Data gathered from CITES Trade Database by Outforia indicate that since 1975, Ghana has exported 6.1 million live animals. Curiously, the python, over 2 million, is Ghana’s most traded animal. According to the data sighted by this portal, El Salvador (19.2m) is the country with the highest export of live animals. The Central American country is followed by China (16.0m), USA (12.8m), Colombia (11.7m) and South Africa (10.6m) in the Top 5. On the other end of the log, Albania (64) is the country least engaged in wildlife trade. It is followed by The Gambia (69) and Nepal (80). Iguana is the most traded animal with 34 million exports in total since 1975.
“Although some were transported to zoos, as investigated below, green iguanas are the most popular imported exotic pet in many countries,” Outforia said in its report released on Friday, November 12. “The influx in the iguana trade reached its peak in 1995, when 3 million iguanas were exported worldwide. However, the result of the craze was that most kept as pets died before reaching one year old. “Since the 1990s the amount of iguanas exported worldwide has decreased. From 2017-2019 the average number of exported iguanas per annum was over 200,000.”