Dynamics of the global trade in live reptiles: Shifting trends in production and consequences for sustainability

Biodiversity-rich countries provide wildlife for the exotic pet trade, but the implications of this for conservation, sustainable use and livelihoods remain poorly understood. CITES Appendix II import data from 1996 to 2012 were used to analyse spatial and temporal trends in live reptiles, a group comprising a substantial component of the commercial wildlife trade. Between 2001 and 2012 the trade declined by a third. The decrease was greatest in wild-caught reptiles (70%), but imports in captive-bred reptiles also decreased (40%), due to reduced trade in green iguanas. Imports originating from captive sources comprised about half of the total trade over the period. In contrast, there was a nearly 50-fold increase in imports of ranched reptiles, dominated by royal pythons from sub-Saharan Africa, but including a recent upsurge of ranched turtles from South America and Asia. Additionally, the proportion of reptiles sourced from ‘range countries’ (where species naturally occur in the wild) declined. Numbers of reptiles captive-bred within consumer countries to supply domestic markets are difficult to obtain, but may be impacting international trade. Captive breeding may ease collection pressure on wild populations, but might also divert benefit flows, impacting local livelihoods. Ranching may benefit livelihoods and have low impacts on natural populations, but along with captive breeding, could be detrimental if loopholes allow wild animals to be exported as ranched. Given the shift from wild to ranched reptiles, more information is required on the benefits and impacts of commercial ranching operations for traded reptile species.