More than half of Japan’s animal cafes house exotic species: study
- The popularity of such cafes could threaten conservation efforts and heighten the risk of animal-borne diseases, the same study found
- Some animals in cafes may have been trafficked from illegal wildlife trade, given no record of their trade in the CITES database
Some 60 per cent of animal cafes in Japan deal with exotic species restricted by international trade laws, raising fears that their popularity may not just threaten their conservation, but may also heighten the risk of animal-borne diseases, a recent study found.
There were 137 such stores as of 2019, with the popularity of the cafes and demand for the animals potentially triggering overhunting in their native habitats, according to the study by institutions including France’s Sorbonne University and non-governmental organisation Traffic, which is headquartered in Britain. The cafes allow customers to pet animals, such as owls or hedgehogs, or watch them up close.
“We need to implement measures whereby an animal’s biology and behavioural characteristics are given the utmost consideration, and only educational facilities such as zoos are allowed” to keep them, said Yumiko Okamoto of Traffic, established by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the International Union for Conservation of Nature to monitor the trade of wild animals and plants.
The study found the cafes exhibited 419 different species and 3,793 individual animals, of which nine species and 53 animals were banned from being traded under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES, due to their endangered status.
They included the grey parrot and slow loris, a type of primate.
Another 241 species and 2,498 individuals, including the fennec fox, require permission from the exporting country.