Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was reading in the newspapper today about all these poor abandoned dogs that need a home and all that addoption encouragement made me go "hmm..." so, let me get this straight: since Canis domesticus is nowhere near extinction, we are great solutions to take care of them, but when it comes to take care of a species considered "under threat", God forbid us being caught because there are severe penalties. So, logic tells that we, pet hobbyiests, are trusted as excellent keepers for ABUNDANT ANIMALS only. Funny. We raise them, we keep them, we feed them, we charge nothing for that... and they are still in danger with us!? OK. So, what better keepers are there? Zoos, that make money out of their exhibition? Hipocrisy at it's best my friends. Let's wait a few more years, as roads and cities and population grows more and more into wilderness and makes wild life unsustainable within it's environment, and we shall see who they will turn to in desperation for ALL SORTS of "pet" adoptions. We are the ultimate Noah's Ark at no charge, they just haven't realised it yet.

..........no, I'm going to have to disagree.

I've been working professionally with an endangered species of plant. When trying to help the population you have to specifically use seeds from the same area, because within the species the localities are so specific that seeds from HilltopA could decimate plants on HilltopB right beside it. When reworking a plant so rare, you need as many variations as possible so if something hits it has less of a chance of wiping out all your efforts.

My point is, you can't just grab two endangered animals, make them have babies and release in the general area. That could do more harm then good, especially when the releases aren't being regulated.

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1.0 speckled kingsnake
1.0 leucistic texas ratsnake
0.1 tricolor hognose
0.1 water python
0.1 spider ball python
1.0 green tree python

I would say you missed my point there...
I by no means encourage animal release in the wild without regards or anything. I only focused the simple right to keep an animal - That right cannot (or should not) be limited simply by the rarity of said species. That is the hipocrisy i was talking about, nothing more.

That would be a problem too because it encourages wild capture of said animal from it's habitat. The zoo trade has that problem already, I can't imagine the impact if the public got rights to certain animals. :/
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1.0 speckled kingsnake
1.0 leucistic texas ratsnake
0.1 tricolor hognose
0.1 water python
0.1 spider ball python
1.0 green tree python

It would be a problem TODAY, sure, what about tomorrow? For how longer do you think "wildlife on habitat" is possible on planet Earth at this rate? Believe me, much sooner than we will be ready to move to another planet. It will come the time when, to save species as we know them, we will have to collect them and keep them in safe places anyway. And what better place is a home where an animal can be loved and taken care of? So, what is happening today is simple: governments make laws because they are arrogant choosers... tomorrow they will come to us as beggers.

Zoos are already doing that for a lot of animals. Is there some corruption within zoos? Sure, but I still think a good portion of them have a finer understanding of locality and the documentation needed to effectively preserve a species.

I understand your intentions because ultimately I agree that the world is being ruined faster than it's being saved, but I think reading a few books on conservation would be beneficial.
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1.0 speckled kingsnake
1.0 leucistic texas ratsnake
0.1 tricolor hognose
0.1 water python
0.1 spider ball python
1.0 green tree python

I also have to disagree with you on another thing: about rulling out completly the wildcaught specimens.
I agree that a pet hobby (and its market) should function around captive breeding and leave the wild animals alone. But one thing must balance the other, unfortunatly. Breeders cannot keep their genetic disposal stale for too long; after a few generations, animal flaws start to show and gain over and they need to introduce new blood... wild animals are the product of natural selection and they carry the best answer to that, in order to bring new strength and mix it to the captive bloodlines. Besides, no market works forever without the excitement of new stuff, morphs and rarities will always need to be provided every now and then to keep the hobby going, and only by receiving exports from the wild can breeders find their "ocasional pearl"... so, that paralel market of wild exploitation needs to continue.
It's HOW MUCH they collect that must be controlled. But that should be done by the true responsible parts: the countries where the species are native from! And most of them have a starving population of a certain species called Homo sapiens (sounds familiar) and need to provide ways for the people to live. How can they order a starving family somewhere in the jungle to stop catching animals when that's all they have to survive upon? Economy can also work as an enemy of life. They don't tell you that, but it's true.

Did you know that zoos destroy komodo eggs as well as dwarf crocs cuban crocs ,fiji iguana eggs,as well as euthinize many endangered animals for one reason to keep them out of the public's hands.Zoos do not have the resources that private keepers do or the passion.Many first time breedings come from private people.This year I bred rozes vipers a usa first zoos do not have them and there only about 12 or less in the country.There are so many private firsts that some statements are out the window.Locality animals can be kept in a diverse group from a single location and released to provide a future for a species.I has been done and has succeeded before .Look at the california condor all wild animals were collected and bred in captivity to restock the wild.Zoos as well as private individuals were involved.Falcons the same thing.The word zoo is not the save all in wild life management for planet earth.I may be wrong but this is everyones planet not just some zoos.Should these animals be sold no but they should be able to go to any good home that can provide a place to propagate not be frozen in there eggs.I believe that there are many good herpers as well as mammal keepers that could take pressure off of zoos in many areas
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Archie Bottoms

Check out my discussion in the general forum on this.