Exotic pet trade in Canada: The influence of social media on public sentiment and behaviour

Abstract

The live trade in wild animals can increase the risk of escape of exotic animals, introduce invasive species, spread zoonotic diseases, over-exploit wild populations, and harm animal welfare. Trade in exotic pets is a particularly understudied issue in Canada. While Canadians generally have pro-environmental attitudes, it is unclear whether this extends to the trade in exotic animals. With most Canadians on social media, we aimed to use Natural Language Processing of social data to examine public sentiment towards exotic pet trade in Canada. We analysed 9,274 posts on Twitter (now 'X') about exotic pets between 2012 and 2022, and 150,236 comments from 2568 TikTok videos showing exotic pets from 50 unique Canadian accounts. We found that social media users demonstrate markedly positive attitudes towards the live trade in reptiles and amphibians, mammals, birds, and arachnids and insects, even on TikTok videos showing poor animal care and questionable legality. We propose a conceptual framework for how exotic pet influencers directly and indirectly contribute to increased demand for exotic pets through opinion leadership, sharing information on where to buy exotic pets, and normalising exotic pet ownership. We suggest that it is important to raise public awareness among social media users about the challenges associated with wildlife trade, including animal welfare considerations, and the links between exotic pet trade and conservation.