Scottish Herpetile Caring Laws Under Siege

The SSPCA, OneKind and Born Free have proposed a pet-friendly "white list" to influence the Scottish Government into making ground-breaking legislation.

In Scotland, the exact number of exotic pet owners is a mystery.

Unlike the DWA, Dangerous Wildlife Animal, licence, which registers your appearance on obtaining, private keepers are not documented.

There are 9 local authorities that release licences,14 registered DWA keepers in Scotland and 255 animals under said licences.

DWA Evidence In The UK, 2024

What Are "White Lists"?

White lists (or positive lists) are the naming of certain animals that are permitted to be cared for in our homes.

Any animals not on the list will be banned to trade or keep.

Whilst an animal is shown on the list, an individual will need to show evidence of good animal welfare, in a household, as part of the law.

Bearded Dragon agama barbata - Popular Pet Species in the UK

The SSPCA say

"that a permitted list would:

• Prevent animal suffering

• Educate owners

• Reduce pressure on rescues

• Improve public safety

• Provide a clear, enforceable system"

Why now?

This year marks the 20th year of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and groups have determined that there needs to be a review of this dated legislation.

With the local UK elections passing in May, 2026, there was an emphasis to persuade parties and politicians with new legislation ideas.

Scottish Parliament Building In Edinburgh

According to this year's SSPCA manifesto, that by July 2025:

"Calls to give up pets had risen by almost 20%;

Over 44,000 pet meals had been provided to struggling owners through our Pet Aid initiative;

17,000+ rescue jobs had been completed;

More than 7,400 investigations had been conducted."

"Don't Pet Me" is an ongoing campaign that started in May 2025.

Born Free are one of the main charities promoting the campaign and say on their website that they are

"calling on the Scottish Government to introduce tighter regulations around the trade in and keeping of wild animals as pets, leading the way within the UK."

Reports have been made by the above charities in order to back their claims of dwindling animal welfare and unethical pet trading in Scotland.

Opposing Camp

Responsible Reptile Keeping (RRK) and Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association (OATA) are the main counter-balances to this argument.

Also, the community of Scottish private carers and exotic pet shops are against the lists.

This industry is the livelihood of so many people in Scotland.

Opposing Group to Positive Lists

Tony Wigley from RRK states that the animal rights campaigner's

"aim is to stop us (the public) keeping them because they don't agree with it....

"overemphasise the risk of reptiles becoming invasive and they do this to scaremonger politicians and legislators into creating overreaching legislation".

On the RRK website they say that

"Despite the claims of lobbyists, there is no evidence base showing that positive lists lead to better outcomes, and there has been a woeful lack of scientific rigour when constructing lists of allowed species.

Decisions about which species to allow and which to ban are often ideological and poorly evidenced, creating laws that lack scientific foundations and a regulatory overreach that is impossible to enforce."

OATA say on their website

"We believe education not pet bans are the key to happier and healthier pets, and their owners.

Help us to spread the word to politicians that they should say no to pet bans and positive lists and look at ways to improve pet owner education."

Any middle ground?

There is more independent research being done on the exotic pet trade and pet keeping industry in Scotland by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission and they will release their report by the end of this year.