Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A subject has come up on another board I read and I'd like to get opinions from some of the folks who post here, since so many of you have been in this hobby for years and are successful breeders and additionally very well versed in reptile husbantry.

When if ever is it OK in your opinion to collect endangered species from the wild? Does anyone have mortality rates for imported reptiles or how many out of say 100 animals would be expected to make the transition to healty captive, how many would perish?

In an ideal world endangered species would be collected by experienced breeders and personally brought into this country then passed on to individuals that have proven through years of successful breedings their expertise with their choosen species, all would be handled in a legitimate fashion.

In reality what usually happens? Are the animals collected by locals who then attempt to sell them to importers and upon hitting this country go to the highest bidder? Does potential loss of life justify perhaps being able to save an endangered species through captive breeding efforts? Example the California Condor, who has since seen reintroduction to the wild.

I'm not a animals rights supporter or some PETA troll just curious on the opinions of other boa enthusiasts.

This should strike up some good comments and your question goes hand in hand with some of the things going on right now. I started out with my first Reptiles 17yrs ago and have been pretty active in the Hobby and socializing with others in it for the last 12yrs. I was young starting out like alot of others and made alot of mistakes at first and one of those mistakes has been contributing to the Import Market. I have never been a slinger, I do not and have not ever bought an Import to re-sale for a profit. I have bought them to keep and possibly breed and I am a fanatic about knowing the Locality of the animals that I work with and with the connections that I have developed over the years, it was not hard to do, if I was patient to wait for some legals and occasionaly illegals to come in. I used this as an excuse to buy imports and tried to convince myself that I was contributing to conservation, I realize now that I was wrong. To your question; " I believe that only a Zoo or a person working with a Zoo or another organization that TRULY is working on conservation and the possible release of an animal has the right to bring an endangered species into captivity and breed it. " It should not be privitized. Look at the back woods breeders of Big Cat Species, they also try to convince themselves that they are contributing to conservation, BUT they cannot sell all of their stock to Zoos and 99.999% of them do not have any release programs and alot of them are still sold to someone living in a Apartment Complex! That, I think is a perfect example of why; " The buck has to stop somewere and it applies to Reptiles and other animals just the same. " Leave the breeding of endangered species to the organizations that have the funding to do something REALISTIC with them and not just sell them over the Net and other places for sale for profit.I have had some inside sources in politics tell me that there are multiple reasons for all of these proposed Bans that are showing up here and there. They have to become educated on the situation and WE ARE the only ones that can do it " at least some of us. " I LOVE to keep Reptiles, but my Morals do bring me to Earth sometimes and make me ask myself; " Do they not fare better in the wild? " Yes they do and that is why, if we are to get some of these issues under control, we need to get behind a Ban to Ban the importation of ALL animals from other countries. We have PLENTY of Exotics in this country to supply the Hobbies IF we are responsible breeders and represent our stock with honesty. You asked the question about; " How many of these imports will die once brought in? " WOW!!!! What a great question and here is the answer that nobody wants to except, 95%!!!!All of those animals are brought into this country just to FREAKING DIE!! Well, what kills them? Alot of them do die from the stress of importation alone and then some die from Husbandry Errors while they are still sitting at the importers and here is the most sad and REDICULOUS reason why a ton of them culled and killed; " They are not good enough for the Market! " What? What do you mean? I mean that they do not have the stupid thin saddles and bright colors and glorious tail that the Market and peoples EYES seem to think make an animal worth something and they are just seen as garbage animals. So, here is an animal took from its native land and brought here just to be cast in the [bleep] pile, because it was not pleasing to the eye! I am going to stop now, I am getting hot under the collar. .....Good Luck and good post.........Johnson Herp

I wanted to retract on one of my statements with a stipulation. Priavite breedings of Endangered Species would be O.K. IF the breeders were certified and working with an organization that is truly breeding the animals for the right reasons and not just breeding for profit.I just wanted to reinerate that point. Of course; " these are my opinions. ".......Johnson Herp