Have you ever stumbled upon an animal while browsing the web that made you say, I want one. For many of you, this immediate obsession can be remedied by thorough research and preparation followed by a trip to the pet store. For others though, specifically those experienced pet enthusiasts looking for something rare and challenging, it isn't that simple and for good reason. With pet trade being an international industry, we need a global regulation to protect vulnerable species. So enters sighties. Or the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora, an international agreement between 183 governments with the aims of policing wildlife trade and keeping threatened species off the auction block. This is accomplished by listing vulnerable species under three categories, appendix 1, 2 and 3. Each appendix is clearly defined under article 2 of the agreement. Appendix 1 lists species that have been identified as being threatened with extinction and entails strict regulation in regards to trade and exportation. Exemptions and conditions for exportation are laid out in article 3 of the agreement. A few examples of appendix 1 species are the Asian-Iarwana, a gave parviflora, and Mexican populations Vantillo-Copra Americana. Appendix 2 entails species that are not currently threatened with extinction but could become so due to collection of wild specimens. Additionally, the appendix consists of plants and animals that may not be threatened themselves but have a correlation to the irresponsible collection of threatened species. To better understand this, let's pretend that there are two different species of fish, fish A and fish B. They look almost identical as juveniles but fish A is a threatened species and fish B is plentiful. In order to keep juvenile fish of the species A from entering the market due to misidentification as species B, both fish may appear in appendix 2. Hopefully that scenario helped to illustrate the reasoning behind this. All regulations regarding trade of species in this appendix can be found in article 4. One example of an appendix 2 species is the fly river turtle. Appendix 3 consists of species that are protected in at least one country and indicates that the member nation has requested assistance from other sighties parties in regulating trade and exportation of the species. One example of this is the walrus with Canada being the concerned party. Article 5 lays out the trade regulations pertaining to this appendix. So when you come across a species that is classified under a sighties appendix, what should you do? If you are insisting on keeping the animal or plant, check the notes in the appendix. Some species are permitted in their domesticated form or in the event that a domesticated form does not exist. The species may only be listed as threatened in a single geographic locality, meaning the animal can be kept so long that it does not originate from the specified area. Just remember to be responsible. Don't buy illicitly traded animals. Buy captive bread when you can and always check your local laws. You can learn more and view the listed species database by visiting www.cites.org.