Geckos comprise over 1,800 species worldwide and face dual threats from habitat destruction and the illegal pet trade. Their welfare in both wild and captive settings deserves greater attention given the scale of global gecko trafficking.
Wild geckos face welfare threats from both habitat loss and collection for the pet trade. Capture methods - often involving trapping or manual collection - cause acute stress, injury, and high mortality during transit. Wild-caught geckos brought into captivity face the severe stress of an entirely alien environment with foreign temperatures, substrates, and food availability. Many die within weeks of capture from stress, disease, or inappropriate husbandry. In their natural habitat, geckos face growing pressure from deforestation, pesticide use eliminating their insect prey, and climate change altering temperature patterns critical to their thermoregulation and reproduction.