I know we can help with conservation efforts. I just meant I'd never heard of anyone using captive raised herps to reintroduce. I'm not saying it's impossible either. I don't know that a hobbyist might not be the last person to have a certain species someday. I do think there wouldn't be any habitat for reintroduction if that happens though.

PS: Certainly there's hobbyists who release specimens into the wild, but that probably isn't a good idea. Populations have been started by people releasing specimens into the wild, but that probably isn't what we're talking about here.

TC



>>"I do think it might be possible for a hobbyist to help a conservation project, just never heard of it ever happening."
>>
>>Hobbyist can go on tours where they help count sea turtle eggs. Simple example but this shows that they can follow instructions. Also shows that there are functions that can be performed where one doesn't need years of schooling. I am not envisioning hobbyist doing everything on their own. The scientists and biologists themselves are not doing reintroductions on their own. They do it under an agency, in many cases the cooperation of more than one agency is involved. I am not talking about hobbyists doing it all, from begining to end, by themselves. Not even the scientists are doing it by themselves. All I am talking about is, could a hobbyist's animals be used in a reintroduction. I think the answer is yes. As long as the hobbyist was allowed access to the same sources other scientists and biologists were, I believe one could provide specimens that would meet the standards dictated by the purpose of the reintroduction. Remember, when hobbyists first started talking about reintroducing their captives, it was highly noteworthy just to have bred them. I believe hobbyists assisted greatly in figuring out how to breed alot of herps and I don't see any reason why hobbyists couldn't help take it to the next level. We're just not invited to that party, lol. That's fine but when I hear someone say in absolute terms that they don't believe hobbyists could do it(breed a species for reintroduction) I just get a chuckle out of it.
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Conserving reptiles by helping to protect habitat...
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