Thirdly, what about the people out there doing exactly what you are afraid of. There are people out there (we all know it is happening) that are killing all of their offspring that look just a little too different to be passed off as 100% pure. You are fooling yourself if you think you can tell the difference just by looking.
4. What are you trying to protect? Do you think that John Q. Scientist is going to come to your house and say "Excuse me sir, but we just realized that the entire population of California Kingsnakes is extinct. We know you've been breeding those, and we were wondering if you'd donate some to us to release into the wild." That's not going to happen, because John Q. Scientist has know for a long time what I've just posted. You can't prove that your snakes are 100% pure so they are not going to release them into the wild.
6. So what do I propose we do? I propose we do what the honest ones of us have been doing for the last 30 years. Breed what we think is as close to pure populations as possible and represent them as such. AND when we want something that looks different, breed something together that we think will produce what were after, AND REPRESENT IT AS SUCH. The one place I will agree needs to change is if you cannot sell what you produce because it sucks, CARE FOR IT PROPERLY UNTIL IT DIES. If you are not prepared to do that, then don't do it.
Our hobby is and always has been about the ability to produce and more importantly sell animals that we enjoy looking at and keeping. It isn't and never was about protecting a pure population of animals. Leave that to the experts. They have the knowledge and experience. Now, if you want to hook up with one of them and embark on a real scientific save a species project, I'll be the first to commend you. If you're not, stop acting like you are. And please stop putting other people down and making them feel like less a person and part of our hobby for asking a question. Shane

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