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UK imports wild animals from known disease hotspots to fuel demand for exotic pets

Tuesday 22 September, 2020

00:01 BST 22 September 2020 Millions of live wild animals are being legally imported into the UK from emerging disease hotspots to be sold as exotic pets - risking another public health crisis according to a report from global animal welfare charity World Animal Protection. Animals including African pygmy hedgehogs, snakes, lizards and tortoises are transported to the UK from Africa, Latin America and Asia to fuel this cruel trade.


The study, which used data obtained via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), found that from 2014 to 2018, 2,492,156 amphibians, 578,772 reptiles, 150,638 mammals, and 99,111 birds were imported into the UK for commercial purposes including the exotic pet trade, from 90 countries including in regions identified as emerging disease hotspots. Countries such as Singapore, Ghana, Indonesia, El Salvador, Cameroon, Nicaragua and Madagascar, annually exported thousands of reptiles and amphibians to the UK over this five-year period.


Seventy percent of all zoonotic emerging infectious diseases are thought to originate from wild animals1 and over 35 infectious diseases have emerged in humans since 19802, including COVID-19, SARS, Ebola and MERS. Importing animals in such numbers risks the spread of such diseases, caused by harmful viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites introduced into new environments.


Public attention is typically focussed on illegal wildlife trade, for example species threatened by extinction that are protected by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), but this is dwarfed by legal trade into the UK that takes place outside these regulations, despite the public health risk it presents and the cruelty and suffering it causes.


Peter Kemple Hardy, World Animal Protection, Wildlife Campaign Manager said: “This evidence shows that the legal wildlife trade into the UK is causing suffering to millions of animals and risking another public health crisis. We must not overlook the dangers this poses; harmful and deadly pathogens can be transmitted to humans regardless of a wild animal’s legal status. In a post-COVID world, we should demand nothing less than a global and permanent ban on the commercial wildlife trade, to protect wild animals, human health and the planet.”


The wildlife trade is a lethal hotbed of disease because it brings wild animals with immune systems weakened by the stress of captivity and transport in unnatural proximity to other animals, into close contact with people, often in unsanitary conditions. The current global pandemic is widely believed to have originated in these conditions, in a ‘wet’ market selling wildlife in Wuhan, China. 


Public health risks associated with wild animal imports into the UK: 



World Animal Protection is calling on the UK government to champion a global wildlife trade ban and end the import and export of wild animals into the UK at the G20 meeting of leaders in November. Sign the petition here. 


-Ends-


1 Can et al., 2019


2 Karesh et al., 2005   

Notes to Editor



Key findings



Total numbers of non-CITES listed wild animals imported between 2014-2018

Singapore

225,785 (all but 12 amphibian)

Ghana

87,028 (3,162 were insectivore mammals, presumed to be African pygmy hedgehogs and the rest reptiles and amphibian)

Indonesia

68,231 (all but 39 reptiles and amphibians)

El Salvador

14,475 (all reptiles)

Cameroon

21,376 (all reptiles and amphibians)

Nicaragua

13,088 (all reptiles and amphibians)

Madagascar

10,070 (113 mammals and the rest reptiles and amphibians)



Top 10 exporting countries to UK between 2014-18 by number of animals

  1. USA

2,320,343

  1. Singapore

225,785

  1. Czech Republic

163,491

  1. Ghana

87,028

  1. Vietnam

77,234

  1. Indonesia

68,231

  1. Spain

61,117

  1. Uzbekistan

59,524

  1. Italy

53,037

  1. Hong Kong

36,069



Total numbers of non-CITES listed wild animals imported between 2014-2018

Singapore

225,785 (all but 12 amphibian)

Ghana

87,028 (3,162 were insectivore mammals, presumed to be African pygmy hedgehogs and the rest reptiles and amphibian)

Indonesia

68,231 (all but 39 reptiles and amphibians)

El Salvador

14,475 (all reptiles)

Cameroon

21,376 (all reptiles and amphibians)

Nicaragua

13,088 (all reptiles and amphibians)

Madagascar

10,070 (113 mammals and the rest reptiles and amphibians)


Public health risk


Table. Example zoonotic diseases associated with taxonomic groups. Terms marked with an Asterix represent *Diseases identified as found in the UK by Public Health England.


Source taxa

Zoonotic disease

Amphibians 

Campylobacteriosis*; Endemic relapsing fever; Gastroenteritis; Mycobacteriosis/Tuberculosis; Salmonellosis*; Streptococcosis*; Yersiniosis; Vibriosis; Leptospirosis*; Hepatitis-A; Western Encephalitis; West Nile virus; Coccidiomycosis; Cryptococcosis; Septicaemia 

Reptiles 

Campylobacteriosis*; Endemic relapsing fever; Gastroenteritis; Mycobacteriosis/Tuberculosis; Salmonellosis*; Streptococcosis*; Yersiniosis; Q-fever*; Vibriosis; Leptospirosis*; Western encephalitis; West Nile virus; Coccidiomycosis; Cryptococcosis; Septicaemia 

Birds 

Campylobacteriosis*; Gastroenteritis; Mycobacteriosis/Tuberculosis; Salmonellosis; Yersiniosis; Septicaemia/general infection; Pneumonia;  Dermatitis; Psittacosis*; Q-fever*; Vibriosis; Leptospirosis*; Western encephalitis; Avian influenza*; Newcastle disease; Cryptococcosis; Septicaemia; Histoplasmosis 

Mammals 

Campylobacteriosis*; Endemic relapsing fever; Gastroenteritis; Mycobacteriosis/Tuberculosis; Salmonellosis; Yersiniosis; Septicaemia/general infection; Bartonellosis; Pneumonia*; Psittacosis*; Q-fever*; Brucellosis  Leptospirosis*; Hepatitis-A; West Nile virus; Herpesvirus simiae-B; Monkeypox; Molloscum contagiosum; Measles; Rabies*; Haemorrhagic fever; Newcastle disease; Cowpox*; Coccidiomycosis; Streptothricosis*; Candidiasis; Ringworm*; Histoplasmosis 


Data Source


World Animal Protection obtained the data in this study via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). APHA is an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the UK government. APHA is the management authority of the ‘Trade Control and Expert system’ (TRACES) an online management tool for animals imported into European Union (EU) countries. It is used for recording all trade of live animals, germplasm and other animal-derived commodities into or through Member States territories.


About World Animal Protection


World Animal Protection seeks to create a world where animal welfare matters, and animal cruelty has ended. Active in more than 50 countries, we work directly with animals and with the people and organisations that can ensure animals are treated with respect and compassion.  We hold consultative status at the Council of Europe and collaborate with national governments and the United Nations.




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