Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering if anyone reading this is proactively involved in donating a portion of their snakes/hatchlings sales to non-profit organizations that deal with conservation and preservation of milksnakes in the wild (especially honduran milksnakes)? If so, which non-profit organizations are best known that you have dealt with?

Thanks,
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RAY

Sorry wrong forum

I was looking for the end times forum that discusses biblical eschatology. Not the peta democrat forum.

*calls doctor for more zanax*

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Apache5056

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np

Hi Ray,
Thanks for bringing this up. This is a good idea.

Are there any specific organizations that you have in mind? I'm not aware of any milksnake specific ones, maybe someone else has an idea. Many organizations do work to conserve habitat(s) where milksnakes live.

As far as using a portion of proceeds from hatchlings - I think the reality is that most of us would be doing this simply for love of the animals we work with.

Another idea would be to contribute to organizations that focus on domestic reptile/snake welfare and breeding. Certainly a registry for our breeder snakes would be a useful tool.

Amro

Hello Amro,

Thanks for replying to this thread that I posted. The reason why I posted such a thread was I was wondering if there was some specific non-profit organization that champion the causes of hondurans, or other milksnakes. The past couple of seasons, I donated part of the proceeds I got from my hatchlings to my local orgs here like the zoo, wildlife sanctuaury orgs, and aquariums... but they are not specific enough to hondos or other milksnakes, even just snakes in general. I would think that these types of orgs are predominant in the mid-west, especially states like Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. I'll have to do more research and if you are interested in what I find, I'll let you know.

Also, as far as your comment that "most of us would be doing this simply for love of the animals we work with"...I think that is true to some certain extent. There are some great and true breeders out there who are responsible enough to do some well-thought out planning before they breed their adult snakes...i.e. taking pre-orders or maintaining a list of interested ones and following up with the interested parties before actually breeding their snakes. I am wondering about the other ones who just breed their snakes without any plans on how these hatchlings would end up if they were intended to be sold and yet were never sold. Do these hatchlings who are not sold, end up in small containers or not properly taken care of because they were the "rejects" of the clutch or the not so-good looking hatchlings that did not meet the expectation of the breeder? I am just wondering if we snake enthusiasts are taking a journey already taken by the dog-breeders or fancy cat breeders of today that the world has so many unwanted pets out there ending up being put to sleep...

I'm really not trying to preach here but i thought i'd give my 2 cents here...

Thanks and peace to all, be cool...
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RAY

Since milk snakes are typically not considered a threatened species, it’s going to be tough to find any conservation efforts that are specific to milk snakes.

The best way to assist with conservation of any wildlife in this country is habitat preservation. You can’t save a species, but you can help preserve entire ecosystems, and all the flora and fauna within. Groups
like the nature conservancy (www.tnc.org) are in the business of preserving habitat.

Education is a powerful tool for one of the other threats to snakes in general and that is intentional kills by man. The more people understand that these animals aren’t out to get them (or out to milk their cows!) the less likely they are to seek and destroy. The general public can be a strong ally or foe.

There are a few good herp conservation organizations on a national level that you may want to look into:
PARC (partners in amphibian and reptile conservation, www.parcplace.org) the Center for North America Herpetology, www.cnah.org, and the society for the study of amphibians and reptiles (SSAR, http://www.ssarherps.org/) are good groups to check out and support.

Good Luck, and I admire your desire to get involved in conservation.

Dean Alessandrini

Thanks Dean. Some of the names of the organizations you gave are great suggestions and I will certainly look into each one. I'm almost done with a website I am designing for myself and it will point towards conservation and education, especially for young kids. I've done some educational stints as a docent before and I do feel strongly about these things. Thanks again for your ideas and suggestions.
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RAY

I'll even go one step further than what Dean suggested to contribute to a national organization, and that is to contribute to your own state's nongame wildlife checkoff fund. Those funds are used to fund important research on many nongame and T/E species (like reptiles and amphibians)in your own state. Here in Illinois we do a lot of herp research funding through our nongame checkoff fund. There may be even some land acquisition funds in your state's DNR that could be used to buy and protect in the longterm some land that is home to several species of herps. That way you're directly doing something to benefit the herps in your own state. Something to think about.

Scott Ballard

I'll check into that Scott. Here in California, the San Francisco Garter Snake is listed as an endagered species, so maybe there's a group in Northern California or a fund that is heavily involved with saving the San Francisco Garter Snake. Thanks again,
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RAY