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      Turning Negatives into Positives for Pet Trading and Keeping: A Review of Positive Lists

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          Abstract

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          In regulating the trading and keeping of exotic pets, lawmakers seek to protect animal welfare, prevent species declines, and safeguard biodiversity. The public also requires protection from pet-related injuries and animal-to-human diseases. Most legislation concerning exotic pet trading and keeping involves restricting or banning problematic species, a practice known as “negative listing”. However, an alternative approach adopted by some governments permits only those species that meet certain scientifically proven criteria to be sold and kept as pets. Thus, governments may “positively list” only those species that are suitable to keep in domestic settings and that do not present a disproportionate risk to people or the environment. We reviewed international, national, and regional legislation in Europe, the United States, and Canada and found that largely unpublished and often inconsistent criteria are used for the development of negative and positive lists. We also conducted online surveys of governments, which received limited responses, although telephone interviews with governments either considering or developing positive lists revealed insights regarding their interest and motivation towards positive lists. We discuss key issues raised by civil servants including the perceived advantages of positive lists and challenges they anticipate in drawing up suitable lists of species. We compare functions of negative and positive lists and offer recommendations to governments concerning the development and implementation of positive lists.

          Abstract

          The trading and keeping of exotic pets are associated with animal welfare, conservation, environmental protection, agricultural animal health, and public health concerns and present serious regulatory challenges to legislators and enforcers. Most legislation concerning exotic pet trading and keeping involves restricting or banning problematic species, a practice known as “negative listing”. However, an alternative approach adopted by some governments permits only the keeping of animals that meet certain scientifically proven criteria as suitable in respect of species, environmental, and public health and safety protections. We conducted an evaluation of positive lists for the regulation of pet trading and keeping within the context of the more prevalent system of restricting or prohibiting species via negative lists. Our examination of international, national, and regional regulations in Europe, the United States, and Canada found that criteria used for the development of both negative and positive lists were inconsistent or non-specific. Our online surveys of governments received limited responses, although telephone interviews with officials from governments either considering or developing positive lists provided useful insights into their attitudes and motivations towards adopting positive lists. We discuss key issues raised by civil servants including perceived advantages of positive lists and anticipated challenges when developing lists of suitable species. In addition, we compare functions of negative and positive lists, and recommend key principles that we hope will be helpful to governments concerning development and implementation of regulations based on positive lists.

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          The evolutionary impact of invasive species.

          Since the Age of Exploration began, there has been a drastic breaching of biogeographic barriers that previously had isolated the continental biotas for millions of years. We explore the nature of these recent biotic exchanges and their consequences on evolutionary processes. The direct evidence of evolutionary consequences of the biotic rearrangements is of variable quality, but the results of trajectories are becoming clear as the number of studies increases. There are examples of invasive species altering the evolutionary pathway of native species by competitive exclusion, niche displacement, hybridization, introgression, predation, and ultimately extinction. Invaders themselves evolve in response to their interactions with natives, as well as in response to the new abiotic environment. Flexibility in behavior, and mutualistic interactions, can aid in the success of invaders in their new environment.
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            Emerging infectious diseases of wildlife--threats to biodiversity and human health.

            Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) of free-living wild animals can be classified into three major groups on the basis of key epizootiological criteria: (i) EIDs associated with "spill-over" from domestic animals to wildlife populations living in proximity; (ii) EIDs related directly to human intervention, via host or parasite translocations; and (iii) EIDs with no overt human or domestic animal involvement. These phenomena have two major biological implications: first, many wildlife species are reservoirs of pathogens that threaten domestic animal and human health; second, wildlife EIDs pose a substantial threat to the conservation of global biodiversity.
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              Emergence of Monkeypox as the Most Important Orthopoxvirus Infection in Humans

              Monkeypox is an emerging zoonotic disease recognized as the most important orthopoxvirus infection in humans in the smallpox post-eradication era. The clinical presentation of monkeypox is similar to the one of smallpox. The case fatality rate of monkeypox (10%) lies between the case fatality rate of variola major (30%) and variola minor (1%). The disease is endemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but other countries of Central and West Africa either reported cases of monkeypox in humans or circulation in wildlife. The disease was also imported once into the USA. The disease has always been considered rare and self-limiting, however recent sporadic reports suggest otherwise. Unfortunately, the collected data is limited, dispersed and often incomplete. Therefore, the objective of this review is to trace all reported human monkeypox outbreaks and relevant epidemiological information. The frequency and geographical spread of human monkeypox cases have increased in recent years, and there are huge gaps in our understanding of the disease's emergence, epidemiology, and ecology. The monkeypox virus is considered a high threat pathogen causing a disease of public health importance. Therefore, there is an urgent need to focus on building surveillance capacities which will provide valuable information for designing appropriate prevention, preparedness and response activities.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Animals (Basel)
                Animals (Basel)
                animals
                Animals : an Open Access Journal from MDPI
                MDPI
                2076-2615
                10 December 2020
                December 2020
                : 10
                : 12
                : 2371
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Animal Protection Agency Foundation, Werks Central, 15–17 Middle Street, Brighton BN1 1AL, UK
                [2 ]PETA Foundation, 501 Front Street, Norfolk, VA 23510, USA; monicab@ 123456petaf.org
                [3 ]World Animal Protection, 90 Eglinton Ave East, Suite 960, Toronto, ON M4P 2Y3, Canada; MicheleHamers@ 123456worldanimalprotection.ca
                [4 ]Animal Protection, Biodiversity and Natural Environment Section, Government of Catalonia, 43004 Tarragona, Spain; vanessa.cadenas@ 123456gencat.cat
                [5 ]Zoocheck, 788 1/2 O’Connor Drive, Toronto, ON M4B 2S6, Canada; rob@ 123456zoocheck.com
                [6 ]CRARC (Catalonian Reptiles and Amphibians Rescue Centre), 08783 Barcelona, Spain; crarc-masquefa@ 123456outlook.com
                [7 ]AAP Animal Advocacy and Protection, Kemphaanpad 1, 1358 AC Almere, The Netherlands; Paul.van.der.Wielen@ 123456aap.nl
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: elaine@ 123456apa.org.uk
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3080-5569
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9611-7008
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3382-6784
                Article
                animals-10-02371
                10.3390/ani10122371
                7763047
                33322002
                e0c09f95-4ed8-4fe7-a2bb-44290ac38b32
                © 2020 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 16 November 2020
                : 07 December 2020
                Categories
                Article

                exotic pet,pet,positive list,regulation,precautionary principle,wildlife trade

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