The United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced its support for the first significant conservation assessment of Asian snakes. This assessment, released on June 19, 2012 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), adds 348 snake species native to China and Southeast Asia to the IUCN Red List. According to a USFWS press release, Asian snakes are harvested for the skin and food trade, as well as traditional medicine, representing one of the largest under-regulated sectors of the global wildlife trade.
Among the listed species, 103 are categorized as data deficient, meaning insufficient research exists to determine their population health. This data is crucial for assessing conservation status. Reports cited by USFWS indicate declines in some Chinese snake species due to habitat destruction and trade harvesting. However, potential threats to wild populations and trade ramifications are not fully understood. Notable species like the King cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) and Burmese python (Python bivittatus) are listed as vulnerable in their native ranges due to habitat loss, over-exploitation for medicine, and harvesting for food and skins. The Burmese python is also an invasive species in Florida. At the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP15) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in March 2010, the United States and China proposed a technical workshop to address conservation efforts, management, and enforcement issues related to the Asian snake trade. This proposal gained international attention and was adopted at CoP15. USFWS funded the workshop, which was hosted by China in April 2011. The conservation and management recommendations from this workshop are under review and will be detailed at the 2013 CoP16 in Cancun, Mexico.
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