Blind Trading: A Literature Review of Research Addressing the Welfare of Ball Pythons in the Exotic Pet Trade
Extensive numbers of Ball pythons are caught, bred, traded and subsequently kept in captivity across the world as part of the exotic pet industry. Despite their widespread availability as pets, relatively little is known about the potential welfare challenges affecting them. We reviewed the literatu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/2/193 |
| _version_ | 1818506261872771072 |
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| author | Jennah Green Emma Coulthard David Megson John Norrey Laura Norrey Jennifer K. Rowntree Jodie Bates Becky Dharmpaul Mark Auliya Neil D’Cruze |
| author_facet | Jennah Green Emma Coulthard David Megson John Norrey Laura Norrey Jennifer K. Rowntree Jodie Bates Becky Dharmpaul Mark Auliya Neil D’Cruze |
| author_sort | Jennah Green |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Extensive numbers of Ball pythons are caught, bred, traded and subsequently kept in captivity across the world as part of the exotic pet industry. Despite their widespread availability as pets, relatively little is known about the potential welfare challenges affecting them. We reviewed the literature for research focused on the health and welfare of Ball pythons in the international pet trade. From a total of 88 articles returned from the search criteria, our analysis showed that very few actually focused on trade (10%) or animal welfare (17%). Instead, the majority (64%) of articles focused on veterinary science. There was a considerable bias towards physical health, with most studies neglecting the four other domains of animal welfare (behaviour, nutrition, environment and mental health). Furthermore, very few studies considered Ball pythons prior to resulting pet ownership, during wild capture and transportation or captive breeding operations. Our review demonstrates that our current understanding of welfare for Ball pythons traded as exotic pets is limited. We recommend that future research should focus on aspects of the industry that are currently overlooked, including the potential consequences of genetic selection during captive-breeding and the conditions provided for snakes prior to and during international transportation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T22:02:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6e6b7b672f7f4298a6259770a70c7e51 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T22:02:11Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-6e6b7b672f7f4298a6259770a70c7e512022-12-22T01:31:51ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152020-01-0110219310.3390/ani10020193ani10020193Blind Trading: A Literature Review of Research Addressing the Welfare of Ball Pythons in the Exotic Pet TradeJennah Green0Emma Coulthard1David Megson2John Norrey3Laura Norrey4Jennifer K. Rowntree5Jodie Bates6Becky Dharmpaul7Mark Auliya8Neil D’Cruze9World Animal Protection 222 Gray’s Inn Rd., London WC1X 8HB, UKEcology & Environment Research Centre, Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M1 5GB, UKEcology & Environment Research Centre, Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M1 5GB, UKEcology & Environment Research Centre, Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M1 5GB, UKEcology & Environment Research Centre, Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M1 5GB, UKEcology & Environment Research Centre, Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M1 5GB, UKEcology & Environment Research Centre, Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M1 5GB, UKWorld Animal Protection 222 Gray’s Inn Rd., London WC1X 8HB, UKZoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Department Herpetology, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, GermanyWorld Animal Protection 222 Gray’s Inn Rd., London WC1X 8HB, UKExtensive numbers of Ball pythons are caught, bred, traded and subsequently kept in captivity across the world as part of the exotic pet industry. Despite their widespread availability as pets, relatively little is known about the potential welfare challenges affecting them. We reviewed the literature for research focused on the health and welfare of Ball pythons in the international pet trade. From a total of 88 articles returned from the search criteria, our analysis showed that very few actually focused on trade (10%) or animal welfare (17%). Instead, the majority (64%) of articles focused on veterinary science. There was a considerable bias towards physical health, with most studies neglecting the four other domains of animal welfare (behaviour, nutrition, environment and mental health). Furthermore, very few studies considered Ball pythons prior to resulting pet ownership, during wild capture and transportation or captive breeding operations. Our review demonstrates that our current understanding of welfare for Ball pythons traded as exotic pets is limited. We recommend that future research should focus on aspects of the industry that are currently overlooked, including the potential consequences of genetic selection during captive-breeding and the conditions provided for snakes prior to and during international transportation.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/2/193exotic pet<i>python regius</i>welfare domainshealthwildlife trade |
| spellingShingle | Jennah Green Emma Coulthard David Megson John Norrey Laura Norrey Jennifer K. Rowntree Jodie Bates Becky Dharmpaul Mark Auliya Neil D’Cruze Blind Trading: A Literature Review of Research Addressing the Welfare of Ball Pythons in the Exotic Pet Trade Animals exotic pet <i>python regius</i> welfare domains health wildlife trade |
| title | Blind Trading: A Literature Review of Research Addressing the Welfare of Ball Pythons in the Exotic Pet Trade |
| title_full | Blind Trading: A Literature Review of Research Addressing the Welfare of Ball Pythons in the Exotic Pet Trade |
| title_fullStr | Blind Trading: A Literature Review of Research Addressing the Welfare of Ball Pythons in the Exotic Pet Trade |
| title_full_unstemmed | Blind Trading: A Literature Review of Research Addressing the Welfare of Ball Pythons in the Exotic Pet Trade |
| title_short | Blind Trading: A Literature Review of Research Addressing the Welfare of Ball Pythons in the Exotic Pet Trade |
| title_sort | blind trading a literature review of research addressing the welfare of ball pythons in the exotic pet trade |
| topic | exotic pet <i>python regius</i> welfare domains health wildlife trade |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/2/193 |
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