It would be a great trip... we should put one together sometime. I am not a great birder ( I don't keep a life list), but I do enjoy doing it! It can get difficult to blend the two herping and birding as one practice has you looking up while the other has you looking down....LOL....


I was referring more to the attitudes of US universities and zoos towards private herp collections. The general public tends to view private collectors as oddities for that matter. My guess is that much like the current attempts to ban all boidae in FL, most laws on the books regarding keeping and searching for wild herps owe their origins to irresponsible, thoughtless, and careless behavior of a few.

Wow...I degress.

venting.......


One of the attitudes that really bothers many good Mexican officials is the "any thing can be bought for the right price" reputation. These days the permits that get issued to collect are typically for Zoos or Universities. If you applied to get collecting permits and you listed your reasons for needed the animals as "we need more genetic variety in our private collections" my guess is you would probably not get too far.

In part I think that at one time there was a real cowboy attitude among folks crossing into Mexico and collecting (private, zoo, and university) with out regard for Mexico's natural heritage. I think at some point Mexico just got tired of it and said no more! I heard stories of one university fellow who would actively falsify and doctor his permits to get what he wanted......



It is kind of tough to be told as a private keeper that this species or that species is off limits and then see them hit by cars, chopped up by locals, graded under to make room for houses and parking lots, etc.......

I think we have ourselves to blame. We have not as a whole been very responsible with "keeping various herps as genetic reservoirs to be used in the event of catastrophic loss in the wild". Just look at what a mess we have made of some of the most sensitive forms like P. ruthveni, P. melanoluecus!

If you drive through some of the well known herping locals out west you will find really obvious habitat destruction at the hands of herp collectors. Most current evidence indicates that when you pop off cap rock, tear up rock piles, peel bark, shred stumps, flip logs, etc., that habitat is lost for future generations of herps! So the collector not only removes that animal but also opportunities for other animals to live in those features.

I had an old collector once tell me that he picked up over 200 wild box turtles in one day with his friend and sold them for $2 bucks apiece for the pet trade. I have to tell you that really saddened me!

Is it any wonder herpers have a bad name?

We have to as a group (private collectors), police ourselves, behave responsibly, and educate those coming up so that at some point we can be taken seriously.

I am totally off topic and my coffee cup is empty and I have been rambling and ranting so....................


cheers,
jg

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