We did take wild wolves from the wild. They are now domestic dogs. I am not saying that monitor's will eventually evolve into domestic varanids just making sure that is clear to you.

Oh and farming is generally much more detrimental than wild caught for the native animal. I will leave it to you to figure out why.

I will just reiterate...I would be very very careful siding with the animal rights wackos and persue or support legislation in this regard. It wont go well, I guarantee it. It wont go well for our hobby, for many people's livelihood in the US and more importantly for people in the reptile's countries of origin. Oh and it wont go well for the reptiles either. Take away their value and they will go away...fast. It is their value to humans as pets and the goods they can make and the food they provide that ensures their survival.

I wont even go into how critical these monitors are for the ecomony of many of the places they come from (mostly leather and meat, but the pet trade too). How fortunate for them we have silly hobbies and so spoiled we spend our money on it. They are worrying about eating.

It is a shame many monitors die terribly. That sucks. I am all for supporting those places that do their best to ensure proper care throughout the process (i.e. pro-exotics). But keep the gov't out of this.

CITES is a relatively new process. Has it helped any wildlife? Does the classification system really make sense? No and No. Just like welfare has increased the poor population, it WONT WORK. Just like domestic farm subsidies have increased starvation around the world, it WONT WORK.

By the way, if you think that 90% of domestic dogs are not bred from and into misery you are very mistaken. Maybe outlaw domestic dogs too. See where this will lead?

Tom

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