Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Not sure that I like the article. It has some valid points, but sure makes the herping community look bad...

:::sigh:::
Born to be Wild

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Bonnie Keller
VA Reptile Rescue
www.vareptilerescue.org

I seem to remember reading somewhere that she is a perhobbiest.com moderator. Here is a quote credited to Kaplan:

"Kaplan says: "I'd like to see a total ban, but I know that is unlikely. It isn't easy to fight a billion-dollar industry. As long as there are people to buy, exotic animal dealers will cheerfully sell, no matter what the impact is on wild populations or on the animals -- or humans."

Ok, perhaps this quote was taken out of context but if not, how in the world can a person with such beliefs be an employee/moderator/associate/whatever at this website? What the heck is going on here?
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Peace-
Kelli Hammack
H.I.S.S.
email me

Yes, Melissa is a moderator here.. And I would bet that her quote, like many others in the article, is either out of context, or flat wrong. I'll admit, that I think I got the best representation of anyone quoted in that article. That being said, here's an excerpt of a letter I sent to someone who was criticizing this article:

I don’t like the tone of the article, either. It is definitely slanted to make us all seem like a group of folks who are generally unconcerned about the animals. It fails to mention the huge numbers of captive-breeding programs that are keeping certain species alive. It fails to mention that those of us who are SERIOUS hobbyists DO research, and contribute to the knowledge pool about that species. Lastly, it casts a dark shadow over our chosen hobby, as though it is a dirty little secret that needs to be “outed”.

The truth is that the vast majority of reptile owners also are owners of traditional pets – but how many of us can say that WE have RESEARCHED the needs of our pet cat, dog, bird, or even rabbit?? FEW. In fact, the “traditional” pet owners have instead swallowed whole (pun intended) the info from large corporations such as Purina about what our pets’ dietary needs are. Those who have done some research are largely at odds with these large companies and their pre-packaged, low-nutrient-density foods. However, ask a herpetoculturist what the dietary needs of their animals are – and you’ll probably be given a sermon about whole foods, calcium to phosphorus ratios, ultraviolet light and vitamin D3 (and how they are connected). Show me a traditional pet owner that can do that.

Some other beneficial aspects of our hobby that were overlooked: How many people in the general population can explain the genetics of breeding for a particular trait? How many environmental researchers were drawn to their professions by the awe and amazement generated by a classroom reptile pet? There are so many more, but little time to go into more details.

While I accept that MANY people begin their reptile pet ownership with horribly deficient knowledge, the same is true of cat and dog owners. Ask the HSUS and ASPCA about traditional pet owners who consistently fail to spay/neuter their pets because they don’t “know about the benefits” of doing so. The key to either problem is EDUCATION, not LEGISLATION.

Bottom line – I know that our hobby is unusual, and to many uneducated people – dangerous. But I look forward to the future of our hobby where that more information is readily known as people become more and more familiar with these animals. I *hate* seeing a baby Sulcatta tortoise sold to an unknowing buyer – but that doesn’t mean that I think that our whole industry is evil and needs to be shut down. We need to work hard to get the word out, and we need to self-regulate our industry, weeding out those unscrupulous vendors who will sell baby iguanas to people who haven’t a clue. Unless we do that, more articles like this are likely, and more criticism will be felt from those who aren’t looking at the whole picture. I intend to continue living my motto: Education is Preservation.

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Bonnie Keller
VA Reptile Rescue
www.vareptilerescue.org

>>Ok, perhaps this quote was taken out of context but if not, how in the world can a person with such beliefs be an employee/moderator/associate/whatever at this website? What the heck is going on here?

I spoke to Melissa about this last night, and posted about it on the Herp Law/CITES Forum when someone asked this same question. She said that while she was not misquoted, she was quoted out of context. She was talking about issues like habitat destruction and deforestation, resulting in the discovery of previously unknown species, and the importation on an international level of those species, about which there is no known care information, and no history of keeping these species in captivity. This is the issue she was addressing, which does seem clear from the second part of her quote, but definitely the way it was led into was very misleading.

She was in no way referring to the keeping of, or breeding of, pets in this country. She said, in these exact words, "If I supported a ban on reptiles, I wouldn't have the website I have; my website would be about banning reptiles, instead. I wouldn't have written Iguanas for Dummies, I wouldn't spend time posting on websites, I wouldn't have the animals I have, I wouldn't spend all this time and energy helping people make the decision on what kind of reptile is right for them, if a reptile is right for them in the first place, and how to care for their reptile properly. I believe that when animals are cared for correctly, they greatly enrich our lives."

She also indicated she will be posting a statement to this effect on her own website, www.anapsid.org.

I hope this has clarified this issue.
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Christie Keith
Director of Community Services
PetHobbyist.com

I got to say
what a bunch of baloney, whether she was quoted out of text or not she still was quoted, its as simple as that.
Being in the position that Miss Kaplan is in [in our herp community] she should gauge her words carefully.Ya know so she isn't misquoted.
And why can't Miss Kaplan defend her own words??

From the article:

"Kaplan says: 'I'd like to see a total ban, but I know that is unlikely. It isn't easy to fight a billion-dollar industry. As long as there are people to buy, exotic animal dealers will cheerfully sell, no matter what the impact is on wild populations or on the animals -- or humans.'"

Everyone's entitled to an opinion, but that's an odd position for a KS moderator, isn't it?

>>Everyone's entitled to an opinion, but that's an odd position for a KS moderator, isn't it?

The moment I saw the article (before even starting to read it) I noticed immediately on the front page that the WashPost couldn't even note of the correct identification of the snake the guy was holding. That immediately tuned me into the fact that everything about the article from that point on should be taken with a huge grain of salt as either being completely slanted to make people look bad or so badly written to make reptile folks look utterly stupid...the journalist did a damn fine job of that. I'd pay a lot of money for a 'ball python' the size of the one they apparently photographed (it is much to obvious that it is a burmese python).

The washpost went to great lengths to try and start another media frenzy against exotic ownership (remember the poor prairie dogs/gambian rats) by quoting people out of context/incorrectly and writing what is obviously incorrect information or information that goes out of its way to make people look stupid/ignorant. The wash post is notorious for writing bad articles when it comes to 'animals'. Very rarely do I ever see articles of that nature where the information provided was correct and/or well done by the journalist. The journalists just want a 'sensationalist' article to sign their name to...that is all they care about...not accuracy.

DP