Spain moves towards a positive list of pets: what will happen with exotic animals

Law 7/2023 on the protection of animal rights and welfare introduced a key change of approach in Spain: instead of assuming that every exotic animal can be a pet, only those species included in a future positive list of companion animals will be explicitly allowed. In 2025, the competent Ministry has taken a further step by submitting the draft Royal Decree that develops this list for public consultation.

The positive list will function as a catalog of species authorized to live in a home, both domestic and exotic. To decide which animals can be included, welfare criteria will be taken into account (whether the species can lead an acceptable life in a domestic environment), public safety, health risk and possible impact on biodiversity in case of escape or release.

For people who already live with exotic pets, the text proposes a transition period and mechanisms to regularize the situation of animals acquired legally before the list comes into force. The idea is not to cause mass surrenders of animals, but to prevent new species from being incorporated that, due to their needs or danger, should not be kept as companions.

The positive list adds to other obligations already in force, such as identification and registration of companion animals, the ban on selling pets online or the strengthening of sanctions for abandonment and mistreatment. In the case of exotics, the ban on releases into the natural environment is also recalled, as well as the need to have documentation proving their legal origin.

Although it is an evolving process, everything indicates that in the coming years it will be much easier to know which species can be kept at home without conflict with regulations and which are definitively excluded. At AtlasFauna we will break down the content of the positive list and offer practical guides for those who already live with exotic animals or are considering incorporating them into their lives, always with a clear idea: not every wild species is, nor should be, a pet.