Thailand — Wild Animal Conservation and Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019): exotic-pet possession & trade
Source: Wild Animal Conservation and Protection Act, B.E. 2562 (2019) (DNP Thailand, official English text), retrieved 2026-07-30. Thailand classifies wild animals into three regulatory tiers; many exotic ("wild") animals kept as pets fall under "conserved" or "controlled" wild animals and are subject to possession-notification and trade restrictions. This P2/P3 topic covers the definitional tiers, the possession-notification duty, and the penalty regime.
Regulatory framework
Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)
“conserved wild animal” means a rare wild animal or an endangered wild animal, which entails strict conservation and preservation, as provided in this Act(EN: Definition of "conserved wild animal" (rarest / endangered tier) — Act, definitions.)“protected wild animal” means a wild animal which is essential for the ecosystem or of which the population has a tendency to decrease to the extent likely to affect the ecosystem, as provided in this Act(EN: Definition of "protected wild animal" — Act, definitions.)“controlled wild animal” means a wild animal which is afforded protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and any other wild animal necessitating appropriate control measures, as provided in this Act(EN: Definition of "controlled wild animal" — includes CITES-listed species — Act, definitions.)Section 12. A person shall not hunt conserved wild animals or protected wild animals.(EN: Absolute prohibition on hunting conserved/protected wild animals — s.12.)Section 19. Any person who intends to have in possession controlled wild animals under section 9 of the kinds prescribed in the Notification of the Minister or carcasses of such wild animals shall notify the possession to the competent official(EN: Possession-notification duty for prescribed controlled wild animals — s.19.)liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or to a fine not exceeding one million Baht or to both.(EN: Penalty for offences involving carcasses of protected wild animals (and conserved/protected violations) — penalty section.)