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Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions of Pet Amphibian Owners About Biosecurity Practices

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Abstract

Global trade has been linked with the emergence of novel pathogens and declines in amphibian populations worldwide. The potential for pathogen transmission within and between collections of captive amphibians and spillover to wild populations makes it important to understand the motivations, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of pet amphibian owners. We surveyed US pet amphibian owners to understand their characteristics and evaluated whether and how they were associated with behavioral intentions to adopt biosecurity practices. We found that the majority of pet amphibian owners are aware of the threat of emerging pathogens, concerned about potential spillover of pathogens from captive to wild populations and willing to adopt biosecurity practices to mitigate pathogen threats. Intentions to adopt such practices were driven more by psychosocial constructs such as attitudes, perceptions and beliefs than demographic characteristics. Pet amphibian owners also expressed a strong interest in acquiring, and willingness to pay a price premium for, certified disease-free animals. These findings advance our understanding of the characteristics, motivations and behaviors of pet owners, a key stakeholder in global amphibian trade, which could help to inform new policies and outreach strategies to engage them in mitigating pathogen threats. Moreover, our results imply the economic viability of a market-based program to promote pathogen-free, sustainable trade of amphibians.

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Notes

  1. Throughout the manuscript, “the pathogens” and “amphibian pathogens” refer to Bd, Bsal and Rv.

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Funding

This study received funding support from University of Tennessee, One Health Initiative and National Science Foundation (Grant # 2207922).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Resources, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Kevin Cavasos, Neelam C. Poudyal & Matthew J. Gray

  2. School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA

    Jesse L. Brunner

  3. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Alexa R. Warwick

  4. Pet Advocacy Network, Alexandria, VA, 22314, USA

    Joshua Jones

  5. Reptiles By Mack, Xenia, OH, 45385, USA

    Neil Moherman & Mark George

  6. Josh’s Frogs, Owosso, MI, 48867, USA

    Joshua D. Willard & Zachary T. Brinks

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  1. Kevin Cavasos
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  10. Matthew J. Gray
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Neelam C. Poudyal.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This study was reviewed and approved by the University of Tennessee Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects’ Research (approval # UTK-IRB-21-06494-XM).

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Informed consent was obtained from the participants who chose to participate in this study.

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Cavasos, K., Poudyal, N.C., Brunner, J.L. et al. Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions of Pet Amphibian Owners About Biosecurity Practices. EcoHealth 20, 194–207 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-023-01645-8

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