A growing exotic pet trade has conservationists calling for stronger regulations to protect the reptiles, birds and other animals in the wild that are increasingly showing up for sale on internet marketplaces and becoming popular on social media.The two-week Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is scheduled to run through Friday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Several proposals related to the pet trade will be considered Tuesday.Participants have proposed tighter regulations or complete bans on the trade of several species including iguanas from the Galapagos Islands, more than a dozen species of Latin America tarantulas and an odd-looking turtle from Africa.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“What we’re seeing is the pet trade much more looking at reptiles, amphibians. People want rare species and they don’t have to go into a pet shop,” said Susan Lieberman, vice president for international policy at the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society. “They go online and there are thousands of animals, including endangered species, illegally obtained species, all available on the internet.”Internet drives illegal tradeIn the past, the trade was dominated by sales in animal parts like elephant ivory and tiger bones. But Matt Collis, the senior director of international policy at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said live animals for the pet trade are increasingly turning up on the internet.“The dramatic growth in online marketplaces has put consumers directly in touch with wildlife traders and criminals around the world,” Collis said. “In today’s society where pretty much anything can be bought with a click of a button and shipped anywhere in the world in a matter of days, no wildlife is safe.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSocial media influencers, who have made owned exotic pets cool, are also contributing to the problem, Collis said.Several of the species proposed for greater protection at the CITES conference are in Latin America, where an IFAW report last year found illegal trade is on the rise. The report, coverin …
