Wildlife Crimes

Illegal pet keeping involves unauthorised possession, captivity, display, or sale of wild animals in violation of national laws or international agreements. Specific illegal practices include keeping protected, endangered, or exotic wildlife without required permits, acquiring animals through unlawful trade or direct removal from the wild, illegally breeding wild animals for sale or personal use, and publicly exhibiting wildlife without authorisation. Across the Caribbean, illegal pet keeping often involves parrots, monkeys, reptiles, and other native or exotic wildlife kept for personal enjoyment, status symbols, or informal trade—frequently without adequate care or understanding of the animals' specialised needs.

The impacts of illegal pet keeping are substantial and intersect all five CAR-WEN core values. Biodiversity conservation is compromised as wild populations decline due to removal of animals, often juveniles, from their natural habitats. Animal welfare significantly suffers under inadequate captive conditions, causing chronic stress, neglect, illness, and reduced lifespans. Weak regulation and enforcement undermine the rule of law, normalising illegal wildlife trade within communities and complicating effective governance. Human well-being is negatively affected through economic burdens associated with unregulated trade, reduced ecosystem services from depleted wildlife populations, and social harm from illicit markets. Additionally, illegal pet keeping greatly elevates public health risks by increasing human exposure to zoonotic diseases through close and unregulated contact with wild animals.

Effectively addressing illegal pet keeping in the Caribbean requires targeted public education campaigns, strengthened regulation and enforcement of wildlife trade, promotion of humane alternatives, and deeper collaboration among conservation, veterinary, public health, law enforcement, and community-based organisations. Sustainable solutions should focus on coexistence, respect for wildlife, and conservation values rather than the ownership and exploitation of wild animals.