Many people seem to take access to the current variety of species and subspecies for granted. While hybrids should be respected(and allowed IMO) they do carry a risk. There will almost certainly come a time when we as hobbyist no longer have access to many species/subspecies and I fear many species are at risk of being lost to the hobby. Just as hybrids should be respected purebreds should be respected and encouraged. Purebreds educate us on natural selection and enrich many lives. They also can act as mascots for wild populations and foster appreciation for such. Hybrids foster that same appreciation in a different way. Lastly hybrids do not have a monopoly on diversity. Diversity in captive populations is something that is created through careful breeding. This hobby is very young and a hybrid breed is just as much at risk of loosing diversity as any other captive breed. The exception being willy-nilly random hybrids but just watch the furture. In the furture specific hybrids will be used to create specific domestic breeds. These specific domestic breeds will also be at just as much risk of being lost when we have no access to wild founder stock. Without pure wild founder stock there will be no way to get the ingredients for a specific hybrid recipe. So make the hybrids, be responsible and respect purebreds because they are the source of all.

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