Trends in the global trade of live CITES-listed raptors: Trade volumes, spatiotemporal dynamics and conservation implications

The global legal wildlife trade is worth US$4-20 billion to the world’s economy every year. Raptors frequently enter the wildlife trade for use as display animals, by falconers or hobbyists for sport and recreation. Using data from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora’s (CITES) Trade Database, we examined trends in the global, legal commercial trade of CITES-listed raptors between 1975-2020. Overall 272 raptor species were traded, totalling 188,149 individuals, with the number of traded raptors increasing over time. Hybrid Falcons (N = 50,366) were most commonly traded, comprising more than a third of the global diurnal CITES-listed raptor trade, followed by Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus; N = 30,510), Saker Falcons (F. cherrug; N = 21,679), Peregrine Falcons (F. peregrinus; N = 13,390) and Northern White-faced Owls (Ptilopsis leucotis; N = 6,725). More than half of wild-caught diurnal raptors were classified as globally threatened. The Unite..., Trade data for all CITES-listed raptor species were downloaded from the open-access CITES Trade Database (https://trade.cites.org/) on 21st November 2021, using a compiled Comparative Tabulation Table from UNEP/WCMC. The following search terms were used to filter the CITES trade data: “Year Range” was set to include all records between 1975 to 2020, “Source” was set to “ALL”, “Purpose” was set to “COMMERCIAL” denoted by the letter (T) and “Trade Terms” was set to “LIVE” which filtered trade records for only live birds. The “Source” variable relates to the original source of the specimens traded (CITES Secretariat and UNEP-WCMC 2022) and allows the data set to be subset by, but not limited to: specimens bred in captivity (denoted by the letter “C”), specimens bred in captivity for commercial purposes (“D”), specimens taken from the wild (“W”) and ranched specimens including those that are reared in a controlled environment, taken as eggs or juveniles from the wild, which would otherwise ..., , Variable descriptions:

Year = year when the recorded trade occurred.

Class = taxonomic class of traded taxa.

Order = taxonomic order of traded taxa.

Family = taxonomic family of traded taxa.

Genus = taxonomic genus of traded taxa.

CITES_Taxon = scientific name ascribed to traded taxa by CITES.

HBW_BL_binomial = Genus and species names of traded taxa based on the Handbook of Birds of the World and BirdLife Taxonomic Checklist v6.

HBW_BL_Genus = Genus of traded taxa based on the Handbook of Birds of the World and BirdLife Taxonomic Checklist v6.

HBW_BL_Species = Species of traded taxa based on the Handbook of Birds of the World and BirdLife Taxonomic Checklist v6.

HBW_BL_Common = Common name of traded taxa based on the Handbook of Birds of the World and BirdLife Taxonomic Checklist v6.

App. = CITES Appendix ascribed to traded taxa.

2021_IUCN_category = IUCN Red List classification based on the 2021 update.

Importer = ISO2 Alpha code for importing CITES party.

Exporter = ISO2...