31/10/2024
Happy Halloween! Nice article from BBC that describes the nuances of the arachnid trade. It's important to keep in perspective when reading titles of news articles that having pet tarantula/s is not, nor should be made "illegal."
Although it is easy to focus on and react to unsustainable and unlawful wild-collection that is harming natural populations of arthropods, there is also a major component of the trade that is fully legal and has positive impacts. Most notably, there is a substantial network of dedicated professionals and institutions worldwide working passionately to establish and maintain captive breeding programs for charismatic arthropods.
While not a silver bullet, captive breeding with commitment to record keeping does foster more responsible stewardship, helps counter demand for wild-collected species, and is a vital component for the conservation of these animals in the face of habitat destruction and fragmentation.
Even if it does not keep pace with market demand today, continuing organized captive breeding efforts should eventually meet and exceed that demand with time as the gold rush for spider collecting wanes and species become more readily available.
Blanket bans and arachnophobia-driven legislation that make it harder for institutions and hobbyists alike to continue these efforts would ultimately expedite the extinction of these animals through unintentionally incentivizing the black market as suitable habitats continue to be lost.
There are many great resources for working with and responsibly sourcing these animals- among them is Spider Shoppe here in the Pacific Northwest. The Tarantula Rearing Uniform Standards Team is another evolving resource with the aim of helping standardize and recommend best practices for responsible husbandry and stewardship of spiders.
The global arachnid trade is threatening the world's most famous spider species. And it's primarily driven by souvenir collectors.
