For many
years there has been a growing interest in keeping reptiles as pets
in the United Kingdom and the keeping of tortoises in
particular. This has influenced the trade, encouraging
breeding and importation. Even with a responsible, largely
law-abiding pet trade, a significant amount of illegal trade in
tortoises is believed to occur in the UK. All tortoises
(family Testudinidae) are listed on CITES
(Convention on International Trade in Endangered species), and
trade to and from the European Community is strictly regulated.
Accurate monitoring of the trade and preventing illegal trade in
tortoise species is made all the more difficult where specimens are
not individually or uniquely marked. Marking individual animals in
trade can be of enormous assistance to enforcement authorities,
allowing them to relate a specimen to a particular permit, trace
individual specimens back to their original source and verify the
provenance of individual animals.
The European Wildlife Trade Regulations (EC Regs 338/97 and
865/2006) require that live Annex A (Annex A is equivalent to
Appendix I of CITES) vertebrates used for commercial purposes are
permanently and uniquely marked with a uniquely numbered
unalterable microchip transponder, or for captive born and bred
birds, by a uniquely numbered closed ring. Advice provided by
veterinary experts in the UK in 1998 recommended that tortoises
with a plastron length of under 100mm were too small to be safely
fitted with a microchip transponder. Until an acceptable form of
permanently and uniquely marking juvenile tortoises is found and
accepted by all EC Member States, enforcement authorities will
continue to have difficulties enforcing the regulations and illegal
trade is likely to continue, with populations of some species
facing severe declines in the wild.
In an attempt to address this issue, the JNCC has commissioned
the International Zoo Veterinary Group (IZVG) to conduct a study to
identify methods to permanently mark juvenile tortoises in trade
(that are too small to be safely fitted with a microchip
transponder), which satisfies the requirements of EC CITES
Regulations and could be adopted by all EC Member States as the
preferred method of marking tortoises in trade.
The IZVG has now opened a consultation to seek the opinion of
interested parties and stakeholders regarding possible marking
methods for juvenile tortoises and would welcome any views and
comments on the issue.
The consultation documents can be found on the IZVG website.
Alternately, please send responses to
or to Penny Cusdin,
International Zoo Veterinary Group, Keighley Business Centre, South
Street, Keighley, West Yorkshire, BD21 1AG. Tel 01535 661298.
Responses should be received by Friday 8
August.