Posted by:
PHLdyPayne
at Sun Jun 27 21:37:51 2010 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by PHLdyPayne ]
Captive breeding helps conversation simply by providing animals to the pet trade who are not wild collected or hatched from eggs collected from the wild.
As ball pythons are not endangered in the wild and if I remember correctly, still quite wild spread, they are not really in need of conservation in the wild.
There are many species of reptiles kept and bred in captivity who are seriously endangered in the wild. Most breeders of these animals are not breeding for morphs, but producing normal samples of these particular animals. Many turtles, frogs and others are actively bred in captivity to preserve the species, as they are either rare in the wild now, or very endangered.
I wouldn't say all breeders of reptiles are working towards conservation, other than providing captive bred specimens to lessen the demand for wild caught animals. Many morph breeders are looking more towards making money than preserving the wild type for future re-introduction into suitable habitat in the wild. Or simply the challenge of producing something that hasn't been done before.
There are many ways a breeder, even a morph breeder, of reptiles can help conversation. It may not just be in breeding animals which will be, or could be, reintroduced into the wild. Bringing more awareness of reptiles and how they can make wonderful pets, especially for people who like something a little different or due to allergies or space, can't keep your typical cat or dog or wish a pet that doesn't die of old age in under 10 years.
Taking part in local events to educate the public around reptiles is a very influential way for breeders and reptile keepers to enjoy their pets. Educational shows offered to schools, libraries, mall shows, etc. brings more awareness to these fine pets and help change the view that they are expendable and its perfectly fine to have them go extinct in the wild. Often its amphibians who feel the effects of pollution and climate change far more than the cute fuzzy mammal or bird.
Conservation is more than just breeding animals to reintroduce back into the wild...it is also education, providing animals for purchase who have not been collected from the wild and increasing interest and knowledge of the hobby to others. If nobody is willing to buy the wild caught normal adult ball python when there are plenty of captive hatched and captive bred/hatched normals or even morphs available for the same price or a little more babies, free of internal/external parasites and disease, not to mention the inherent stress on a wild animal to be in captivity...animals won't be collected from the wild. Even the demand for captive hatched babies imported out of Africa is becoming less, despite the chances of getting something unusual from these babies...but ball pythons are rather unique in the fact they have such a wild variety of morphs available, many of which are naturally occuring, like pastels, spiders, mojaves etc which will survive fine in the wild.
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PHLdyPayne
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RE: a point I would like to make ... - PHLdyPayne, Sun Jun 27 21:37:51 2010
