People are collecting illegal tarantulas "like they're Pokemon"

"People collect spiders a bit like people collect Pokemon – they want to 'catch 'em all'," says University of Hong Kong biologist Alice Hughes. She's referring to the booming global trade in tarantulas, much of which is entirely illegal. Through online forums, collectors seek out specimens in a variety of colors, sizes, and species, supporting a global industry of tarantula poachers. Unfortunately, many of these spiders—such as some native to India and Sri Lanka—are "highly susceptible to extinction."

From the BBC News:


Keeping tarantulas as pets, however, doesn't seem to be what's currently driving the trade market. Some 43% of tarantula species are traded as souvenirs (for mounting and framing post-mortem), as research tools, and for medicine, according to a study. The souvenir market seems to be growing the fastest[…]

There are seemingly endless ways to transport the small invertebrates, making regulating the trade market a complex and potentially untenable endeavour. In 2010, a German man sent hundreds of baby tarantulas packaged in multi-coloured straws via the US Postal Service. In December 2021, Colombian authorities at El Dorado Airport detained two people attempting to smuggle more than 230 tarantulas to Europe in one suitcase.

Hughes says the other reason tarantula trade regulation is challenging is the lack of existing data (ecology, distribution and population trends) on the animals. This also makes it difficult to assess the full impact of the illegal trade on species. There are at least 1,000 known species of tarantula in the world today, and many others have either yet to be catalogued or have been catalogued incorrectly by traders.

Previously:
• Trapdoor Ravine Spider's butt easily mistaken for Oreo cookie
• Dead spiders reanimated as robot grippers in 'necrobotics' breakthrough
• Giant venomous flying spiders headed for New York
• Deadly showdown: Black widow vs. Venus flytrap
• The opening of a Huntsman Spider egg sack will make your skin crawl