The U.S. is home to the world’s highest diversity of salamander species, many of which are thought to be susceptible to the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans or ‘Bsal’ for short. In response, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imposed a ban on the trade of 201 salamander species in 2016. However, the recent discovery that frogs can also carry Bsal has led scientists to urge the American government to ban the import of all salamander and frog species.

On this episode of the podcast, host Mike DiGirolamo speaks with Priya Nanjappa, former Program Manager for the Association of Fish and Wildlife agencies, and Tiffany Yap, a Staff Scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, about animal trade policy, differences in the way the United States conducts this policy from other nations, and what the U.S. might do to more effectively combat the threat.

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More reading from Mongabay on this topic:

• On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer
  Scientists are racing to stop a pandemic before it starts – but will they find it in time?
• Super-spreaders: How the curious life of a newt could ignite a pandemic
  Their susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their mobility mean eastern newts could act as “super-spreaders” of Bsal if the fungus gets to North America.
• View Mongabay’s whole series on Bsal here
• United States Bsal Task Force website

If you missed episode 1 of this series, listen to our conversation with Dr. Karen Lips, “Are we ready?” here:

Episode 2 discussed the huge salamander diversity in North America, and the U.S. in particular, and explored reasons for this great richness:

The third episode discusses how researchers are searching for Bsal:

Episode four discussed how Canada, the U.S., and Mexico are working together to manage and mitigate the damage of the potential pandemic.

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