Reptile smuggling is predicted by trends in the legal exotic pet trade

We found a pattern between US reptile trade and smuggling of live reptiles to Australia. Almost all species smuggled to Aus are legal in US trade and are popular We compared illegal smuggling of reptiles into Australia to the legal pet trade of reptiles in the US. We provide the first empirical risk watch-list for desirable reptile species being trafficked into Australia. Our findings give insight into the drivers of illegal wildlife trade and our approach provides a framework for anticipating future trends in wildlife smuggling.

Response to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment’s ‘Import risk review for psittacine birds from all countries’

We provide comments to The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment on their ‘Import risk review for psittacine birds from all countries’ draft report. Due to serious key omissions, we do not support the import of psittacine birds based on the evidence provided in the risk review. The report does not provide sufficient transparency, nor evidence-based assessments of all benefits, risks, or associated costs, of allowing the import of psittacine birds. If the Department wishes to pursue this assessment, then future risk reviews must include the associated costs of facilitating new invasive species, and provide justification on the broader societal benefits of allowing import of psittacine birds. It is our professional scientific opinion that the benefits of importing psittacine birds are outweighed by the significant damages caused by the potential introduction of new invasive species.

Illegal Wildlife Trade: A Threat to Environmental Biosecurity, Biodiversity, Human Health and Wellbeing

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) directly threatens tens of thousands of species. It is critical that it is taken seriously in order to safeguard our environmental assets and provide resilient landscapes for our unique flora and fauna. Here, we provide an infographic of IWT including: what it is, how bad is it, why can’t we stop it, and solutions.