The Impact of Wildlife Trade on Tarantulas

October is for spiders. Whether its Halloween decorations or the very real occupation of my Portland, Oregon porch by cross orb weavers, spiders abound this time of year. Normally, this moment passes with hardly a nod to either the important role that spiders of all kinds play in their ecosystems or the threats that some spiders face from the pet trade. This October might be different for those of us whose work addresses illegal wildlife trade.

In November, at the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP20) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, tarantulas will be a topic of conversation, and hopefully conservation. During these CITES meetings, which take place every 2-3 years, States from around the world—all 185 that have ratified CITES—gather to make decisions about species that require the treaty’s protection and address implementation and enforcement challenges.

The CITES agenda includes 51 species proposals, including a proposal from Bolivia, Argentina, and Panama to list the Chilean rose hair tarantula (Grammostola rosea) and many other similar tarantula species on Appendix II of the Convention. For those who may not be familiar, Appendix II provides protections for species that are not necessarily currently threatened with extinction but may become so in the absence of controls regulating trade. The proposal indicates that these countries are concerned that the pet trade is driving significant international trade that threatens the conservation status of the Chilean rose hair tarantula. In fact, the United States alone has imported hundreds of thousands of tarantulas from the genus Grammostola since 2000.

Many, many more tarantulas are likely illegally traded due to demand and because they can be easily concealed, often packaged and sent by post or courier service. In July 2025, German customs officials seized 1,500 tarantulas packed into cake boxes.

It is clear that these furry arachnids require CITES protections, and it is also clear that trade in tarantulas raises enforcement challenges. The proposal attempts to address this issue by requesting not only the listing of the Chilean rose hair tarantula, which meets the criteria for listing based on threats to its conservation status, but also the listing of 14 other species as “look-alike” species.

The proposal highlights an important precautionary feature of CITES. According to Article II of the Convention, a species may be included in Appendix II when it might become threatened due to international trade or when the species resembles an already listed species such that enforcement challenges might arise. In this proposal, the Chilean rose hair tarantula might become threatened due to international trade and so the proponents argue it should be included in Appendix II. The proposal asks that 14 other tarantula species should be included in Appendix II because those other species look enough like the Chilean rose hair that failure to list them could result in the mislabeling and laundering of the Chilean rose hair tarantula.

The Global Law Alliance for Animals and the Environment (GLA) supports the Latin American tarantula proposal. It is one of the many proposals that our team is ready to provide legal and advocacy support for during COP20 in Uzbekistan. In addition to supporting species proposals, GLA provides legal advice as needed to wildlife protection organizations on a range of implementation, compliance and enforcement issues, and we will be busy: The COP20 agenda includes over 100 proposals for actions such as integrating One Health policies and addressing zoonotic disease risks, closing loopholes in the treaty text, and reviewing national legislation.

Clinical Professor Erica Lyman has over fifteen years of experience in international environmental law, with a strong focus on wildlife protection issues. She is the Director of GLA. Launched in the fall of 2020, GLA is an innovative collaboration of the Center for Animal Law Studies and the top-ranked Environmental Law Program at Lewis & Clark Law School. GLA champions wild animals and wild spaces around the world. Law students (JD and LLM) actively participate in GLA’s work for academic credit. She also teaches Global Wild Animal Law in the online Animal Law advanced degree program.

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) was founded in 2008 with a mission to educate the next generation of animal law advocates and advance animal protection through the law. With vision and bold risk-taking, CALS has since developed into a world-renowned animal law epicenter. CALS’ Alumni-in-Action from 30 countries are making a difference for animals around the world. CALS is a self-funded Center within the law school operating under the Lewis & Clark College 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and is able to provide these educational opportunities through donations and grants.