Over 100 countries voted Sunday to ban the trade in the smooth-coated otter. The species has been placed it on the CITES most endangered list.
The proposal was adopted by 102 votes in favour, 15 against and 11 abstentions. The vote took place at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Geneva.
Ecologists say this is vital for the survival of the species which has seen numbers in the wild plummet by at least 30 percent in the past 30 years. The decline has accelerated with the fad in Japan of keeping otters as pets.
Otter cafes have sprung up in Japan offering baby otters for up to $10,000.
Social media blamed for otter danger
Popular Instagrammers posting selfies with their pet otter may simply be seeking to warm the hearts of their sometimes hundreds of thousands of followers. However, animal protection groups say the trend is posing an existential threat to the silky mammal.
“The illegal trade in otters has suddenly increased exponentially,” Nicole Duplaix, who co-chairs the Otter Specialist Group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, told AFP this month.
The smooth-coated otter and the Asian small-clawed otter are already listed as threatened under CITES Appendix II. India, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines are asking that they are moved to Appendix I. This would mean a full international trade ban.
Placing the otters in Appendix I would send the necessary message to the public, and “in particular to online and social media audiences, that trade in them is detrimental to their welfare and survival,” said Sumanth Bindumadhav. Sumanth spoke on behalf of 26 NGOs concerned about endangered species.
The CITES vote on Sunday must still be confirmed at the meeting which continues until Wednesday.
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Read the original story on France24.
