:It is difficult to acquire some of this information from many people in this day and age. Take the previous thread in regards to Northern Pines. Why would anyone keep secrets of bloodlines? Does leave one to speculate.



Since I'd hate for you to utilize precious capacity to speculate on something as simple as my motives when there is actual stock to run down, let me shed a little light on your last insinuation. The reason the breeder with the NC pines name was not posted in the lower thread is respect for his desire to maintain a low profile. I'll grant that is ONLY my perception but better safe than sorry. If use of MY judgment offends such is life. If however you'd like to find out who the mistery breeder is do a search of this forum and its archives like I did. Subject mater should suffice; he posts here frequently enough to be found. As a hint he lives in the town the Andy Griffin Show was based on. That wont help you find him but it'll help you know you've found the right guy. Another tidbit for ya! I was just told that Bart Bruno (who's been a pit locality buff since Noah was a first mate) has maintained NC pines in the past and still might. If not, I'm sure he at least can put you onto a very hot trail. Actually Bart's likely the biggest tree in the woods here so you might want to bark in his direction first. (Just trying to keep with the "bubba" thing.)



The third little bit of info I'll share is a guy named Ricky Waters. He has been legally collecting northerns in South Carolina for years and should be able to put you in touch with those working with these lines or even get you some fresh caught stock. I personally I wouldn't remove another pair of pines from the wild because I wasn't cool with the locality "data" of the current captive population but then your priorities might be different.



WARNING:

ONLY PROSEED BEYOND THIS POINT IF YOU HAVE A SENCE OF HUMOR!



Actually I think I'm coming around on this locality thing. Lets just let the past achievements of the herpetocultural movement fall to the wayside and initiate a new wave of collecting to replace existing captive stocks. They do, after all, lack sufficient data and are therefor subject to be impure, crossed, hybridized abominations. With a digital camera, hand held GPS and third part witness anyone could document for prosperity the exact pattern and local of all new founder stock! We could implant subsequent captive-bred generations with ID chips and submit records to a central agency who would maintain an online relational data-base. One hundred years from now, locality enthusiasts using portable wireless hand net navigators, will be able to log onto a site and download 3D holographic images, extrapolated from the original pic files, of the great great great great great great great parents of locality stock before purchasing animals at a show!



Wait a minute I see a potential problem with this whole scenario. It might shed light on how much phenotypes change due to things like genetic drift associated with small founding populations and the tendency of breeders to select for characteristics they find attractive or interesting but have no bearing on the original environment from which the founder stock was removed. Some 21-century locality heretic might have the nerve to suggest that after X number of generations captivity becomes the locality and spark a whole new revolution. Stop which way is up?



Breath deep, gain control, THINK THINK………I have it!!! Perhaps……… we just might be able to devise some type of logarithmic virus to infect the pic files. The virus would anticipate the effects of unnatural selection overtime gradually altering the image so that none are the wiser and everyone would live happily ever after.



Gentlemen, I'm pretty much through here. I've had a little fun a few laughs felt I made my point and at the same time learned to be aware of a more fundamental view. One point made by Mr. Cherry is that in the end we'll all need to stick together to preserve our rights to enjoy these animals. Couldn't agree with that more than if I said it myself.

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