I came across this article and thought to share it.
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This is… interesting. However, after lightly browsing the original article that it is cribbed from, I have some issues with the science behind the arguments.
Not saying it is wrong wrong, just saying that it might be overstating things a little based on the bias of an author or three
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Interesting. I haven’t read it fully, but… with respect to MM:
Our review had three goals: ensure the website was selling reptiles, check whether the website terms and conditions did not explicitly forbid automated data collection, and identify the most appropriate method of searching the content of the website (see Supplementary Data 1 for example of review datasheet).
MM is probably (or should be) excluded likely due to our rules against automated scraping. That would be a gap in their stats since we’re easily the largest online sale of reptiles.
The major reptile consumer markets are within Europe and North America, where captive breeding and regional trade could decrease the threat posed by pet trade to many species19. But without considerable improvement to captive breeding documentation, legal trade of captive-bred individuals can still enable wild collection20,21, via the laundering of animals through legally sanctioned farms22 or non-range countries23, and potentially even bolster demand19. As a consequence of inconsistent or inaccurate metadata supplied alongside reptile sales online, it was impossible to assess what proportion of such species came from the wild. But LEMIS data indicated that 92% of traded species include wild collected specimens, totalling 58.1% of all individuals.
Furthermore, prima facie, since 99+% of the ads on our site are captive bred, so I don’t think it really applies to what we are doing.
I am not current on the stats worldwide of importing/exporting of reptiles via other means.
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I do have some issues with the beginning of the article myself. I do think it applies to MM If only in the way that to the non-reptile involved public eye, it might be seen as one of these unscrupulous reptile trading sites even though most ads are captive bred animals.
I think it’s moreso a warning to importers/wholesalers. Just because they can import the next hottest species doesn’t mean they should. And if we don’t self regulate someone is going to do it for them/us.
I like what’s said at the end that people should submit more species for CITES consideration. I think it’s an important thing that the reptile community should be more involved in.
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