DOI: 10.5061/dryad.t4b8gtj8h
title: Data from: the widespread keeping of wild pets in the Neotropics: an overlooked risk for human, livestock, and wildlife health

description: Zoonoses constitute a major risk to human health. Comprehensive
 assessments on the potential emergence of novel disease outbreaks are
 essential to ensure the effectiveness of sanitary controls and to
 establish mitigating actions. Through a continental-scale survey of rural
 human settlements conducted over 13 years in 15 Neotropical countries, we
 document the vast extent of poaching to meet the local demand for pets,
 resulting in thousands of families living with ca. 275 species of wild
 animals without any sanitary controls. Parrots account for ca. 80% of wild
 pets, dying mostly from diseases at a average age of one year. This
 culturally rooted tradition, which dates back to pre-Columbian times, may
 lead to health risks by bringing wild animals prone to carrying parasites
 and pathogens into close contact with humans and their exotic pets and
 livestock. Although animal pathogens and parasites have been transmitted
 to humans for centuries, the current trend of human population growth and
 connectivity can increase the risk of zoonotic outbreaks spreading at an
 unprecedented pace. Similarly, disease transmission from humans and
 poultry to wild animals is also expected to be facilitated via wild pets,
 leading to conservation problems. Several studies have highlighted the
 risk posed by wildlife city markets for cross-species disease
 transmission, ignoring the risk associated with widespread pet ownership
 of wild animals poached locally in rural areas. Given its geographic and
 social dimensions, a holistic approach is required to reduce this illegal
 activity as well as to strengthen health surveillance of seized
 individuals and people in close contact with poached pets, which would
 benefit both people and wildlife.
description: Please refer to the Methods section and Supplementary Information
 of the published article.
description: # The widespread keeping of wild pets in the Neotropics: an overlooked
 risk for human, livestock, and wildlife health **GENERAL INFORMATION**
 Journal: People and Nature ID manuscript: PAN-24-01-003 Title of Dataset:
 Raw data for: The widespread keeping of wild pets in the Neotropics: an
 overlooked risk for human, livestock, and wildlife health Author
 Information Name: Romero-Vidal, Pedro ORCID:
 [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0647-6953](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0647-6953) Institution: Department of Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems, Universidad Pablo de Olavide Email: [pedroromerovidal123@gmail.com](mailto:pedroromerovidal123@gmail.com)   Co-author Information Name: Blanco, Guillermo ORCID: [https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5742-4929](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5742-4929) Institution: Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales Email:  [gblanco@mncn.csic.es](mailto:gblanco@mncn.csic.es) Co-author Information Name: Barbosa, Jomar M. ORCID: [https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7869-5533](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7869-5533) Institution: Miguel Hernández University Email: [jomarmbarbosa@gmail.com](mailto:jomarmbarbosa@gmail.com) Co-author Information Name: Carrete, Martina ORCID: [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3038-7424](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3038-7424) Institution: Department of Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems, Universidad Pablo de Olavide Email: [mcarrete@upo.es](mailto:mcarrete@upo.es)   Co-author Information Name: Hiraldo, Fernando ORCID: [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9347-9895](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9347-9895) Institution: Department of Conservation Biology, Doñana Biological Station Email: [hiraldo@ebd.csic.es](mailto:hiraldo@ebd.csic.es)   Co-author Information Name: Pacífico, E Institution: Seçao de Aves do Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo Email: [ericapacifico81@gmail.com](mailto:ericapacifico81@gmail.com)   Co-author Information Name: Rojas, Abraham Institution: Zoológico Municipal de Santa Cruz, Bolivia Email: [mrojas_bo@hotmail.com](mailto:mrojas_bo@hotmail.com)   Co-author Information Name: Bermúdez-Cavero, Alan O. Institution: Universidad Tecnológica del Perú Email: [becao82@gmail.com](mailto:becao82@gmail.com) Co-author Information Name: Díaz-Luque, José Antonio Institution: Endangered Conservation Consultancy Email: [jose.diaz@endangeredconservation.org](mailto:jose.diaz@endangeredconservation.org) \ Co-author Information Name: Tella, José L. ORCID: [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3038-7424](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3038-7424) Institution: Department of Conservation Biology, Doñana Biological Station Email: [tella@ebd.csic.es](mailto:tella@ebd.csic.es) **CITATION** Romero-Vidal et al., (2024), : Raw data for: The widespread keeping of wild pets in the Neotropics: an overlooked risk for human, livestock, and wildlife health, Dryad, Dataset **ABSTRACT** Zoonoses constitute a major risk to human health. Comprehensive assessments on the potential emergence of novel disease outbreaks are essential to ensure the effectiveness of sanitary controls and to establish mitigating actions. Through a continental-scale survey of rural human settlements conducted over 13 years in 15 Neotropical countries, we document the vast extent of poaching to meet the local demand for pets, resulting in thousands of families living with ca. 275 species of wild animals without any sanitary controls. Parrots account for ca. 80% of wild pets, dying mostly from diseases at a average age of one year. This culturally rooted tradition, which dates back to pre-Columbian times, may lead to health risks by bringing wild animals prone to carrying parasites and pathogens into close contact with humans and their exotic pets and livestock. Although animal pathogens and parasites have been transmitted to humans for centuries, the current trend of human population growth and connectivity can increase the risk of zoonotic outbreaks spreading at an unprecedented pace. Similarly, disease transmission from humans and poultry to wild animals is also expected to be facilitated via wild pets, leading to conservation problems. Several studies have highlighted the risk posed by wildlife city markets for cross-species disease transmission, ignoring the risk associated with widespread pet ownership of wild animals poached locally in rural areas. Given its geographic and social dimensions, a holistic approach is required to reduce this illegal activity as well as to strengthen health surveillance of seized individuals and people in close contact with poached pets, which would benefit both people and wildlife. **KEYWORDS:** poaching, zoonoses, spillover, wildlife markets, illegal wildlife trade, parrots **METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION** Please refer to the Methods section and Supplementary Information of the related article. **DATA & FILE OVERVIEW** This data repository consists on the following files: •            Word document containing information on each file and instructions for use (README.docx). •            CSV document containing raw data concerning the sampling effort; details described in metadata section (Sampling_effort.csv) •            CSV document containing raw data for informal interviews; details are described in “Metadata” section (Informal_interviews.csv) ·       CSV document containing raw data concerning native species found as pet and their numbers; details described in “Metadata” section (Native_pets.csv) ·       CSV document containing raw data concerning exotic species found as pet and their numbers; details described in “Metadata” section (Exotic_pets.csv) **Metadata** **CSV document containing raw data** **concerning the sampling effort (Sampling_effort.csv). This data describes the time interval over which surveys were conducted, including the specific years, the total number of kilometers travelled during road surveys and the number of houses in which wild-caught pets were found in each of the 15 Neotropical countries sampled.** Number of variables: 5 Number of cases/rows: 15 Variables description: * Country: Name of countries sampled. * Time interval: Period when the surveys were conducted. * Years of sampling: Different years when surveys were conducted. * Road survey (Km): Number of Km surveyed in each country. * Number of houses: Number of houses where we have found wild-caught pets. **CSV document containing raw data** **for informal interviews (Informal_interviews.csv). This data describes the number of people consulted per country during informal interviews on ownership or knowledge of ownership of wild-caught parrot pets and the responses provided by them.** Number of variables: 6 Number of cases/rows: 10 Variables description: * Country: Name of countries where interviews were conducted. * Total number of people interviewed: Number of people interviewed in this country. * Known somebody who own/ has owned: Number of people which known somebody who own/ has owned wild-caught pets. * % Know somebody who own/owned: Percentage of people which known somebody who own/ has owned wild-caught pets. * Own/has owned: Number of people which own/ has owned wild-caught pets. * % Own/has owned: Percentage of people which own/ has owned wild-caught pets. **CSV document containing raw data** **concerning native species found as pet and their numbers (Native_pets.csv). This data describes the list of wild-caught species found as pets during the large-scale survey conducted in 15 Neotropical countries. Species are given, as well as the number of individuals per species. Where the species is not known, it is indicated to the finest taxonomic level that could be determined. *Species native to the Neotropics but not to the country where they were found as pets. **Non-native species naturalized in the Neotropics and found as wild-caught pets.** Number of variables: 2 Number of cases/rows: 301 Variables description: * Species names of wild-caught pets: Name of species found as wild-caught pets. * Number of individuals: Number of individuals of each species found as wild-caught pets. **CSV document containing raw data** **concerning exotic species found as pet and their numbers (Exotic_pets.csv). This data describes the list of exotic species found as pets during the large-scale survey conducted in 15 Neotropical countries. Species are given, as well as the number of individuals per species. Where the species is not known, it is indicated to the finest taxonomic level that could be determined.** Number of variables: 2 Number of cases/rows: 28 Variables description: * Exotic species found as pet: Name of exotic species found as pets. * Number of individuals: Number of individuals of each exotic species found as pets. **FUNDING** Fundación Loro Parque (SEJI/2018/024), Plan Gent (CIDEGENT/2020/030) and Fundación Biodiversidad (MIMARM 52I.CA2109) funded this Project.