History Main / EvilPoacher

* The BigBad of ''{{Rio}}'' is a poacher named Armando. However, he's played rather realistically in that he's a bad guy but not outright evil, he's just greedy and in it for money. [[CompleteMonster His Cockatoo on the other hand]]...

* In the fifth Trixie Belden 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.

* The villains of ''[[TheWildThornberrys The Wild Thornberrys Movie]]'' are Evil Poachers. They're also perfectly willing to kidnap and murder kids just to be able to keep poaching endangered African wildlife.

* ''The Island Trilogy'' by Gordon Kormon - the poacher villains in the second and third books are pretty dang evil. they are ready to kill a starving, shipwrecked 14 year old who is totally willing to keep quiet until they realize he's worth a ton of money.

* ''Sim Safari'' - Averted: if you can't employ the African villagers in your safari camp, the only way they can support themselves is by poaching in your park.

* Stella the turtle poacher, the EvilCounterpart to Turtle Tamer characters in KingdomOfLoathing.

** Later, the Planeteers and Captain Planet deal with {{Egomaniac Hunter}} / {{Evil Poacher}} family knows the Slaughters, led by Mame Slaughter and Stalker Slaughter. The Slaughters even team-up with Looten Plunder in one episode.

* ''DrawnTogether'' spoofs the poaching aspect ''Pokemon'' when it is revealed that [[strike:Pikachu's]] Ling-Ling's dream was to become a dancer, but that [[strike:Ash]] Gash ruined it when he captured him, threw his prized dancing shoes away and forced Ling-Ling to fight other [[strike:Pokemon]] Battle Monsters for his own profit. As a result, Ling-Ling became a sociopath with a deep desire to kill Gash in a horrible way.

Team Rocket are often poachers, for example in the Safari Zone episode. There were 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 Pokemon in this way aArbok and Weezing were let go to help them when the Pokemon were freed.

** Dundee's job was actually to catch dangerous crocodiles that represented a threat to humans. However, in the first movie, there is 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.

* * The post-Apocalypse novel ''{{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 step-daughters, and plots to murder the inhabitants of Malevil to steal the castle stronghold for himself.

* ''DrawnTogether'' spoofs the poaching aspect ''Pokemon'' when it is revealed that [[strike:Pikachu's]] Ling-Ling's dream was to become a dancer, but that [[strike:Ash]] Gash ruined it when he captured him, threw his prized dancing shoes away and forced Ling-Ling to fight other [[strike:Pokemon]] Battle Monsters for his own profit. As a result, Ling-Ling became a sociopath with a deep desire to kill Gash in a horrible way.

* Another example from {{Hanna-Barbera}} is Rawhide Clyde, the villain of the ''Crazy Claws'' segment of ''The Kwicky Koala Show''.

In {{Real Life}} most poachers are poor locals trying to get out of poverty; they are unable to afford a license. There are some illegal trophy hunters, too.

* Occasional TruthInTelevision, since poaching rare species can be a very profitable business that some people are willing to get violent to protect. Add to that that they almost always have guns, which is not taken for granted in many countries.

A sister trope to the EgomaniacHunter. Compare with TheCruella. Contrast the HunterTrapper, who hunts and traps legally, and is much more likely to be reasoned with.

Many Evil Poachers have no motivation to do what they do other than [[CardCarryingVillain to be evil]]. They are like the evil polluters in ''CaptainPlanet'' who never manufacture anything. If Evil Poachers do get a motive, it will probably be selling their prey on the BlackMarket.

Be aware! The wild is just filled with Evil Poachers willing to murder any human who gets in their way. Poaching is, by definition, any form of illegal hunting, but the only form of it that exists according to Hollywood is the hunting of endangered species, such as [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter cute panda babies]] or [[YouMeddlingKids meddling kids]].

Many Evil Poachers actually don't have any motivation to do what they do other than [[CardCarryingVillain to be evil]]. The actual motivation of people who do this in real life is ignored, just like the polluters in ''CaptainPlanet'' who polluted just because they loved pollution and wanted to be evil, not because they actually manufactured anything. If Evil Poachers do get a motive, it will probably just be selling their prey on the BlackMarket.

In {{Real Life}} almost all poachers are locals who are either too poor to afford a license or trying to dig their way out of poverty through illegal wildlife sales. Though you do get occasional trophy hunters who just don't think they need a permit.

* One of the reasons why the [[TheFederation Time-Space Administration Bureau]]'s Frontier Nature Conservation Corps exists in ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' 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 ''[[AllThereInTheManual Sound Stage X]]''. Granted, [[TheBeastmaster said officer was]] [[DragonRider patrolling the grounds on a]] [[OurDragonsAreDifferent giant dragon]] [[ToyShip and had a partner]] [[SuperSpeed who could deflect bullets]], but still...
* Horohoro runs into a trio of poachers in ''ShamanKing''. Certainly changes his perspective on life.

* ''TheRescuers Down Under'' brings us Percival C. [=McLeach=], voiced by George C. Scott. That's him pictured up above, as well as the lyrics to the [[NightmareFuel cheery little]] [[VillainSong ditty he sings.]] Did we mention he has a scope ''shotgun?'' Now there's a guy who loves to see the faces of his victims [[NightmareFuel before he riddles them full of holes...]]

* ''Island'' trilogy by Gordon Kormon - the poacher villains in the second and third books are pretty dang evil. they are ready to kill a starving, shipwrecked 14 year old who is totally willing to keep quiet until they realize he's worth a ton of money.

A sister trope EgomaniacHunter. Compare with TheCruella. Contrast the HunterTrapper, who hunts and traps legally, and is much more likely to be reasoned with.

[[{{Digimon}} Dig]][[MemeticMutation ivolves]] from the EgomaniacHunter.

Compare TheCruella. Contrast the HunterTrapper, who hunts and traps legally, and is much more likely to be reasoned with.

* ''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]]. Why anyone would want to buy a [[spoiler:50ft Anaconda]] is beyond [[MajinGojira this troper]].

** In one episode, Bart gets an elephant as part of 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 Paaaarrrt!''

[[TheRescuers http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mcleach8.jpg]]
[[caption-width:350:[-[[VillainSong Home, Home on the Range, where the critters are tied up in chains, I cut through their sides, and I tear off their hides, and the next day I do it again! EVERYBODY!]]-] ]]

->"Whoever hits the most manatees wins!"

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Team Rocket in ''{{Pokemon}}'' are often poachers, namely in the Safari Zone episode.
** Not only that, there were another trio of poachers that caused Larvitar to be separated from its mom, and the one TR fought who was capturing Poison type Pokemon in this way(Arbok and Weezing were let go to help them when the Pok?n were freed).
** Although really, the fact that ''Pok?n'' takes place in a world where people are encouraged to go out and capture hundreds of wild animals for their own use makes the designation of anyone being poachers in such a world blurry at best. More than usual poachers are doing the same things as good guys, but they're [[DesignatedVillain supposed to be the villains of the episode so they're poachers.]]
*** Blurry? The line is downright arbitrary.
*** A few of the more obvious ways to tell if someone is a poacher: Are they using devices aside from their own Pokemon and a Pokeball? Are they attempting to capture more than one Pokemon of a certain type at a time, outside of a designated Safari Zone? And most obviously, does the targeted Pokemon clearly belong to someone else? This list isn't perfect, but it reduces the number of ambiguous cases greatly.
** This very same concept is spoofed in ''DrawnTogether'' when it is revealed that [[strike:Pikachu's]] Ling-Ling's dream was to become a dancer, but that [[strike:Ash]] Gash ruined it when he captured him, threw his prized dancing shoes away and forced Ling-Ling to fight other [[strike:Pok?n]] Battle Monsters for his own profit. As a result, Ling-Ling became a sociopath with a deep desire to kill Gash in a horrible way.

* Horohoro runs into a trio in ShamanKing. Certainly changes his perspective on life.
* Viper Snakely in ''{{Kimba the White Lion}}''. Known as Hamegg in the original manga.

* Col. Werner Dachsund in the comic ''{{Proof}}'' 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).

* ''TheRescuers Down Under'' brings us Percival C. [=McLeach=], voiced by George C. Scott. That's him pictured up above, as well as the lyrics to the [[NightmareFuel cheery little]] [[VillainSong ditty he sings.]]
** Did we mention he has a SCOPED SHOTGUN? Now THERE'S a guy who loves to see the faces of his victims... [[NightmareFuel before he riddles them full of holes...]]

* [[spoiler:Charles Muntz]] from {{Up}} is another example.

* Averted, or maybe Subverted, in the RoaldDahl book ''Danny the Champion of the World'' where the poacher is a good guy and Danny's father. The bad guy is the man who owns the land they live on who is a pompous, heartless, cruel man. It probably helps that the animals being poached would die regardless; they were pheasants being readied for an upcoming hunt.
** Also helps that he's poaching ''pheasants'', and not, say, elephants or pandas. Moreover, England has a bit of a cultural trope about the hearty countryman who is not above a little poaching now and then.
** It also helps that the father came up with increasingly [[ZanyScheme clever ways of going about it]] and the landlord kept trying to find more and more trivial ways to force the family to sell their gas station that you have to root for them, regardless of your stance on hunting, trespassing, and poaching.

* the Villains in the second and third books of the ''Island'' trilogy( Gordon Kormon) are pretty dang evil. they are ready to kill a starving, shipwrecked 14 year old ( who is totally willing to keep quiet)until they realize he's worth a ton of money, and even then.( also,if planning to action off an ''atomic bomb'' doesn't make you evil....then yeah)

* Both the Hunter variety and the Animal Trafficker variety are featured in ''LostTapes''. 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]]. Why anyone would want to buy a [[spoiler:50ft Anaconda]] is beyond [[MajinGojira this troper]].

* Averted in the computer game ''SimSafari''. If you can't employ the African villagers in your safari camp, the only way they can support themselves is by poaching in your park.
* Supposedly this is what Sniper from ''TeamFortress2'' did before he became the sniper. Only counts as an example if he's the other team's sniper.

* Looten Plunder from ''CaptainPlanet'' is an Evil Poacher who is also an Evil Capitalist. Two [[StrawmanPolitical Strawmen Political]] for the price of one.

*** Hoggish Greedly was also an evil poacher, to a lesser extent, because he sought out endangered and rare animals as much as he did common ones.
* Subverted on ''TheSimpsons'', where the supposed [[EverythingIsBetterWithMonkeys Chimpanzee]] poachers turn out to be Greenpeace activists out to discredit [[strike:Jane Goodall]] [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Dr. Bushwell]] who was using the apes as ''slave labor'' to ''mine diamonds''.
* In an earlier episode, Bart gets an elephant as part of 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 PAAAAAART!!!'''''

* ''GIJoe'' has evil poacher Gnawgahyde as a member of the Dreadnoks. (At least in the toy range; I don't know if he ever made it to the TV series.)
** Gnawgahyde did make it to the two DIC-produced seasons, and helped the Baroness revive Cobra Commander in the premier miniseries ''Operation: Dragonfire''.
* ScoobyDoo and crew did in two Evil Poachers in "Safari, So Goodie" from ''What's New, Scooby-Doo?''
* The villains of ''TheWildThornberrys Movie''. They're also perfectly willing to kidnap and murder kids just to be able to keep poaching endangered African wildlife.
** The series proper has [[ThoseTwoBadGuys recurring villains]] Kip O'Donnel and Neil Beiderman (spell check please?), frequent encounters with whom have made Eliza GenreSavvy regarding their activities.
*** Don't forget the poachers from "The Origin of Donnie" who [[spoiler:murdered Donnie's parents]].
* Another example from {{Hanna-Barbera}} is Rawhide Clyde, the villain of the ''Crazy Claws'' segment of ''TheKwickyKoalaShow''.
* Mitch from the ''{{Phineas and Ferb}}'' episode "The Chronicles of Meap". Also an EgomaniacHunter.
** He actually objects when one of the kids calls him a Zookeeper, saying "that legitimizes the whole thing".

* Occasional TruthInTelevision, since poaching rare species can be a very profitable business that some people are willing to get violent to protect.
** Add to that that they almost always have guns, which is not taken for granted in many countries.
** Case in point: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veerappan Veerappan]].

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** Carter the Poacher in the ''{{Discworld}}'' novels is another example of the anti-trope.

Be aware! The wild is just filled with Evil Poachers willing to murder any human who gets in their way. Poaching is, by definition, any form of illegal hunting, but the only form of it that exists according to Hollywood is the hunting of endangered species, such as [[TastesLikeDiabetes cute panda babies]] or [[YouMeddlingKids meddling kids]].

[[caption-width:350:[-Home, Home on the Range, where the critters are tied up in chains, I cut through their sides, and I tear off their hides, and the next day I do it again! EVERYBODY!-] ]]

* Viper Snakely in "{{Kimba the White Lion}}". Known as Hamegg in the original manga.