Poaching vs. Capturing?

[Miss Doronjo]

In both the games and the anime, people who catch Pokemon for disreputable purposes are called poachers, while people who catch Pokemon for, shall we say recreation, are perfectly fine. Yet there's often little difference in means. Is it just the purpose by which you catch a Pokemon that makes you a criminal, or is it just the means you use to catch them? Throughout this franchise, we've seen both methods used and neglected.

Granted, Poke poachers have been shown to catch Pokemon not with just Pokeballs, but with nets, cages, bombs, and even a Red Chain or two, so there's a distinguishable difference, but that isn't always the case. Poachers can just as easily go out into a forest and toss Ultra Balls at everything they see, and if an Officer Jenny comes along, claim to simply be filling up a Pokedex or starting a ranch or any other excuse. How can you charge someone for a crime when the crime is something that everyone does every day, quite freely?

So if there can exist at the same time Pokemon reserves, where unhindered catching is a crime, and Safari Zones, where unhindered catching is a game, who decides when it's poaching and when it's catching?

Have any theories you'd like to share about this?


*and if this doesn't belong hre, feel free to do whatever* ^^

 

[Simipour]

I would assume poachers are people like Team Rocket who intend to use the Pokemon for black market stuff, like turning them into fighting machines for warfare or possibly killing them (it's not touched on much in the anime or games but it does happen, and they mention eating some species like Farfetch'd, to nearly extinction). I wouldn't be surprised if Pokemon like Arcanine or Ninetales would be poached and caught for their fur.
Donphans would be caught and abused for their tusks. I don't know.

Whereas for normal capturing, the trainer would keep the Pokemon as a companion/battle partner/etc.
It's probably monitored by the staff or such reserves (Safari Zone), to see if there are suspicious groups, just like at real safaris they don't allow in hunters and people who are associated with such company.
Just my two cents.

 

[Mew~]

Well, the way the anime has depicted Poaching, it's catching Pokémon and selling them off. Even which we've seen the Pokémon being harmed in the process. Though, still even if others like Hunter J don't necessarily harm the Pokémon, they're still selling them, which I suppose is probably illegal in the Pokémon World of something.