ArticlePloS one2017
Investigating the impact of media on demand for wildlife: A case study of Harry Potter and the UK trade in owls.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Exploring public perceptions of owl species in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Implications for conservation management.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2025Article
- Exotic pets in Ireland: 1. Prevalence of ownership and access to veterinary services.Irish veterinary journal · 2021Article
- Wildlife and Newspaper Reporting in Iran: A Data Analysis Approach.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Pet primates for sale in the United States.PloS one · 2021Article
- On the Record: An Analysis of Exotic Pet Licences in the UK.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2020Article
- Article
- Article
- A viral video and pet lemurs on Twitter.PloS one · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In recent decades, a substantial number of popular press articles have described an increase in demand for certain species in the pet trade due to films such as "Finding Nemo", "Ninja turtles", and "Harry Potter". Nevertheless, such assertions are largely supported only by anecdotal evidence. Given the role of the wildlife trade in the spread of pathogens and zoonosis, the introduction of invasive species, the overexploitation of biodiversity, and the neglect of animal welfare, it is crucial to understand what factors drive demand for a species. Here, we investigate the effect the movie industry may have on wildlife trade by examining the relationship between the "Harry Potter" cultural phenomenon and the trade in owls within the United Kingdom (UK). We gathered data from the UK box office, book sales, and newspaper mentions, and examined their relationship with data from three independent sources reflecting the legal ownership of owls in the UK, which is likely to involve several thousands of animals. Additionally, we conducted a questionnaire survey with UK animal sanctuaries to study the presumed mass abandonment of pet owls when the film series ended. Counter to common assertions, we find no evidence that the "Harry Potter" phenomenon increased the legal trade in owls within the UK, even when possible time-lag effects were taken into account. Only one indicator, the number of movie tickets sold, showed a weak but contradictory relationship with demand for owls, with a recorded drop of 13% (95% CI: 3-27%) per 1 SD in tickets sold in the original analysis but an increase of 4% (95% CI: 0-8%) with a one-year lag. In addition, our results suggest that the end of the Harry Potter series did not have a noticeable impact on the number of owls abandoned in UK wildlife sanctuaries, as only two of the 46 animal sanctuaries we contacted independently stated they had seen an increase in owls received and believed this was due to the Harry Potter series. We highlight the importance of further research on the drivers of demand for wildlife to better manage this global trade, and discuss the potential to use films to positively influence behaviour.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.