Compromised survivorship in zoo elephants

Keeping elephants in zoos is extremely costly, yet does not yield self-sustaining 16 populations. In Europe, which holds c. half the global zoo elephant population, a long17 term decline of c.10% per year is expected in both species, if reliant on zoo-bred animals 18 under historically prevailing conditions. Fitness in zoos is compromised in several ways. 19 Compared with protected in situ populations (Burmese working Asians; Kenyan free20 living Africans), zoo elephants show premature reproductive senescence and -- despite 21 improving adult survivorship for Africans -- die earlier in adulthood than expected. In 22 Asian elephants, infant survivorship in zoos is also greatly reduced relative to Burmese 23 elephants, and furthermore, zoo-born animals die earlier in adulthood than wild-caught 24 conspecifics kept in zoos, via effects ‘programmed’ peri-natally. In this species, being 25 transferred between zoos also increases mortality rates. Both survival and fecundity 26 would need to improve to attain self-sustaining zoo populations. Our findings 27 demonstrate deficits in zoo elephant management, particularly for Asians, and implicate 28 stress and obesity as likely problems

Classified information: what's lacking from online herpetofauna sales

In the last decade there has been a massive rise in the number of animals being sold via online classified websites, with herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians) being no exception. In response to growing concerns regarding irresponsible advertising, the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG) was established to ensure animals are sold legally and ethically, thus aiming to safeguard animal welfare and enhance consumer confidence. It works by encouraging classified websites to become members, thereby agreeing to 26 rules regarding advert content and self-regulating information that sellers provide based on these rules. It also relies on volunteers for spot-checking adverts, however, with thousands of adverts uploaded every day, it can be hard for both PAAG and its members to identify any violations of the rules. Adverts selling herpetofauna were downloaded from three PAAG member classified websites every week throughout 2019 (n=26,378) and checked against 13 relevant PAAG rules using an SQL database and a bespoke Expert System software. Violations of 12 PAAG rules were found across the three member websites which involved 7986 individual adverts. Violations included the selling of banned invasive species (e.g. Trachemys scripta scripta), false information on the need for an Article 10 certificate, commercial sellers not displaying their council licence number, the selling of animals with health issues or in a gravid state, animals offered for swapping, and the selling of DWA animals without mentioning the need for a licence. There were also adverts that did not specify the species for sale (n= 371), but rather labelled the animal at taxon or class level, and in one concerning case just labelled the animal for sale as ‘pet’. Member websites were also spot-checked for whether they had prominent links to PAAG buying advice and approved care information, with no websites meeting both these requirements. The only PAAG rule met by each website was that they had clear links on how to report an advert that caused concern. Overall, these findings show that PAAG is having a positive impact on classified sales with 70% of adverts meeting PAAG rules, but due to the sheer number of adverts some violations are still slipping through. Recommendations would be for member sites to invest in a software solution to flag key words and frequent sellers, and / or require sellers to include more information via mandatory fields when uploading adverts. Further promotion of PAAG for public awareness would also be of benefit

The roles of foraging niche, rearing conditions and current husbandry on the development of stereotypes in carnivores

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DN056508 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

New research evaluating the UK exotic pet trade: legal and ethical issues

Over the last decade the demand for ‘exotic’ pets in Western countries has grown significantly. In particular, reptiles, amphibians, and unusual mammals (e.g. racoon dogs and kinkajous) have become increasingly popular and widely available, yet little is known about their husbandry needs in comparison to commonly kept domesticated species. Whilst the Pet Animals Act (1951) was enacted in response to a growing pet trade and the Dangerous Wild Animals Act (1976) in response to an increase of ‘dangerous’ exotic animals being readily available, there are a number of discrepancies and gaps in and between these key laws. As a result of this, and the ever increasing number of exotic species being kept, the Government and Local Authorities have not been able to effectively maintain pace with what species are being bought and sold by pet venders. Local Authorities are also under increasing pressure to adequately enforce these laws due to cuts in funding and a lack of training in animal welfare. The aim of this research is to quantify the impact the exotic pet trade is having on animal welfare, and provide recommendations as to how relevant legislation should be updated