review of non-cites amphibia species that are known or likely to be ...

2. SPECIES REVIEWS
2.1. METHODOLOGY
For this report, preliminary information on known trade from the Global Amphibian
Assessment (IUCN et al, 2007) formed the basis of the species selection as described in section
1.4.1. An extensive literature review was subsequently undertaken for the selected species to
identify information on status and trade and a web survey was also conducted.
Since records of trade in non-CITES species are often non-existent or very limited and patchy
at best, assessing whether these species are traded internationally or not, and especially
assessing the levels of trade, sources and countries involved, is not a straightforward process.
In the absence of other data, surveys of trade conducted over the Internet can provide an
important source of trade information. However, such surveys can usually only provide an
indication of availability or demand rather than information on whether trade actually took
place and if so in what volumes.
For the purpose of this report, web surveys consisted of Google searches, using the species’ s
scientific name. Use of common names was avoided, as they were ambiguous, i.e. several
species called the same name, and different common names used for the same species, and as
hobbyists and specialized shops often use scientific names. In addition to general web
searches, and in order to focus more specifically on the pet trade in Europe, Google searches
were performed limiting the search to pages from a selection of EU countries, namely France,
Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. If no or limited evidence of trade was found for those
countries, additional searches were performed for the Czech Republic, the Netherlands,
Poland, Portugal and Sweden. Also, several hobbyist websites were specifically searched.
These included:
- www.kingsnake.com (USA)
- www.sandfiredragonranch.com (USA)
- www.eurofauna.com (Europe)
- www.caudata.org (International)
- www.amphibian.co.uk (UK)
- www.exotic-pets.co.uk (UK)
- www.lafermetropicale.com (France)
- www.terrariumonline.com (Spain)
- http://e-commerce.ysi.net/eshop/reptilmaniacom/ (Spain)
- www.salamanderland.at (Austria)
- www.caudata.nl (Netherlands)
- http://members.chello.nl/a.kente/ (Netherlands)
- www.animalfarm.cz (Czech Republic)
The trade in frog legs was evaluated primarily through literature review and general web
searches, but no targeted web surveys were conducted because, unlike for the pet trade,
scientific names are seldom used when referring to frog legs; they appear to be rarely referred
to using more accurate terms than simply frog’s legs.
The criteria for listing in the annexes of Council Regulation 338/97are specified in Article 3 of
the regulation as follows:
1. Annex A shall contain:
(a) the species listed in Appendix I to the Convention for which the Member States have not
entered a reservation;
(b) any species:
(i) which is, or may be, in demand for utilization in the Community or for international trade
and which is either threatened with extinction or so rare that any level of trade would imperil
the survival of the species;
or
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