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Tortoise trade in Great Britain

For many years in Britain there has been a growing interest in reptile keeping, and the keeping of tortoises as pets in particular. There has also been evidence of smuggling and illegal trade in tortoises to meet the demand. To date, no studies on the situation nationally have been undertaken. Defra commissioned this study (by TRAFFIC International) to investigate the trade, both legal and illegal, and to make suggestions on how to improve any problems found.

Executive Summary

There has been a growing interest in reptile keeping in Britain for many years, and the keeping of tortoises as pets in particular. There has also been evidence of smuggling and illegal trade in tortoises to meet the demand. This study investigates the tortoise trade, both legal and illegal, and makes suggestions on how to improve any problems found.

The keeping of tortoises in Britain has been popular over several decades and demand has escalated with the increasing trend for keeping reptiles as pets. This has influenced the trade, encouraging breeding and importation, as well as illegal trafficking. Even with a responsible, largely law-abiding pet trade in Britain, a significant amount of illegal trade in tortoises still occurs and consumers are unwittingly supporting this detrimental and criminal trade.

It is difficult to estimate the true levels of tortoise imports into Britain, both legal and illegal. The removal of internal European Union (EU) trade borders has meant that consignments of tortoises that formerly required permits to be traded between EU countries can now move legally between them without the need for these. It is known that such consignments have come from mainland Europe to Britain since the removal of internal borders in the EU. This places more emphasis on the need to enforce the law at points of sale within Britain and at the same time makes this task more difficult.

Tortoises are sold in Britain not only in pet shops, but also at garden centres, DIY stores and through classified advertisements in specialist magazines and local newspapers. Tortoises are also sold through an informal sales network of breeders and their contacts, interest groups and trade fairs. Specialist tortoise keepers play a significant role in the tortoise trade, by driving demand for rarer species and new blood lines, but also by supplying captive-bred stock to meet demand that normally would require taking animals from the wild. The number of tortoise breeders is increasing, but these breeders are unable to meet the demand for captive-bred tortoises in Britain. This low level of legal supply creates a market opportunity for unscrupulous dealers to trade in illegal wild-caught tortoises. The scarcity of fertile females to broaden gene pools has been a particular incentive for breeders to collect tortoises illegally from the wild and smuggle them from their country of origin.

The tortoise trade is big business. Over 15,000 live tortoises have been imported directly into Britain from outside the EU since 1996. Additionally, large numbers are bought within the EU and brought into Britain, and these do not appear in import statistics. With a 100% mark-up from wholesale to retail, the profits that can be made in the tortoise trade are substantial.

The majority of tortoise traders are aware of the legislation in place to protect tortoise species and ensure that they abide by it. A number of other traders either lack the legislative knowledge to stay within the law or choose to ignore it and, by doing so, bring the whole trade into disrepute. As the public is generally not aware of the licensing requirements for tortoises, these disreputable traders are able to perpetuate the illegal tortoise trade with ease. Over 6,600 tortoises were seized in 10 European countries between 1994-2001, illustrating that the illegal tortoise trade is both large-scale and prevalent across Europe.

Illegal tortoise trade is happening in Britain, as it is throughout the EU, as a result of smuggling. It is known that tortoises are smuggled into the EU and, once inside, these illegally sourced tortoises are very difficult for enforcement authorities to detect. Tortoises can pass freely from one EU Member State to another. Much of the trade in tortoises to Britain comes from within the EU in this way.

Licence fraud is another known method of illegal trade in tortoises. In the process of investigating the trade for this report, instances of fraud and illegal trade were detected. The Defra licensing system is open to abuse, particularly as it is based on a certain level of trust on the part of the issuing authority. Increased awareness of tortoise licensing requirements among the general public could be a great asset in combating illegal tortoise trade. It would help to reduce the likelihood that illegally sourced tortoises could be sold to unsuspecting buyers with a fraudulent licence, or without any licence at all. Price can be a good indicator of legality or otherwise, as tortoises that have been illegally sourced are usually priced lower than those that have been obtained legally. All groups need to work together to "clean up" the tortoise trade business and thereby eliminate the few rogue traders that are undermining legitimate businesses and threatening wild populations of tortoises throughout their range. Enforcement agencies need to be encouraged and supported in taking forward to prosecution any cases of illegal tortoise trade that they investigate.

References to published material

CITES Management Authority France 2001. CITES: Rapport Bisannuel de la France - Periode 1999-2000.

CITES Management Authority Germany 1999. Biennial Report of the Federal Republic of Germany according to Art 15.4c of Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 1997-1998.

CITES Secretariat 1997. Review of alleged infractions and other problems of implementation of the Convention (Doc. 10.28). Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties Harare (Zimbabwe) 9-2- June 1997.

European Commission 1997. Council regulation (EC) No 338/97 on the Protection of the Species of Wild Fauna and Flora by Regulating Trade Therein. European Commission, Brussels.

European Commission 1999. Commission regulation (EC) No 250/1999 of 2 February 1999 amending Regulation (EC) No 2473/98 suspending the introduction into the Community of specimens of certain species of wild fauna and flora. European Commission, Brussels.

RSPCA 2001. Shell Shock. RSPCA, Horsham.

TRAFFIC International 1997-2001. TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 17 No 1 (1997); TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 17 No 2 (1998); TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 17 No 3 (1999); TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 18 No 1 (1999); TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 18 No 2 (2000); TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 18 No 3 (2000); TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 19 No 1 (2001). TRAFFIC International, Cambridge.

Page last modified: 28 July 2004
Page published: 23 December 2003

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs