Why doesn’t EIA support ‘shoot-to-kill’ policies for poachers?
We would never condone shooting people on sight, especially when they’re not the drivers of the illegal trade.

The tusks of a poached elephant offered for sale in Zambia (c) EIA
The unfortunate reality is that there will probably always be those poor and desperate enough to attempt to poach elephants, rhino and other species, regardless of the likely prospect of summary execution.
The ivory trade, and the trades in tiger parts & skins and illegally logged timber, are major forms of transnational organised crime, run by powerful criminal syndicates.
But most poachers, like most loggers, are local to the area in which they operate and are generally driven by poverty – shoot them and the local economic realities will only see more rise in their place.
The real people to go after, the ones who plan, fund and facilitate…