Our review of the CITES trade database confirmed that the ball python is the most exported species by Togo; with 1,657,814 live individuals – comprising 60% of all live reptiles – reported by importing countries since 1978 (almost 55,000 annually since 1992). In total, 99% of the ball pythons legally exported from Togo under CITES were intended for commercial use, presumably as exotic pets. Since the turn of the century, wild-sourced snakes exported from Togo have been largely replaced with ranched snakes, to the extent that in the last 10 years 95% of these live exports were recorded using CITES source code “R” with the majority destined for the USA. We found discrepancies in the CITES trade database that suggest ball python exports were consistently underestimated by Togo and that both ranched and wild-sourced ball python annual quotas have been exceeded on multiple occasions including as recently as 2017. Furthermore, our field visits to seven of these “python farms” revealed that they are also involved in the commercial trade in at least 46 other reptile species, including eight that are already involved in formal CITES trade reviews due to concerns regarding their sustainability and legality. Ranching operations in West Africa were once thought to provide a degree of protection for the ball python; however, in light of recent research, there is growing concern that ranching may not confer any significant net conservation benefits. Further scrutiny and research are required to ensure the long-term survival of wild ball python and other reptile species populations in Togo.

中文翻译：

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投注农场：西非多哥的Ball Python和其他爬行动物贸易回顾

我们对《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》贸易数据库的审查证实，球形蟒蛇是多哥出口最多的物种。自1978年以来，进口国报告了1,657,814个活体个体，占所有活体爬行动物的60％（自1992年以来，每年近55,000个）。总体而言，根据《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》从多哥合法出口的球形蟒蛇，有99％用于商业用途，大概是作为外来宠物。自本世纪初以来，从多哥出口的野生蛇在很大程度上已被牧场蛇所取代，以致在过去十年中，这些活出口中的95％使用CITES源代码“ R”记录下来，其中大部分以美国。我们在CITES贸易数据库中发现差异，这表明多哥始终低估了球蟒的出口量，而且直到2017年都多次超过了牧场和野生来源的球蟒的年度配额。此外，我们实地考察了七个这些“蟒蛇养殖场”显示，它们也参与了至少46种其他爬行动物物种的商业贸易，其中包括8种由于担心其可持续性和合法性而已参与正式CITES贸易审查的物种。曾经认为在西非的牧场活动可为蟒蛇提供一定程度的保护；但是，根据最近的研究，人们越来越担心牧场可能不会带来任何重大的净养护效益。