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Bat E-Commerce: Insights Into the Extent and Potential Implications of This Dark Trade

Little is known about the global bat souvenir trade despite previous research efforts into bat harvest for bushmeat. We screened eBay listings of bats in Australia, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA to assess the nature and extent of the online offers. A total of 237 listings were r...

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Autores principales: Chaber, Anne-Lise, Amstrong, Kyle N., Wiantoro, Sigit, Xerri, Vanessa, Caraguel, Charles, Boardman, Wayne S. J., Nielsen, Torben D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8224922/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34179158
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.651304
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author Chaber, Anne-Lise
Amstrong, Kyle N.
Wiantoro, Sigit
Xerri, Vanessa
Caraguel, Charles
Boardman, Wayne S. J.
Nielsen, Torben D.
author_facet Chaber, Anne-Lise
Amstrong, Kyle N.
Wiantoro, Sigit
Xerri, Vanessa
Caraguel, Charles
Boardman, Wayne S. J.
Nielsen, Torben D.
author_sort Chaber, Anne-Lise
collection PubMed
description Little is known about the global bat souvenir trade despite previous research efforts into bat harvest for bushmeat. We screened eBay listings of bats in Australia, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA to assess the nature and extent of the online offers. A total of 237 listings were retrieved in between the 11th and 25th of May 2020 with a median price per item of US$38.50 (range: US$8.50–2,500.00). Items on offer were mostly taxidermy (61.2%) or skull (21.1%) specimens. Overall, 32 different species of bat were advertised, most of which (n = 28) are listed as “Least Concern” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. One species (Nycteris javanica) is classified as “Vulnerable” and one (Eidolon helvum) as “Near Threatened.” Pteropus spp. specimens were the most expensive specimens on offer and the conservations status of these species may range from “Critically Endangered” to “Data Deficient” by IUCN and the entire genus is listed in the Appendix II by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). However, the exact species concerned, and their respective conservation status, could not be confirmed based on the listings' photos. The sourcing of bat was restricted to mostly South-East Asian countries (a third of items sourced from Indonesia) and to two African countries. Our survey revealed that the online offer of bat products is diverse, abundant, and facilitated by worldwide sellers although most offered bats species are from South-East Asia. With a few exceptions, the species on offer were of little present conservation concern, however, many unknowns remain on the potential animal welfare, biosecurity, legal implications, and most importantly public health risks associated with this dark trade.
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spelling pubmed-82249222021-06-25 Bat E-Commerce: Insights Into the Extent and Potential Implications of This Dark Trade Chaber, Anne-Lise Amstrong, Kyle N. Wiantoro, Sigit Xerri, Vanessa Caraguel, Charles Boardman, Wayne S. J. Nielsen, Torben D. Front Vet Sci Veterinary Science Little is known about the global bat souvenir trade despite previous research efforts into bat harvest for bushmeat. We screened eBay listings of bats in Australia, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA to assess the nature and extent of the online offers. A total of 237 listings were retrieved in between the 11th and 25th of May 2020 with a median price per item of US$38.50 (range: US$8.50–2,500.00). Items on offer were mostly taxidermy (61.2%) or skull (21.1%) specimens. Overall, 32 different species of bat were advertised, most of which (n = 28) are listed as “Least Concern” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. One species (Nycteris javanica) is classified as “Vulnerable” and one (Eidolon helvum) as “Near Threatened.” Pteropus spp. specimens were the most expensive specimens on offer and the conservations status of these species may range from “Critically Endangered” to “Data Deficient” by IUCN and the entire genus is listed in the Appendix II by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). However, the exact species concerned, and their respective conservation status, could not be confirmed based on the listings' photos. The sourcing of bat was restricted to mostly South-East Asian countries (a third of items sourced from Indonesia) and to two African countries. Our survey revealed that the online offer of bat products is diverse, abundant, and facilitated by worldwide sellers although most offered bats species are from South-East Asia. With a few exceptions, the species on offer were of little present conservation concern, however, many unknowns remain on the potential animal welfare, biosecurity, legal implications, and most importantly public health risks associated with this dark trade. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8224922/ /pubmed/34179158 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.651304 Text en Copyright © 2021 Chaber, Amstrong, Wiantoro, Xerri, Caraguel, Boardman and Nielsen. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Veterinary Science
Chaber, Anne-Lise
Amstrong, Kyle N.
Wiantoro, Sigit
Xerri, Vanessa
Caraguel, Charles
Boardman, Wayne S. J.
Nielsen, Torben D.
Bat E-Commerce: Insights Into the Extent and Potential Implications of This Dark Trade
title Bat E-Commerce: Insights Into the Extent and Potential Implications of This Dark Trade
title_full Bat E-Commerce: Insights Into the Extent and Potential Implications of This Dark Trade
title_fullStr Bat E-Commerce: Insights Into the Extent and Potential Implications of This Dark Trade
title_full_unstemmed Bat E-Commerce: Insights Into the Extent and Potential Implications of This Dark Trade
title_short Bat E-Commerce: Insights Into the Extent and Potential Implications of This Dark Trade
title_sort bat e-commerce: insights into the extent and potential implications of this dark trade
topic Veterinary Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8224922/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34179158
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.651304
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