Sustainable Pet Trade?
Can buying a pet gecko help preserve it’s natural habitat ?
Trade of wild animals for the pet trade can often be detrimental to the wild populations, which have been pushed to the brink already by habitat loss. Overcollecting for food or pet trade can then be the 
last straw. In particular reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds are sensitive to these pressures. Worldwide, there is a sizable economy based on the trade of such wild-caught animals. How could this ever become sustainable? We believe that with the right information, legislation and awareness building, the economic momentum of the exotic animal trade can be harnessed to protect the remaining populations in the wild. We have dedicated ourselves to gathering information on how such a sustainable exotic pet trade could take shape, and to share these ideas. Changing the exotic pet trade from a detrimental force to one which will enable the conservation of wild populations will require changes all along the supply chain. If you are active in any way in the exotic pet trade, please join us and share your ideas!
SustainablePetTrade.org
So what’s the problem?
Due to an increasing public awareness of the need for sustainability, there is a demand for sustainably produced herps. And luckily, in recent years several great projects have started to collect or breed animals in a more responsible way, with benefits for the environment, the people involved, and the animals themselves. Unfortunately, such responsibly produced animals may look just like the wild-caught ones, and the conscious animal keeper cannot be sure of what he is buying. In addition, setting up a sustainable program may take time and money, and often by the time their first animals get on the market, smugglers may have saturated the market and brought the price down. What is needed is a system that enables the conscious animal keeper to distinguish sustainably produced animals from smuggled or otherwise unsustainably produced animals.
Benefits:
| Local ecosystems | They will receive support from part of the revenue |
| Local producers | They will get a fair income |
| Traders | as the price per animal will be higher, they will have to trade fewer animals for the same revenue. Additionally, the market will expand to people who now oppose the trade. |
| End users/animal keepers | They will get healthier animals, and information about their pets directly from the breeders (through a web database). |
| The animals themselves | Due to the higher value of the animals, and a stricter quality control, the animals are treated better. |
| Conservationists | because of the control systems we propose, the trade in these animals will be entirely transparent. |
| Zoos | Due to the control systems in place, now zoos have a dependable outlet for their surplus brood. |
