A woman drives a scooter with her dog in Hanoi on December 10, 2021, as Vietnamese officials in the central city of Hoi An announced it was set to be the country's first dog and cat meat free city. (Photo by Nhac Nguyen/AFP Photo)

People watch the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks at the Edge at Hudson Yards on Thursday, July 4, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo)

A dramatic rise in owning exotic pets in China is fuelling global demand for threatened species. The growing trade in alligators, snakes, monkeys, crocodiles and spiders is directly linked to species loss in some of the world’s most threatened ecosystems. Here: A fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) is groomed in a pet store in central Beijing. Native to the Sahara in North Africa, the species became a popular pet after being depicted as a character in Disney’s 2016 animated movie Zootopia. Individuals can cost between $2,000–$3,000. (Photo by Sean Gallagher/The Guardian)

An athlete pulls a 15-tonne truck during a Truck-Pull event marking the upcoming Independence Day in the Belarus capital Minsk, on July 3, 2014. The former Soviet nation celebrates its Independence Day on July 3 in memory of the end of Belarus occupation by Nazi Germany troops during the Red Army main summer offensive in 1944. (Photo by Sergei Gapon/AFP Photo)

This shot, which was announced the winner by the on December 2, 2022 came top in the People and Nature category of the British Ecological Society’s Capturing Ecology photography competition. (Photo by British Ecological Society)

The Rakotzbrücke bridge in the autumnal azalea and rhododendron park in Kromlau in the district of Görlitz, Saxony near the state border with Brandenburg on November 7, 2023. More than four million euros have been invested in the restoration and reconstruction of this Lusatian landmark in recent years. The complex includes the listed group of Rakotzbrücke bridges and the so-called organ made of basalt. Friedrich Hermann Rötschke had these built between 1842 and 1875. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/dpa)

A sun bear reacts to triple-digit temperatures at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, where the temperature reached 103 degrees Fahrenheit on July 6, 2012. (Photo by Nati Harnik/Associated Press)

A ghost glass frog in the Chocó rainforest, Ecuador in November 2020. The marbled swirling “hypnotising” eyes are thought to be helpful in attracting a mate. (Photo by David Weiller/WENN)