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As will be seen later in this section, it has proven difficult to determine the extent of both trade and keeping of exotic pets in Scotland. This may be due to the varied species involved in the trade and the different breeding/capture operations involved, combined with a lack of specific regulation and monitoring. Even interrogating trade and import databases is complicated by the lack of clarity on which species are the most commonly traded and those whose welfare is most likely to be impacted by being kept as pets.
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The Scottish situation with regard to lack of knowledge of the trade in and keeping of exotic pets appears to reflect the global picture. SAWC has therefore taken note of information submitted regarding international trade and keeping, seeking to read across from this where appropriate.
In a paper widely cited by respondents, Toland et al. (2020) state that the greatest portion of the global exotic pet trade is in ornamental fish, amphibians and reptiles, mostly destined for Europe and the USA. These authors contend that poor record keeping is commonplace, making it difficult to quantify the volume of wild animals being traded as pets.
While the vast majority of exotic species are not CITES-listed (see section 7) and therefore not declared, it has been estimated that more than 20 million reptiles were imported to EU member states between 2004 and 2014 (Auliya et al. (2016), cited in Toland et al. (2020)). Illicit trade is estimated to comprise at least a quarter of the entire exotic pet trade (Karesh et al., 2007 cited in Toland et al., 2020). Baker et al. (2012) noted that illegal wildlife trade was described more frequently (in 59% of legality reports, n = 301) than legal trade (41%) although pets and entertainment were a driver of trade in only 22% of these reports. The main focus in this study was on wild-caught (72% of provenance reports, n = 298) rather than on captive-bred animals (28%).
SAWC found that there was a lack of clear, consistent data with regard to the trade in, and keeping of, exotic pets in Scotland. Much of the information provided by stakeholders was based on or extrapolated from UK figures.
Exotic pet ownership has grown increasingly common over the previous three decades, driven by globalisation and the development of the internet. However, little robust data is available about the scale and scope of the trade due to poor record keeping and limited regulation focused specifically on exotics. A World Animal Protection study found that between 2014-2018, over 3.4m wild animals were imported into the UK for commercial purposes, including 2,492,156 amphibians, 578,772 reptiles, 150,638 mammals, and 99,111 birds (Green et al., 2020). An unknown number specifically entered the UK exotic pet trade.
While there appear to be few or no data for licensed sales of exotic pets in Scotland, the study by Elwin et al. (2020) provides insight into the scope and scale of the licensed exotic pet market at UK level:
SAWC has endeavoured to assess the size and scale of the trade in exotic species operating through licensed sellers in Scotland. In practice this category is almost entirely confined to retail premises, even though internet sellers should also have licences.
We sent two sets of questions to local authorities. Firstly, we asked about the numbers of exotic animals being sold in licensed premises, where they had come from and whether there were any welfare concerns.
The internet is a common route for selling pets of all kinds, including exotic animals. In addition to well-known classified advertising sites, such as Pets4Homes, Gumtree and PreLoved, there are hundreds of hobbyist forums and closed Facebook groups.
This methodology was later reproduced by OneKind (OneKind, 2017), recording a total of 749 adverts on Scottish sites alone, amounting to at least 1,043 animals, of which 593 were reptiles, 381 birds and 69 exotic mammals. Approximately 79 species were advertised (although many advertisements did not specify the exact species). OneKind noted that many pet shops and smaller commercial breeders used Facebook to publicise animals for sale, while closed Facebook groups were also expanding rapidly and were well-nigh impossible to monitor. Monitoring the Facebook feeds of three established pet shops in Scotland over six months identified 447 adverts for animals from 77 species.
Demand for exotic pets in the western world is a primary driver of the global trade in live wild animals, linked to biodiversity loss, threats to the conservation of wild species, ecological threats from invasive species and risks to human health from zoonotic diseases (Toland et al., 2020) This global trade involves animal welfare impacts at every step. World Animal Protection recognises that wild animals suffer unnecessarily as a result of capture, transport, training, interactions with humans, breeding, and captivity.
The European College of Zoological Medicine considered that the majority of welfare and health issues of exotic pets were due to suboptimal husbandry and nutrition, and no access to veterinary care. This was said often to be due to pet owners and keepers being poorly informed on the needs of their exotic pets, despite such information being widely available and easily accessible. The European College of Zoological Medicine added:
Reptiles are among the most widely kept exotic pets but almost all are maladapted for UK conditions and have specific requirements for temperature, light levels (including UV), photoperiod, humidity and diet. These special requirements are not straightforward to meet and require knowledge and understanding of their ecology, physiology and husbandry requirements to be kept physically healthy.
The European College of Zoological Medicine response also stated that many exotic pets were often not seen by veterinary surgeons, reducing the possibility of owners receiving guidance on the care of these animals and the chance to prevent common diseases.
The existence of such a diversity and number of wild animals kept as exotic pets in Scotland raises significant animal welfare concerns. Keeping a companion animal should ideally enhance, rather than jeopardize, its welfare (Pasmans et al., 2017). Under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, owners are legally responsible for ensuring its five animal welfare needs are met (for a suitable environment, for a suitable diet, to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns, to be housed with, or apart from, other animals, to be protected from suffering, injury and disease).
However, exotic pets are fundamentally unsuited to being kept as pets and it is doubtful whether their needs can ever be fully met in domestic environments. Domesticated species are, by definition, adapted to living in close proximity to humans, unlike exotic species. Exotic pets may have challenging biological needs (social, environmental, dietary, behavioural), face particular challenges of adjustment to artificial conditions in captivity or be confined to vivaria and other cages, which further restrict their opportunities for natural behaviour.
In some cases there is a commercial motivation as a growing number of people breed from their own pets for profit. This trend is not of course confined to exotics, but arguably there has been less focus on the welfare issues of exotics compared with, say, puppies and kittens.
As already referred too, keeping exotic pets was something really rather unusual back then, so I was astounded to realise just how many exotics pets are actually being kept here in Scotland and across the rest of the UK. The images are all from Fernvalley Wildlife Centre in Orkney.
Positive lists have been implemented in several European countries including Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands, while other countries including France have adopted similar legislation and are in the process of developing their list. In October 2022, a motion for a Resolution on improving EU regulation relating to the keeping of wild and exotic animals as pets in the European Union through the development of an EU positive list was adopted in the European Parliament, and will be voted on at an upcoming plenary session. By contrast, the UK and its devolved administrations operate negative list systems, where any species can be kept unless specifically banned by legislation or subject to a licence requirement. As a result, the scale and scope of wild animals kept as pets is poorly understood.
Much however can be done to minimize the frequency of exotic disease incursions and to improve the control of subsequent outbreaks through understanding disease ecology and human behaviour. Knowledge of where, when and how the incursions have occurred and progressed is critical for assessment of future risks, choice of preventive measures and decision-making (e.g. regionalization) during disease outbreaks. Here we review the occurrence of the former OIE List A diseases, Aujeszky's disease, anthrax and bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in GB and in Scotland particularly, during the 70 years between 1938 and 2007. Aujeszky's disease, anthrax and bTB were included in the review following a consultation with the Animal Health and Welfare Division of the Scottish Government, due to the major economic consequences of their occurrence. The former OIE List A included: African horse sickness, African swine fever, highly-pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), bluetongue, classical swine fever (CSF), contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, exotic Newcastle disease (NDV), foot and mouth disease (FMD), goat and sheep pox, lumpy skin disease, peste des petits ruminants, Rift Valley fever, rinderpest, swine vesicular disease (SVD) and vesicular stomatitis. 2ff7e9595c
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