Cautions
‘Ethically sourced’ and its problems:
Many many people label their businesses as Ethically Sourced, and I’m not here to say they are right or wrong. However, everyone has different opinions on what counts as ethical because, naturally, we all have different ethics!
For example, some people think skulls from fur farms are ethical because the remains would have been thrown away otherwise. I, of course, do not count that in my ethics.
This is why it is important to not just read the label and accept it blindly. Think about where you draw your lines and ask questions. Some good questions to ask are:
- Where was this sourced from?
- What is the story behind this?
- Do you have photos of it before it was processed?
- What species is this?
If these questions can’t be answered, or the answers don’t line up, then there are reasons to be cautious about your decision to buy or not.
Species to be cautious of:
Bats
Almost all of the bats currently being traded in the UK are mass imports from Asian countries - killed specifically to sell to the continuously growing vulture culture market.
UK native bats are illegal to collect without an A37 license, and completely illegal to sell, due to wildlife protection laws.
Most sellers trading with bats will say they are ethically sourced via natural deaths. This is almost guaranteed to be a LIE. Smaller sellers, who source by buying from dealers, will likely not know the true source and will trust in what the dealer has told them.
Never trust the source of a bat.
Snakes
Most snakes currently sold in the UK are White-lipped Vipers or Chinese Rat Snakes - these are both killed en-masse to supply the Vulture trade.
Luckily, these are easy to spot. If a seller has multiple snakes, all looking the same - they have been poached. These snakes are almost always in the same S-shaped pose, with ribs looking un-neat and squished.
Some questions you can ask sellers to quickly tell if they are telling the truth about sources:
- What species is this snake?
- Where did it come from? (pet / zoo / reptile shop?)
If a snake has been ethically sourced, the seller will know its species, where it came from, how it was processed, etc.
Cats
You might think a cat skull would be easy to come across - with cats being involved in road collisions, abandoned at vets, pets donated to taxidermists and bone collectors - but there are a large number of domestic cats imported from countries such as China, specifically to supply the demand in the UK.
There are some obvious signs sometimes - cats mass-imported usually have:
- Yellow gunk around the gumline and nose
- Grease staining over the skull
- Evidence of flesh around the ear canal and inside the nose
If the cat skull you are interested in doesn’t have these signs - make sure to ask the seller where they got the skull and what they know about its origins.
Mink
Mink are very commonly farmed for their fur. We have a few wild in the UK, but not a large population by any means.
A lot of mink in the trade are imported from these fur farms.
Be sure to ask the seller questions such as:
- Where did this skull come from?
- Do you have photos of its cleaning process?
There are less obvious signs to look out for with mink. Of course, if a seller has a lot of ‘perfect’ looking mink skulls - that is a red flag for the sourcing.
Be cautious and ask lots of questions!
Fox / raccoon / tanuki
There are a few examples where sellers have mislabelled tanuki skulls as raccoons or foxes. This issue is more prevalent in the USA, but has been happening in the UK too.
Tanuki, or ‘raccoon dogs’, are often farmed for their fur and then imported into the west to be sold as fox or raccoon skulls.
Make sure you are knowledgeable on what these skulls look like - they have some quite obvious differences!
Hornbills
African Hornbills are another very sought after skull where 99% in the UK trade are killed en-masse and imported into the country.
Finding a hornbill for sale sourced from a zoo, or other captive situation, is very very rare and will be expensive.
Much like bats, the best way to avoid funding the poaching of these animals is to never buy one - only people with a high-standing in the vulture culture community, with high-end contacts, will get these skulls from zoo sources. This will not happen very often.
For example, there is only one zoo in the UK that houses red-billed hornbills - ALL of the ones you see for sale will be poached.
Frogs and reptiles
Frogs, lizards, crocodiles, and other reptiles are a huge issue within the vulture culture community when it comes to poaching and importing.
The majority of those for sale have come from poaching sources, not pet shops or zoos or captive breeding.
A key way to tell is the number of specimens a seller has for sale as well as what species they are. For example, flying lizards almost never breed in captivity and will almost always be poached from the wild.
Laws and regulations:
Certain UK species are protected from being sold, and some from even being collected. There are licenses that can be obtained for certain species and some only need a proof of sourcing. For more information, please read this document.
CITES and EU Commission Regulation laws need to be strictly adhered to. Make sure to do your research thoroughly before buying or selling a skull internationally. More information can be found here.