DOI: 10.5061/dryad.5mkkwh7b9
title: Trends in the global trade of live CITES-listed raptors: Trade volumes, spatiotemporal dynamics and conservation implications

description: 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 United Kingdom was the
 largest exporter of live raptors and the United Arab Emirates was the
 largest importer. More affluent countries were likely to import more
 raptors than those less affluent. Larger-bodied diurnal species were
 traded more relative to their smaller-bodied conspecifics. Following the
 introduction of the European Union’s Wild Bird Trade Ban in 2005, the
 number of traded wild-caught raptors declined. Despite its limitations,
 the CITES Trade Database provides an important baseline of the legal trade
 of live raptors for commercial purposes. However, better understanding of
 illegal wildlife trade networks and smuggling routes, both on-the-ground
 and online, are essential for future conservation efforts.
description: 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 have a low chance of survival to adulthood (“R”) (CITES Secretariat and UNEP-WCMC 2022). For the purposes of this study, we combined all records where the “Source” was denoted either by: “C” or “D” and hereafter refer to these as ‘Captive-bred’, and “W” or “R” hereafter ‘Wild-caught’. Taxonomic filtering was applied using the “Search by Taxon” function. The taxonomic orders “FALCONIFORMES” and “STRIGIFORMES” were used to obtain trade records for species within these orders. Species within the families <em>Accipitridae</em>, <em>Cathartidae</em>, <em>Falconidae</em>, <em>Panionidae </em>and <em>Sagittariidae </em>are pooled under the order “FALCONIFORMES” on the CITES Trade Database, and those in the families <em>Strigidae </em>and <em>Tytonidae </em>are pooled under the order “STRIGIFORMES”. For consistency between subgroups, all taxonomies were standardised to species-level, following the Handbook of Birds of the World and BirdLife Taxonomic Checklist v6 (http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/taxonomy). Following geopolitical changes since 1975, we pooled trade records under the former “Serbia and Montenegro” (denoted by ISO Alpha-2 code: CS ex-YU) with records under “Serbia” (RS). Other geopolitical country name changes included “Former Czechoslovakia” (non-ISO code ZC), “Former East Germany” (DD) and “Former Soviet Union” (SU). Trade records under these names were pooled with data for “Czech Republic” (CZ), “Germany” (DE) and “Russian Federation” (RU), respectively.
description: 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 Alpha code for exporting
 CITES party. Origin = Origin CITES party (ISO2 Alpha code) of traded taxa
 prior to being re-exoported. Importer reported quantity = Reported
 quantity imported by the importing CITES party. Exporter reported quantity
 = Reported quantity exported by the exporting CITES party.
 corrected_imports = Completed data column, without missing values, where
 "Importer reported quantity" is copied over and NAs replaced by
 "Exporter reported quantity". corrected_exports = Completed data
 column, without missing values, where "Exporter reported
 quantity" is copied over and NAs replaced by "Importer reported
 quantity". estimated_trade_volume = Larger of the two
 ("corrected_imports" and "corrected_exports") taken
 and used to estimate the total trade volume per trade record. Term = Trade
 term as defined by CITES, e.g., live. Unit = Units relating to the trade
 term, e.g., kilograms. Purpose = Trade purpose as defined by CITES, e.g.,
 T = commercial. Source = Source of traded taxa as defined by CITES, e.g.,
 W = wild-caught.