# @centerforbiodiv on Instagram - **Type:** Image - **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DSdU-hdjVzv - **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/38149144-centerforbiodiv-instagram - **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/ed4948a436.jpg - **Posted:** 2025-12-19T20:21:12.000+00:00 - **Account Owner:** Center for Biological Diversity (@CenterForBioDiv) β€” https://gondola.cc/CenterForBioDiv ## Caption Tell Petco and PetSmart: Don’t Sell Wildlife! Every year about 90 million amphibians, arachnids, birds, aquarium fish, mammals, and reptiles are imported and funneled into the U.S. pet trade, according to a Center for Biological Diversity report. About a third of them are taken directly out of their wild habitats to supply the trade β€” and many are threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, partly due to overcollection for the pet trade. To buy these animals, you don't even need to browse the black market. It can be as easy as walking into a nearby pet store. Wildlife exploitation, including the pet trade, is a major driver of the global extinction crisis. The United States is one of the world's largest exotic pet markets, taking wildlife from biodiversity hotspots in Southeast Asia and South America to live caged in someone's home. And it's the world's largest consumer in the multibillion-dollar aquarium trade β€” fish like guppies, tetras, and bettas. While novel colors and unique (and often rare) species trend big, the cost to the wild often goes unnoticed. That's why addressing the U.S. exotic pet trade is crucial to saving global biodiversity. And companies can have a big impact in the fight. Tell Petco and PetSmart to adopt a simple policy that would make a world of difference for wildlife: Don't sell wild-caught animals or species that the IUCN says are threatened with extinction. Head to the link in our bio and select this post! 🐟🦎 [Image description: Close up of a brown ball python looking to the right of the camera. Only the snake's head and a few inches below it are visible in the shot. The background behind it is blurred out and green.] #ExoticPetTrade #ExoticPet #WildlifeConservation #EndangeredSpecies #Aquarium #Python ## Stats - **Views:** 0 - **Likes:** 434 - **Shares:** 0 - **Comments:** 6 ## Tags aquarium, exoticpettrade, wildlifeconservation, python, exoticpet, endangeredspecies --- Copyright (c) Gondola