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Reptiles in the International Trade

Currently, 67 reptile species are listed on the CITES Appendix I, 508 species are listed on Appendix II and 25 species on Appendix III. These reptiles are mainly traded for their skins, meat or as live animals involving the harvest and use of millions of animals every year. For example in 2004, members of the EC imported 212 CITES listed reptile species which involved the import of over 270,000 live animals, approximately 45,000kg of meat and over 1,200,000 skins.

Globally, over the period 2000-2004, the five main exporters of reptile skins have been Indonesia (27% of exports), Columbia (20%), Malaysia (15%), Argentina (12%) and the United States (10%) whilst the five main species traded have been the Water Monitor (Varanus salvator), the Brown Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus fuscus), the Reticulated Python (Python reticulatus), the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensi) and the Black and White Tegu (Tupinambis merianae).

Harvesting these reptiles can be sourced from three types of systems: wild-harvesting, ranching, and captive breeding.

• Wild-harvesting involves capturing reptiles that have spent their entire life in the wild.
• Ranching refers to the collection of eggs or juveniles from the wild to be then transferred to controlled raising facilities, where the wild-caught specimens are grown for commercial purposes. As defined by CITES (Resolution Conf. 11.16.), the term ranching means "the rearing in a controlled environment of specimens taken from the wild".
• Captive breeding is much more independent from the wild, since once the original breeding stock is obtained, the whole breeding process occurs within the farm. Unlike ranched reptiles, captive-bred ones are born in captivity. According to CITES, the term refers to specimens born or otherwise produced in a controlled environment if:
  i) the parents were in a controlled environment at the time of development of the offspring; and
  ii) the breeding stock was established legally and in a manner approved by CITES. It must also be maintained without the introduction of specimens from the wild (with certain exceptions) and must have produced offspring of at least second generation (F2) in a controlled environment or be managed in a manner that has been demonstrated to be capable of doing so.

In 2004, 73% of skins imported into the EC were sourced from wild populations, 25% from captive-bred facilities and 2% from ranching activities. Alligators, crocodiles and pythons were the only families for which captive-bred or ranching facilities have been developed whilst important traded species like Tegus and Monitor lizards all originated from the harvest of wild populations (Table I). Each system has being used effectively for conservation purposes with for example the controlled harvest of American alligators in the United States originating from captive bred, ranched and wild populations has lead to the outstanding recovery of the wild populations.

Whilst in Argentina, the managed harvest of wild tegus allows its trade to support local economies of indigenous communities (see our species sheets).

The supply chain:

The supply chain for the trade of the various reptile species varies from species-to-species and country-to-country however the general flow could be described as hunters/ farmers selling their skins to the tanneries either directly or via middlemen who then resell to the tanneries. The tanneries are at times located in the country of harvest though the biggest ones are often located in developed countries like France, Italy or Singapore. These tanneries transform the raw or cured skins into leather that are then bought by manufacturers. In turn, this leather is manufactured into goods. Finally, retailers sell the leather products to consumers. Products sold are very varied but they mostly comprise handbags, shoes, garments, luggage, briefcases, wallets, belts, watchstraps and other small leather goods.

Sustainable Trade