First off, many of you are aware of my typically Canadian, middle of the road, all things in moderation point of view.
I am personally not into morphs, preferring localities AND I agree entirely with the "once in captivity..." point of view. Thus I never get into the locality morph debate because I see it as pointless. But I would like to discuss views on saving localities, and the conservation effort through captivity.
I strongly believe that as man f***s up our planet, both through the destruction and pollution from "enlightened" nations and the ignorance and willful destruction through ignorance of uneducated and often superstitious cultures. Many species of reptiles, birds and mamals world wide depend on preservation in captivity, Giant pandas, Siberian Tigers,and Jamacian Boas as examples. Since the introduction of the mongoose to Jamacia vertually all snakes have been erraticated. And due to local stupidity they will never accept re-introduction. Without captive populations the species would be extinct. Heck, even in america the re-introduction of wolves into Yellowstone was hotly contested by ignorant ranchers, who managed to kill a few. Many species will soon only exist in captivity. Due to local beliefs, politics and economics habitat conservation is sadly unrealistic.
About re-introduction of captives into local diminishing populations there are many problems with that model. First would be the habitat and perception of value of biodiversity would have to be established and stabilized first, which as I have pointed out is not always an accheivable goal. Second is that as it has been pointed out, most captive "pure" animals really aren't, in an natural or ecological sense. Only through a scientific and dedicated effort would this be successful, much like the plights of the blue iguana, tuatara or wood bison. Introducing captive bred animals brought up by herpetoculturists to wild populations could be disasterous! Contamination of the gene pool due to cross breeding such as the diamond python or the wood bison face, jeopardises the genetic integrity for one, and also any pathogens present in captivity, though harmeless to captive born animals might wipe out any remaining natural population. As the saying goes, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions".
So realistically the only way I see is conservation through captive propogation. Even if admittedly that the captive population is just a reflection of what once existed in the wild. The difference is that zoos and corporations will fight to save the fuzzy endangered species, but reptiles are often overlooked outside of the hobby.
If anyone would like to express their opinions in a mature and intelligent manner, I would invite it with open arms.
GD
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I don't believe in luck. Luck is God covering your a** when you screw up.
