Scientists have uncovered an extensive unmonitored trade of spiders, scorpions, and related species around the world. Many of these arachnids are wild caught, threatening these spectacular beasties with potentially unsustainable harvesting practices.
But taking on the responsibility of caring for any animal requires a lot of work even before you acquire them. This is especially true for so-called exotic animals, particularly if their trade is unregulated – because if you get it wrong, you risk directly contributing to the extinction in the wild of the animal you so value. Or even unintentionally causing the animal's untimely death.
Regulating trade of invertebrates is especially challenging though, as their small sizes make them so easy to smuggle – often through regular postal services. They also aren't detected by X-ray and thermal scans. There's even"how to mail baby spiderlings" advice online.Another huge problem is that there's still so much we do not know about these animals.
Of the species Marshall and colleagues found for sale, only 2 percent were listed on the CITES. But given the lack of data, this doesn't really tell us much at all about how many of the species being traded are endangered. "Existing regulations in most countries do not provide sufficient safeguards for most species," Marshall and team. But they acknowledge that wide-scale regulation of wild caught species may be unrealistic given all the challenges.