Domestic and CITES regulations controlling the international snake trade in China

Abstract

AbstractTrade records show that since the 1990s China has changed from a net exporting to a net importing country with respect to some species of snakes. Imports of snakes to China increased up to 2002, when the National Wildlife Management Authority imposed a suspension of international trade in snakes. We investigated the impact of the ban using the same methods as an earlier study of this trade for the period 1990–2001. We found that both imports and exports of snakes recorded in the CITES Trade Database and the Wild Animal and Plant International Trade Database of China have decreased markedly since 2004. The combination of national-level control measures and CITES regulations appear to have controlled the previously unsustainable utilization of snakes in China.