A call for approved lists (positive lists) of suitable pets
In the UK, there are very few restrictions on the types of animals that can be kept as pets. For instance, it is legal to own a skunk, alligator snapping turtle or a 3-metre long boa constrictor with no paperwork required! It is also legal for anyone, with a licence, to own a big cat or crocodile as a pet. The majority of the 13,000 species in the trade are fundamentally unsuited to life as pets – the situation is clearly out of control!
We are calling for a sensible system that permits the keeping and sale of only those species that are appropriate to keep in the home and that do not pose a needless risk to people or the environment. A list of such suitable species is known as a ‘permissable list’.
All species not on a permissable list would be banned from trade and private ownership (except by those keepers who could prove they have the specialist facilities and expertise to care for them).
Transitional arrangements would ensure that existing pets belonging to species not on a positive list could be kept until they die, provided they were not bred from or traded.
For more information, read our briefing note and full briefing document, and also read about our research into positive lists elsewhere in Europe and in North America.
