Humans began farming the wild ancestors of sheep, cattle, pigs and chickens around 10,000 years ago in the so-called Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, and today we keep them in almost unimaginable numbers – more than 20 billion chickens, 1.5 billion cows and another 1 billion each of both sheep and pigs.
But while these have all evolved from their wild progenitors into different species, we also farm many animals that are not domesticated for a surprising variety of different purposes – and definitely not always food.
10 wild animals that are farmed
Crocodile
Farmed ostensibly for their skin, though meat is an important by-product, in Australia, a number of African countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe and in the US (strictly speaking, it’s alligators there), crocodiles are a massive industry worth billions of US dollars a year.
It’s estimated up to 1.5 million individual animals are slaughtered every year, with the main species that are kept in captivity being the Nile and saltwater crocodiles. Though long opposed by animal welfare campaigners as being cruel, in Australia the argument is made that croc farming has helped provide livelihoods for local Aboriginal groups and increased the value of wetlands because eggs are harvested from them.
Vicuña
The wild ancestor of alpacas and closely related to camels, vicuñas were heading towards extinction in the early 1960s as a result of uncontrolled exploitation for their wool that is used to make luxury scarves and stoles.
Today, however, there are an estimated 500,000 wild animals thanks to a controlled trade that allows indigenous people to benefit. It’s a considerable benefit that they don’t have to be killed for the fleece to be obtained. “A vicuña sheared is a vicuña saved,” it’s said. It’s estimated about 7-8 tonnes of wool are collected every year and the industry is worth around US $3-4 million.
Salmon
An estimated 500 million salmon are farmed and killed every year producing nearly 3 million tonnes of food fish worth at least US $10 billion. Atlantic salmon – the same species found in the UK – dominates the market, with Norway by the far the biggest player. Coho salmon and rainbow trout (which are part of the salmonid family) are also farmed, though in far smaller quantities.
Salmon farming is increasingly linked to negative impacts on other marine life and many campaigners argue that poor welfare is an issue, with infestations of sea lice affecting vast numbers of fish. Others argue that fish farming provides a vital protein source to billions of people all over the world.
Honey bee
There are an estimated 100 million managed honey bee hives globally and with some 40,000 individual bees in each hive, that equates to . . . well, you do the maths. (OK, it’s roughly 4 trillion bees!) The industry is thought to be worth just shy of $10 billion.
Though honey production is usually regarded as environmentally sustainable, there are increasing concerns about the impact maintaining high numbers of hives (especially in urban areas) has on other wild pollinators.
Civet
The civet is a little-known member of the carnivore family found in Africa and Asia – there are a number of different species, and they are farmed for their dung. Yes, you heard that right – their dung. Civets are partial to coffee cherries, and it’s said that the coffee beans acquire an unusual and smoother taste as a result of going through the animal’s digestive tract. (BBC Wildlife understands they are washed before being roasted.)
In countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam, unknown numbers of civets are farmed, often in cruel conditions, for these digested beans. The global trade is worth about US $7.5 billion a year. Wildlife experts say civets shouldn’t be farmed because they are naturally solitary animals that eat a wide-ranging diet of which coffee beans form a very small proportion in the wild.
Rhinoceros
There are an estimated 16,000 rhinos in South Africa (by far the largest numbers for any country in the world), and of these about half – some 8,000-9,000 white rhinos – are held by private landowners or effectively ranched or farmed.
These rhinos will usually be kept in greater densities than they would be in the wild, provided with supplemental food and veterinary care and be living in a controlled environment with no predators. Rhinos are kept for ecotourism, trophy hunting and commercial breeding, though some landowners have longed hoped that the trade in rhino horn will be legalised again one day, opening up a Pandora’s Box of potential riches.
Red deer
Many species of deer are farmed for their meat throughout the world, but red deer are the most common, with an estimated 1.7 million individual animals held in intensive conditions in New Zealand (a country to which they are not native). The global venison market is estimated to be worth more than US $1.8 billion a year, of which about 60 per cent is raised on farms. In the UK, the overall venison market is worth around £100 million, of which the farmed sector contributes about £4 million.
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Other deer that are farmed include fallow, sika and reindeer, while musk deer are farmed in Asia for a substance (musk) used in perfumes and traditional medicines.
Arapaima
Arapaima are a giant Amazonian fish that can grow to 3 metres in length and a weight of 200kg. They are prized for their meat but their skin can also be made into luxury leather products such as cowboy boots and wallets. In the late 1990s, the species was close to extinction, but handing responsibility for the trade to local people has helped its numbers rebound. As a result, stock numbers increased in Brazil from an estimated 2,500 to more than 170,000 in 2017.
Ostrich
The world’s largest living bird is farmed mainly in South Africa where the industry is estimated to be worth US $70 million a year. They are farmed not just for their meat (the taste is compared to grass-fed beef – it’s low fat and regarded as being very healthy), but also for their leather, feathers and eggs. Ostrich farming took off in the UK in the 1990s and at its peak, some 400 farmers kept about 10,000 birds, but the market collapsed and today there are just a few small-scale farmers with a few dozen animals.
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Tiger
There are an estimated 3,500 to 5,500 tigers living in the wild, but but perhaps double that figure held in dystopian captivity – not in zoos, as you’d expect, but for their bones. They are kept in facilities all over South-east Asia, with probably the majority in China and others in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and even South Africa.
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Bones are steeped in rice wine which is taken to relieve conditions such as arthritis or rheumatism or they are ground into pills or pastes for similar ailments – in reality, there’s no science to back this up, and possessing tiger bone wine is almost certainly more of a status symbol than anything else.
Some NGOs say the bones from a single tiger can be worth more than US $50,000 and the overall trade is valued at several hundred million dollars.
