Landowner]]. If the two ''do'' come into conflict, expect EvilVersusEvil to come into play. Compare KarmicThief.
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32	Subtrope of ClassicalHunter, as well as EcocidalAntagonist, since poaching is portrayed as damaging to the ecosystem. A sister trope to the EgomaniacHunter. Compare with CruellaToAnimals and HumanTraffickers. Contrast the HunterTrapper, who hunts and traps legally and is much more likely to see reason; the RoguishPoacher, this guy's JustifiedCriminal counterpart; and the GreatWhiteHunter, the heroic counterpart.
33
34	[[noreallife]]
35
36	----
37
38	!!Examples:
39
40	[[foldercontrol]]
41
42	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
43	* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' movies:
44	** Right in the first movie, ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasDinosaur'' has Nobita, Doraemon and friends being menaced by the Dinosaur Hunters, the StarterVillain of the entire franchise, a group of futuristic poachers who wanted to steal Nobita's new baby dinosaur, Piisuke, for themselves, and are not above shooting at the gang when their demands are refused.
45	** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheKingdomOfClouds'' has a band of poachers arrested by the Sky People while they're slaughtering a family of elephants in Africa. These poachers managed to escape custody, steal one of the Sky People's transports, and later hijacks a powerful [[WeaponOfMassDestruction WMD]] from Doraemon intending to destroy the Kingdom of Clouds out of spite.
46	** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheIslandOfMiraclesAnimalAdventure'' is set in the titular futuristic nature reserve where Doraemon and friends are inevitably stranded upon when another group of poachers from the future attacks the place with their giant robots. They also have a number of enslaved animals via [[ShockCollar Obediance Collars]] which they command to attack the gang.
47	** Subverted in ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasNewDinosaur'', a remake of the first Doraemon movie, which have Nobita becoming the owner of ''two'' pet dinosaurs, and once again the gang are stalked by a mysterious entity who took interest in Nobita's new pets. But it turns out they're actually a division of the TimePolice and ''[[GoodIsNotNice on the side of good]]'', though the Dinosaur Hunters from the first film gets name-dropped as a ContinuityNod.
48	* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': Android 17 is revealed to be working as a ranger on an island sanctuary for endangered species, so his primary enemies are some (distressingly well-armed) poachers. In the episode in which Goku visits to recruit him for the Tournament of Power, some ''alien'' poachers also show up, leading to 17 and Goku to team up to defeat them.
49	* Viper Snakely in ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion''. Known as Hamegg in the original manga.
50	* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' - One of the reasons why the [[TheFederation Time-Space Administration Bureau's]] Frontier Nature Conservation Corps exists is the presence of poachers who disregard the nature protection laws. One of them even tried to put a bullet between the eyes of a 13-year-old officer when she arrived to arrest him in ''AudioPlay/StrikersSoundStageX''. Granted, said officer was patrolling the grounds on a giant dragon and had a partner who could deflect bullets, but still...
51	* ''Manga/ShamanKing'' - Horohoro runs into a trio of poachers. This horrible encounter changes his whole perspective on life.
52	* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' - Since the setting of the series involves people catching many creatures for various reasons (most often to use in official sports competitions or as pets and companions) as a way of life, it has to designate its Evil Poachers differently:
53	** An easy way to spot a poacher is if he is using any tools beyond a Poké Ball, such as nets or cages. If he is using a Poké Ball, is it a regular Poké Ball or a modified one that never misses its capture (like Mewtwo's balls (though he wasn't specifically an Evil Poacher) or the Dark Balls (which brainwashes captured Pokémon and turns them into fighting machines) used by the Iron Masked Marauder)? Are they attempting to capture more than one Pokémon of a certain type at a time, outside of a designated Safari Zone? And most obviously, does the targeted Pokémon clearly already belong to someone else?
54	** Team Rocket often poaches, for example in the Safari Zone episode. There was also a trio of poachers that caused Larvitar to be separated from its mom, and the one Team Rocket fought who was capturing Poison-type Pokémon in this way; Arbok and Weezing were let go to help them when the Pokémon were freed.
55	** However, most poachers shown capture Pokémon to sell them illegally, which fits in with the real life version of poaching. An episode of the series actually showed this a tad lighter by having a poacher reform.
56	** The character who most closely follows the traditional "evil poacher" mold, even more than Team Rocket, is probably [[VileVillainSaccharineShow Pokémon Hunter J]] from the ''Diamond and Pearl'' seasons. She had a device that could [[AndIMustScream turn Pokémon -- and people -- into living statues]] to sell on the black market, repeatedly tried to ''kill'' Ash, and was the first recurring character in the anime to be KilledOffForReal. She's so ruthless and evil that even [[EvenEvilHasStandards Team Rocket are afraid of her]].
57	** One episode of the ''XY'' anime has an example that actually ends up LeaningOnTheFourthWall a bit. The episode's villain, Dolan, is a poacher who specializes in smuggling Vivillon and its pre-evolutions, as Vivillon have varying wing patterns that are sought after by collectors. In the games, Vivillon's wing pattern depends on the real-life part of the world its pre-evolutions were found in (i.e. the Modern pattern being located in the central/southeastern United States); naturally, there are plenty of collectors out there willing to do whatever they have to do in order to get all the patterns, much like the collectors Dolan caters to.
58	* ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'' has these by the dozen, since certain foods could be hunted to extinction, but the most dangerous of these are the Gourmet Corp.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Comic Books]]
62	* ComicBook/AnimalMan joined ComicBook/RasAlGhul in ''ComicBook/Injustice2'' to save the endangered animals of the world because he [[GoryDiscretionShot brutally]] [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath murdered]] a group of Evil Poachers who killed the [[LastOfHisKind last rhino in Cameroon]].
63	* Evil poachers -- part of an organized ivory smuggling ring -- killed Sable's family in ''ComicBook/JonSableFreelance'', starting off his RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
64	* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfWonderWoman2016'': Just in case it wasn't already clear that the woman is not nice just from her gleeful murder of hundreds and willingly allying herself with the Nazis [[ComicBook/{{Cheetah}} Priscilla Rich]]'s home is full of animal trophies from her safari exploits, most of which are of endangered animals.
65	* ''ComicBook/{{Proof}}'': Col. Werner Dachsund hunts cryptids (the extremely endangered species that the protagonists' organization, The Lodge, exists to protect) for sport and eats them. Many cryptids are sentient, which doesn't deter him in the slightest. In fact, his main goal in the arc is to hunt the Lodge's star agent, John Prufrock (a.k.a. Bigfoot).
66	* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' once runs into two of these guys while rescuing a Mafia don from a South American prison camp [[spoiler:so the don can call a meeting, ensuring Frank can kill a crapload of Mafia higher-ups]]. We know they're evil because they spend a page explaining, [[AsYouKnow to each other]], that they will torture whatever animal they caught in their nets before selling it to the highest bidder.
67	* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': In addition to making snuff films Amsel Reiniger is also credited with tracking and personally causing the extinction of multiple endangered species for fun. He also filmed himself doing that and sold the videos to make a profit of it.
68	* Evil poachers were a common foe in ''ComicBook/SheenaQueenOfTheJungle''.
69	* In ''ComicBook/ShamansTears'', the first criminals Joshua Brand stops after gaining his powers were poachers who were stealing wild horses from the Indian reservation to sell for pet food.
70	* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' storyline "ComicBook/TheSuperSteedOfSteel", Gorbin, the co-owner of a ruinous sea circus, decides to sail to Zone X, an area where fishing was declared ilegal because that is Atlantis' territory, and catch two merpeople to add to his show's exhibits. After hailing Lori and Jerro out of the water, Gorbin refuses to put them into water tank right away, considering they will be easier to handle if they are half-suffocated.
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72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
75	* A common foe in ''ComicStrip/JungleJim''.
76	* ''ComicStrip/ModestyBlaise'':
77	** The dolphin hunter Gaspar in the arc "Dossier on Pluto".
78	** The poachers in "Million Dollar Game".
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Fan Works]]
82	* Every time Jake England, EVIL POACHER shows up in ''Fanfic/DaveStdiderPokemonTraner'' he is literally called this.
83	* Dialogue in the outtakes for Episode 10 of ''WebVideo/HellsingUltimateAbridged'' implies that Alucard ate one of these.
84	-->''You ''killed'' the last white rhino?! ...Hope the boner was worth it,'' [[YouBastard ya fuck]].
85	* Glintlock in ''Fanfic/ManehattansLoneGuardian'' is wanted in the Griffon Kingdom for hunting illegally, and has willingly thrown in his lot with Cocoa Mocha in his quest to depose Celestia, wanting to regain his freedom by force.
86	* ''Fanfic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell'': The sequel ''Picking up the Pieces'' mentions that they exist and target the star beasts, whose numbers have greatly decreased with magic's failing (though its return has helped them a great deal). Preventing this is one thing that Tizoc and King Well Banded can agree on.
87	* ''Fanfic/PrehistoricEarth'': Whilst [[spoiler:the men in Percival's dino-trafficking operation]] are technically animal smugglers, due to the animals they're going after not being legally protected, as a result of being de-extinct, they otherwise fit the stereotype perfectly in that they're cruel, greedy men who capture and kill rare and exotic animals and are not above attempting to kill people who get in their way. Their leader, Frank even wears a necklace of dinosaur teeth around his neck.
88	* Clan Fletching in ''Fanfic/TheTaintedGrimoire'' has been poaching creatures for profit. One of them decides to cooperate with the authorities when told that his daughter, [[AntiVillain for whom he is doing this]], might not be able to look at him should she discover what he is doing. The other two, however, play this completely straight.
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
92	* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' Gaston has some attributes of evil poacher combined with his general nature as an EgomaniacHunter, though it's hardly the worst thing about him.
93	* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'' brings us Percival C. [=McLeach=], voiced by George C. Scott. Did we mention he has a scope ''shotgun?'' Now there's a guy who loves to see the faces of his victims before he riddles them full of holes. He also sings this jolly-sounding but [[VillainSong macabre song]] while he drives back to his camp in a giant, notified half-track he built himself:
94	-->'''[=McLeach=]''': Home, home on the range! Where the critters are tied up in chains! I cut through their sides, and I rip off their hides! And the next day I do it again! [[EvilIsHammy EVERYBODY!]]
95	* The overall BigBad of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rio}}'' is a poacher named Marcel. However, he's played rather realistically in that while he's a bad guy, he's not an outright evil sadist who loves hurting animals; he's just greedy and uncaring about the animals' well-being. He poaches to get money, not because he likes to see birds suffer. ''That'' particular personality trait is given to his pet cockatoo and DragonInChief, Nigel, instead.
96	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'': Clayton combines attributes of the Evil Poacher and the Egomaniac Hunter, though he might not be the former. Yes, he is there to capture gorillas, but in those days that is typically how such animals were brought to civilization, not through breeding programs in zoos. With this in mind, Clayton is most likely either a subversion or an outright aversion, in that while he is evil, he isn't actually a poacher, with his actual crimes being mutiny (as his men were from the ship's crew) and attempted murder.
97	* Charles Muntz from ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}''. He is so desperate and determined to [[BringItBackAlive bring the famed 'Monster of Paradise Falls' back to civilization alive]] so as to prove that his claims about it are true after having been discredited and sent falling from grace in the past that he's willing to straight up ''murder'' any and all people he subsequently sees at Paradise Falls out of an insane belief that they'll try to do so before him even when said people weren't even aware of the existence of him ''or'' said monster.
98	* ''WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrysMovie'': Bree and Sloan Blackburn are perfectly willing to kidnap and murder kids just to be able to keep poaching endangered African wildlife.
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
102	* Film/{{Alaska}}: Perry is a poacher who sells skins for profit and, during the film, intends to capture a polar bear cub alive to sell to rich clients.
103	* In ''Film/{{Anaconda}}'', Paul Sarone is a Paraguayan former priest who decided to become a snake poacher in the Amazon instead, capturing them for rich clients. [[spoiler:It's revealed that he's been manipulating the whole crew from the beginning and was using them to capture the Anaconda.]]
104	* The main antagonists of ''Film/{{Blastfighter}}'' are a bunch of poachers who kill deer for profit.
105	* ''Film/Beast2022'': The secondary antagonists in the film are a group of poachers, in the opening they are shown to be the ones responsible for slaughtering the Rogue lion’s pride which is what drove the animal into a rampage in the first place that resulted in the slaughter of an entire village. [[spoiler: They show up later in the film and were prepared to immediately murder Dr. Nate Samuels and his family simply because they recognized their guide Martin as an anti-poacher until they became distracted when the Rogue Lion attacked.]]
106	* Inverted in ''Film/CrocodileDundee'' -- the title character is a "croc poacher".
107	** Dundee's job was actually to catch dangerous crocodiles that represented a threat to humans. However, in the first movie, this trope is played straight with a group of poachers who are illegally spotlighting kangaroos for fun before Dundee uses a kangaroo disguise and a high-powered rifle to turn the tables on them.
108	* Ricketts, the BigBad in ''Film/AFarOffPlace'', is running an illegal trade operation around the export of ivory. He has the protagonists’ parents [[MurderIsTheBestSolution murdered]] because they were investigating the operation.
109	* In ''Film/FairGame'', the villains are a gang of kangaroo poachers who illegally sell the meat to the dog food industry.
110	* ''Film/{{Instinct}}'': A group of Ugandan poachers brutally shoot the gorillas who Powell lives with. He kills two and wounds others while attempting to stop the slaughter. He's convicted of murder for it, with the government saying the men were park rangers for an unknown reason.
111	* The first people killed by the bear in ''Film/IntoTheGrizzlyMaze'' are a group of poachers illegally hunting bears for body parts, and who tried to kill their guide when he objected to the number they were killing.
112	* ''Film/Joey1997'' has the Kanga-Catcher, who captures kangaroos from the outback to [[BoxingKangaroo force them to box]] in an underground gambling operation.
113	* ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'': Van Pelt the hunter, although he preferred to [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunt the deadliest of game]].
114	* In ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'' [[spoiler: Ken Wheatley is revealed to be a poacher-for-hire working for the BigBad Eli Mills who wants to steal the dinosaurs and sell them on the black market, when he betrays the main characters and leaves them for dead on the island.]]
115	* ''Film/MightyJoeYoung'': The main bad guys in the 1998 remake. Distinctly averted with Gregg O'Hara, who captures animals humanely, only takes blood samples and then releases them, despite the desires of some of the hunters he works with.
116	* In ''Film/MistressOfTheApes'', Thurston is secretly the head of the largest poaching ring in Africa. He hires two local poachers, Brady and Sikes, to kill the other members of the expedition so they do not discover his secret.
117	* ''Film/Rogue2020'' opens on a game farm that belonging to poachers who specialize in trafficking wild animals for the exotic pet trade and their body parts for traditional medicine, and running caged hunts for wealthy foreigners. [[EscapedAnimalRampage A lioness about to be slaughtered for body parts escapes and kills most of the poachers.]]
118	* ''Film/TarzanAndHisMate'' involves Arlington and Holt, who expect Tarzan to lead them to an ElephantGraveyard. It's debatable as to whether they count as this at the beginning, since ivory harvesting wasn't illegal at the time, but Arlington surely qualifies as he tries to murder Tarzan after Tarzan brings a stop to the expedition. The film certainly views ivory harvesting as Evil Poaching, as Tarzan and Jane return all the ivory to the graveyard at the end.
119	* ''Film/Tremors5Bloodlines'': [[spoiler:Erick Van Wyk poses as a representative of South Africa's Wildlife Ministry to get Burt to capture an Assblaster for him.]] He and his associates are actually poachers who want to sell the creatures for a profit.
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:Literature]]
123	* Damon Kronski from the ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' series leads a faction called the Extinctionists, which aims to hunt as many endangered species as possible to extinction. They claim that their reason for doing this is to make humans re-channel the resources they spend on preserving endangered animals into improving the lot of their own species, but Artemis considers them a collective of bored, rich snobs who consider killing to be just another form of entertainment they can buy.
124	* Gale Haley's ''Literature/{{Birdsong}}'': Villain Jorinella takes advantage of the title character (an orphan girl who has the ability to speak to birds) to boost her bird-trapping operation, but once Birdsong frees all the birds she is finally defeated when the birds ZergRush her. We never see her actually kill anything, but she's [[VileVillainSaccharineShow a surprisingly dark character for a kids' picture book]].
125	* Roland Smith's eight-book ''Literature/CryptidHunters'' continuity, consisting of the ''Jacob Lansa'' trilogy, ''Sasquatch'' and the ''Cryptid Hunters'' quartet, regularly features poachers. During the first ''Jacob Lansa'' book, Jacob witnesses another man who tries to get the poachers to change their ways by severing the tusks from elephants in a humane way that allows them to grow back and be harvested again at a later time (in real life this is impossible due to the way tusks grow), but the poachers prefer the old method of just killing the animals anyway.
126	* The Stuart Gibbs ''Literature/FunJungle'' novels feature several such characters, although it’s also subverted on one occasion when a character who appears to be one of these was merely hired by the park owner to chase away a wild mountain lion without harming it, and said hunter ends up saving the narrators life.
127	* ''Literature/InCryptid'':
128	** The villains of "Loch and Key" want to sell a LakeMonster to a carnival or ''Franchise/RipleysBelieveItOrNot''
129	** The villains of ''The Measure of a Monster'' [[WouldHurtAChild kidnap gorgon children]] for much the same reason.
130	* ''Literature/IntoTheDrowningDeep'': [[UnholyMatrimony Jacques and Michi]] are married big game hunters who like hunting rare (therefore endangered and protected) animals since it's a thrill for them. Both have killed people who tried to stop it.
131	* ''Literature/Island2000'' by Creator/GordonKorman - the poacher villains in the second and third books are pretty evil. They are ready to kill a starving, shipwrecked 14 year old who is willing to keep quiet until they realize he's worth a ton of money.
132	* Although not blatantly evil, Quint from the novel ''Literature/{{Jaws}}'' outraged his companions when he revealed he'd illegally killed a pregnant dolphin.
133	* ''Literature/LegendOfTheAnimalHealer'' featured more than one of these as villains, ranging from outsiders who don't care about the preserve to sympathetic people just trying to feed their families.
134	* ''Literature/{{Malevil}}'' has Wahrwoorde. He forced this family to live in backwards squalor in a swamp, is cruel to his son and mother-in-law, raped his stepdaughters, and plots to murder the inhabitants of Malevil to steal the castle stronghold for himself.
135	* ''Literature/MegLangslowMysteries:'' The victim of ''The Penguin Who Knew Too Much'' is a zoo owner suspected of illegally letting trophy hunters kill his (endangered) animals while their trapped in cages and don't have a chance to escape. Even the local hunters view this practice with utter contempt. [[spoiler:In a twist, it turns out the victim was innocent and was killed when he caught the real poacher in the act of stealing one of his animals.]]
136	* In the fifth Literature/TrixieBelden book, ''Mystery Off Glen Road'', Trixie and Honey think there's a crazy, unicycle-riding poacher poaching the deer in Honey's father's game preserve.
137	* Subverted in ''[[Literature/GarrettPI Old Tin Sorrows]]'', in which a butchered fawn is discovered on the Stantnor estate and thought to be the handiwork of a poacher. Even a war-hardened veteran is dismayed that anyone would hunt such a young animal. [[spoiler: It's actually a ruse staged by a serial murderer to lure some of the estate's staff onto a wild goose chase.]]
138	* Elizabeth Honey's ''Literature/RemoteMan'' has Frank Laana, who poaches anything he can sell on the black market up to and including bear cubs, and has no qualms about killing animals he can't (the bears' mother).
139	* ''Literature/RickBrant'': Cunner, a henchman from ''Sea Gold,'' is locally despised for his illegal and unethical fishing methods.
140	* In ''Literature/TheWhiteBone'', humans massacre entire families of elephants and saw off their tusks, preventing them from entering the afterlife.
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
144	* The villains of ''Series/TheATeam'' episode "[[Recap/TheATeamS3E17Skins Skins]]". They're interested in hunting down the animals on an African preserve for the money, and they're not afraid to shoot any human who gets in their way either.
145	* ''Series/{{Badger}}'': "It's a Jungle Out There" involves a venison poaching ring and a birds' egg raider. The cases coincide when the 'egger' is poisoned by the poached venison, exposing the poaching ring.
146	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' had a guy who hunted werewolves for their pelts. Werewolves are dangerous monsters indeed, but the fact that they're human most of the time (including if they die, meaning this hunter had to be skinning them ''alive'') gave Buffy motivation to stop him.
147	* ''Series/{{Daktari}}'': Probably the most common sort of bad guy.
148	* ''Series/{{Dinosapien}}'': In "Trapped", a pair of poachers that are the VillainOfTheWeek arrive in forest and illegally set up traps and try to capture Eno.
149	* ''Series/{{Harrow}}'': In "Aegri Somnia" ("Hallucinations"), the BodyOfTheWeek is a local ranger, murdered when he uncovered a poaching ring run by [[spoiler:his boss]] that is poaching rare aquatic species from the local waters and selling them to overseas collectors.
150	* ''Series/{{Justified}}'' had alligator poaching as one of the major occupations of the [[TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether Crowe family]], a BanditClan of smugglers and hijackers with branches in both backwoods Kentucky and the Florida Everglades. Eldest brother and family patriarch Daryl Crowe Jr. initially went to jail for alligator poaching and came out a much more dangerous man for it, while his nephew Kendal, the youngest Crowe, notes that gator poaching is the first criminal act that his [[EvilUncle uncles]] forced him into. Cousin [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Dewey]], whom we meet before the others, still wears a necklace of alligator teeth that have been in the family for years.
151	* ''Series/LostTapes'' - Both the Hunter variety and the Animal Trafficker variety are featured. Both get a KarmicDeath from the series featured Cryptids. Though for the later, the monster also kills one of the [[AnimalWrongsGroup people breaking into the storage facility where illegally imported animals are kept]].
152	* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': Mac clashes with evil poachers in "Eagles", "The Endangered", and "Black Rhino". The last one actually takes the time to paint a more complex picture of the trade, recognizing that the economic factors involved make the poaching all but inevitable. Lampshaded after Mac and the local animal preserve owner stumble across a mutilated rhino that just had its horn removed before being left to die:
153	-->'''[=MacGyver=]''': That is the sickest, cruelest, most inhumane thing I've ever seen in my life. And for what? A few hundred dollars?
154	-->'''Kate''': [[DrivenToVillainy That's a year's wage for most Africans.]] I want to hate the poachers, but I can't. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive It's the traders, the ones who control the market, who must be stopped.]] They get over fifteen thousand dollars a kilo for these horns. [[EvilPaysBetter That's more than the price of gold!]]
155	* ''Series/SkippyTheBushKangaroo'': Several episodes deal with people trying to illegally kill or capture park animals, including Skippy.
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	[[folder:Music]]
159	* Inverted with the traditional English folk song "The Lincolnshire Poacher".
160	* And in "Longdog" by ShowOfHands, inspiring the band's FanCommunityNickname. A longdog is a variety of sighthound popular with hare- and rabbit-coursers, and the hero's ownership of one is used as circumstantial evidence to send him to jail.
161	-->''Got a four-wheel pickup and a shotgun.\
162	Never bought a meal in my life.\
163	I go shopping with a lamp and a knife.\
164	I got a longdog. I am a poacher.''
165	[[/folder]]
166
167	[[folder:Theme Parks]]
168	* The "Kiliminjaro Safaris" ride at Ride/WaltDisneyWorld's [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Animal Kingdom]] formerly had these as antagonists who are chased off after a pursuit. Early versions of the ride featured the poachers being captured by a cast member portraying a warden. Prior to opening, cast previews featured a DownerEnding where the poachers [[TheBadGuyWins successfully slaughtered an elephant]], whose corpse is seen by the riders; this was [[LighterAndSofter eliminated]] due to poor reactions from families and children.
169	[[/folder]]
170
171	[[folder:Video Games]]
172	* Many baddies in the first half of ''VideoGame/CadillacsAndDinosaurs'' are this, most prominently the Butcher.
173	* Stella the Turtle Poacher, the EvilCounterpart to Turtle Tamer characters in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing''.
174	** And because ''Kingdom of Loathing'' [[{{Pun}} never misses a chance at a bad pun]], she also [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poaching_%28cooking%29 poaches]] turtles. In case she wasn't evil enough for you.
175	* The bad guys of the BeatEmUp arcade game ''VideoGame/{{Growl}}'' are the ironically-named Rendow Animal Protection Organization (RAPO), [[spoiler:and they are led by a [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere giant alien millipede]] who wants to use the animals as food for its species.]]
176	* Grok in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic V'', a minor [[DemonLordsAndArchDevils demon lord]] and favored minion of Kha-Beleth the Demon Sovereign. When he isn't leading his master's armies into battle, his main duty is scouting Ashan in search or rare, exotic and/or magnificent beasts to capture alive, transport to Sheogh, and slaughter for his master's amusement.
177	* In ''VideoGame/HogwartsLegacy'' poachers make up one of two hostile human subfactions players have to tangle with. They're cruel, ruthless, well-organized, and absolutely everywhere. The upshot is that they provide plenty of deserving targets to [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential practice your Unforgivable Curses on]].
178	* ''VideoGame/JadeCocoon'': The Poacher, who you can fight three times. Thankfully, even though he demands you hand over your {{Mons}} if you lose, he [[GameplayAndStorySegregation doesn't actually steal them if you do.]]
179	* Maxim Slaughter, the villain in ''VideoGame/EcoQuest 2''. His room is full of various endangered animal trophies.
180	* ''VideoGame/LightFairytale'': In Episode 1, a soldier attempts to capture a tallcat in order to cut off their tail and sell it. The fact that there's a [[BlackMarket market]] for tallcat tails and that tallcats are almost extinct implies he's not the only one doing this.
181	* ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' has monsters called Evil Poachers in one of the Grand Athenaeum scenarios, who hunt and capture fairies to sell them. Along with grave robbers who also plague the fey lands, these villains are one of the reasons Ephenia [[FantasticRacism hates humans]] and later [[StartOfDarkness decides to ally herself with the Black Mage.]]
182	* ''VideoGame/UnchartedTheLostLegacy'': While the game's plot puts more emphasis on BigBad warlord [[SouthAsianTerrorists Asav's]] plundering of Indian antiquities to fund his bloody insurrection, his headquarters at the start of the game has storage crates full of tiger pelts and elephant tusks as well, suggesting that Asav also dabbles in poaching and ivory dealing to support his warmongering.
183	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Hemet Nesingwary thinks of himself as more of a GreatWhiteHunter, but his followers in ''Wrath of the Lich King'' are hilariously over the top Evil Poachers.
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186	[[folder:Webcomics]]
187	* ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'': The tour guides of the [[WorldOfChaos Wild Edge]] become poachers when the tourists and researchers leave in the off-season.
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190	[[folder:Western Animation]]
191	* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' villains sometimes fall into this:
192	** [[MeaningfulName Looten Plunder]] is an Evil Poacher who is also an Evil Capitalist. Sometimes he engages in poaching for profit, sometimes for entertainment, both cases having some truth in reality.
193	** Later, the Planeteers and Captain Planet deal with an EgomaniacHunter[=/=]Evil Poacher family known as the Slaughters, led by Mame Slaughter and Stalker Slaughter. The Slaughters even [[VillainTeamUp team up]] with Looten Plunder in one episode.
194	** Hoggish Greedly is also an evil poacher, to a lesser extent, because he seeks out endangered and rare animals as much as he does common ones.
195	* ''WesternAnimation/TheDeep2015'': Sebastian Conger, a multimillionaire collector of rare species who will stoop to any level to acquire species for his collection.
196	* Regis Stone for ''WesternAnimation/DexHamiltonAlienEntomologist''. He is an EgomaniacHunter who will wipe out the last of the species for the thrill being the one to do so, and doesn't care what laws he breaks in the process.
197	* ''WesternAnimation/DragonsTheNineRealms'': BigBad Buzzsaw hunts and traps dragons as he has come to believe himself to be the rightful king of the Hidden World.
198	* ''WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk'': By the time ''Race to the Edge'' begins, Hiccup and company begin encountering dragon hunters who know dragons as well as they do, have equipment capable of neutralizing dragon abilities with ease, and see them as a threat to their business. The rest of the series is a war against the increasing threat level of the hunters, who make it clear that they'd make dragons go extinct just for the gold it would bring them.
199	* Gnawgahyde, one of the Dreadnoks from ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero''. The fact that other poachers couldn't stand Gnawgahyde and chased him out of Africa is some indication of just how detestable this Dreadnok can be. He is a belligerent hunter who is convinced that all animals are lesser life-forms suitable for skinning, eating, or stuffing.
200	* In ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2021'', R'Qazz is a [[LittleBitBeastly beastopoid]] who hunts the sapient tigers of the jungle among any other animals that catch his eyes to either make them his {{Battle Trophy}}s or to force them to fight in BeastlyBloodsports. After his initial defeat against the Masters of the Universe, he is recruited to Skeletor's side to become his personal hunter, BeastMan.
201	* [[spoiler:Mitch and Tiffany]] from the second season of ''WesternAnimation/JurassicWorldCampCretaceous'', who claim to be eco-tourists and are revealed to actually be trophy hunters who came to Isla Nublar to shoot the island's dinosaurs.
202	* Kai and Jinora run afoul of a group of Sky Bison hunters in Season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''.[[note]]They technically aren't poachers since they're working at the behest of a legitimate head of state, but they fit in every other sense[[/note]] They capture baby bison for transport back to Ba Sing Se, where they're usually used for meat. Fortunately for the kids and the bison, the rest of the new Airbenders and the herd of adult bison come to their rescue.
203	* ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicKey'': Nora Lockemup from “Biff Of The Jungle” is intent on stuffing rare animals in cages and selling them to the highest bidder. [[spoiler:She ends up having a change of heart after being forced to spend some time in an animal cage herself.]]
204	* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': [[TomTheDarkLord Mitch]], an alien criminal who abducts rare creatures from across the universe. His attempt to add Phineas and Ferb ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg plus Isabella]]) to his collection brings out Candace's {{Big Sister Instinct}}s.
205	* The ''WesternAnimation/RainbowRangers'' deal with a poacher in one episode, who's after a mama elephant for her tusks and the baby to sell to a circus.
206	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
207	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E17BartGetsAnElephant Bart Gets an Elephant]]", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Bart gets an elephant]] as a part of a radio contest. The elephant becomes a handful, so Homer agrees to sell him to an ivory dealer named Blackheart. When Bart and his elephant run away during the night, Homer at first thinks Blackheart took them both. He yells out the window: "That wasn't part of the deal, Blackheart! THAT WASN'T PAAARRRT!"
208	** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E17SimpsonSafari Simpson Safari]]" has the family going on a trip to Africa and meeting a Jane Goodall {{Expy}}. She convinces them to help her defend her chimpanzee sanctuary from a group of Evil Poachers. The trope gets flipped when it turns out that they are with Greenpeace and are trying to free the chimps from her diamond mine. She admits that she snapped, then buys everyone off with diamonds from her illegal chimp-slave diamond mine.
209	* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E04MugatoGumato Mugato, Gumato]]", the Ferengi are hunting the mugato for their horns, even though Mariner points out that they could just replicate them. Boimler and Rutherford convince the Ferengi that making the planet into a preserve and then marketing the hell out of it would be a more profitable venture.
210	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' has Marlin, an EgomaniacHunter who pursues Leatherhead and the Turtles as his new big game prey in the sewers. Armed with all sorts of high tech weapons and traps, he's eventually dealt with by Leatherhead.
211	* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' plays this trope completely straight with [[QuintessentialBritishGentleman Lord Chumley]] in the episode "[[Recap/TransformersG1PrimeTarget Prime Target]]". Not only does he poach rare animals, but also apparently top-secret Russian planes and [[MechanicalLifeForms Transformers]].
212	* ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'': Bull Gator and Axl, for a sufficiently low value of "evil". They claim they are only doing it to bring happiness to the zoo-going children of the world.
213	%%* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': BountyHunter Rongruffle the Huntress from "The Bounty."
214	* The ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' episode "Alpha Male" features Gotham mayor Hamilton Hill being involved in a tiger poaching ring. This makes him a combination or the corrupt official and illegal trophy hunter examples.
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Context Main / EvilPoacher