Exploring the international trade in African snakes not listed on CITES: highlighting the role of the internet and social media

Blind Trading: A Literature Review of Research Addressing the Welfare of Ball Pythons in the Exotic Pet Trade

“…For wild caught and ranched snakes, crowded transport, unhygienic conditions, poor nutrition, poor environmental control, poor handling and aggression from co-occupants are just some of the factors that could cause suffering [25]. However, no welfare assessments of snake ranching can be found in the existing published scientific literature, and welfare during transportation appears to be a completely unrecorded issue [6]. Currently it is unclear whether there are any welfare provisions for the snakes prior to CITES and International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulations which come in to force during international border crossings.…”

“…Currently it is unclear whether there are any welfare provisions for the snakes prior to CITES and International Air Transport Association (IATA) regulations which come in to force during international border crossings. This is particularly concerning because the limited data available suggest mortality rates for reptiles in transit could be as high as 33% [6,41].…”

“…The exotic pet industry is a substantial part of the global trade in wildlife products, which is worth an estimated $30.6-42.8 billion USD annually [2]. Reptiles comprise a substantial part of the live animal trade (>20%) [3] and are particularly prevalent as exotic pets in European and North American markets [3][4][5][6], for example, where around 0.9 million are kept in UK homes and 9.4 million in US homes [1,7,8]. The scale of the trade is likely to be even greater than current estimates due to incomplete record-keeping and widespread illegal activity throughout the industry [1,9].…”

“…Ball pythons (Python regius) are one of the most common species of reptiles kept as exotic pets, dominating in trade volume [3,6]. From 1978 to 2017, between 0.9 million and 1.6 million live individuals were exported from Togo alone, 99% of which were for commercial purposes (presumably as exotic pets) [11].…”

“…Wildlife farms have been criticised for crowded or unhygienic conditions [22] that can potentially cause disease, suffering, as well as aggression or harassment from other co-occupants and competition for vital resources, such as water [23,24]. Exact mortality rates prior to and during transportation are unknown and could be significant [6,25]. Unintended harm resulting from poorly managed wild release of ranched animals (e.g., genetic pollution and disease) is also of potential concern [26].…”