I certainly respect everyone’s viewpoints and none of the following is necessarily meant to change anyone’s opinions, as likewise, I don’t really expect anyone to change mine. It is only meant to offer a different perspective on the issue.
First off, this topic kind of reminds me of my personal stance on vegetarianism/veganism. I concur wholeheartedly that such a lifestyle (if implemented properly and for the right reasons) is much healthier and better both economically and environmentally. If everyone on the planet decided to become a vegetarian, the world would probably be a lot better. However, there is still a large faction of people that quite simply enjoys eating meat, and I am one of them. Getting that many people to make the change is, in a word, futile.
[Note: this isn’t meant to drag that topic into this one. Anyone wishing to discuss vegetarianism, etc, please refer back to that thread. I was only using this as an analogy.]
So in that respect, I agree philosophically and commend those (like ezwizard) who choose not to deal with any wild caught species. I feel if there were more people like that, it would hopefully inspire more folks to focus their efforts on breeding species that, quite simply, are not commonly bred in captivity.
Wayne pretty much hit the nail on the head. Our race is self-serving, and as long as it remains this way, nothing really is going to change. Allow me to elaborate…
Wayne mentioned habitat destruction. Not to trying to downplay the effects of over-collecting and wildcaught importation does to natural populations, but in reality, all of that is a drop in the bucket compared to how many animals are lost when an entire forest is demolished for the lumber or preparation for the development of a hotel or whatever.
I remember talking to Wayne on the phone before he came on my radio show a while back. He was telling me about how these countries work. People are making a mere few dollars a day collecting animals for whatever; pet trade, skin trade, food, novelty, whatever. This is how these people earn a living and provide for their families. I’m not saying its right or wrong; just pointing out how the world works in some of these places. Most of you are absolutely right; these people don’t give a rat’s behind about the “proper care” of savannah monitors or ball pythons. They likely never will. Try hopping on a plane and going over to west Africa and explaining it to them.
On another forum, we somehow got on the subject of zoos and how some zoos don’t take the greatest care of their animals, and elephants got brought up. One member said if he was an elephant living in Africa, and he had a choice, he would jump at the chance at living in a mediocre life in a confined space in an American zoo rather than fearing for his life every moment on the Serengeti that a poacher is going to come riddle him with bullets and rip out his ivory tusks while he’s still alive, or get gored by a rival male, or whatever. Now I know that’s elephants, not reptiles, but do you see where I’m going? I wasn’t really intending to use the “well, they always have a better life in captivity than in the wild” argument, because I know that is not always true, but back to Wayne’s statement, it kinda is. As long as humans are pillaging and ruining the planet, is the wild really the best place for some of these species?
Wayne was telling me that one of his contacts told him (and Wayne correct me if I remember this wrong), that savannah monitors are often torn apart alive by baboons….for sport, apparently. The monkeys don’t really eat them, they just catch the lizards and tear them limb from limb. God knows why, but shoot…one could almost make the argument that sitting in a boring glass tank for a couple of years under a basking lamp and having my meals brought to me is a little better than getting torn apart alive by a baboon, or going to the skin trade, or getting skewered on a stick to be sold in a bazaar somewhere, or getting crushed by a bulldozer’s tread because my habitat is getting turned into a factory warehouse.
I may get some slack for bringing him up, but whatever…Tom Crutchfield’s unofficial slogan is “Conservation through Commercialization.” That’s almost what it’s come to be. At the rate, we’re destroying ecosystems across the globe, I often wonder how we can still justify leaving some of these species where they’re at. I’m not saying I have all the answers, but I know that in the grand scheme of things, in this big, huge machine of ever-turning wheels and cogs that represents the human race, its hard to make a huge difference.
Again, I commend some peoples’ reasons for not keeping WC. But whether or not you choose to buy WC probably doesn’t matter a hill of beans, because that’s one more animal that might get thrown into the skin trade pile instead of the pet trade pile, or gets left in the wild to worry about diseases in predators.
It is nice to ponder and envision an ideal, perfect world, but we’ve all heard the saying, “If you wish in one hand and crap in the other, guess which one will fill up first.” I don’t like to spend my time wishing for things that will likely never happen. I would rather focus on things that are real.
I’m a little like Jaleely at the moment; I’m at a place in my herpetocultural career in that I am focusing on rescues and unwanted herps, and not concerned with my personal desires per say. That said, my direction can always change in the years to come, and I may once again find myself wanting to work with new, obscure species, that may not be readily available in captivity-bred. I don’t like the system, but I know the system isn’t going to change anytime soon either.
On a slightly different note, I kinda feel like this topic could be split into two categories. One category represents species in which the industry demand can be adequately met by viable captive-bred populations. I don’t have any sufficient data to support the claim, but it seems that the general consensus is that ball pythons are one such example that falls within this category. I suppose we’ll never know until someone actually pulls the plug, cuts us off from Africa and we are solely dependent on CBB stock. I bet, prices for normal will go up though!
The second category represents species whose demand cannot be met by captive-bred stock and collection from wild populations is still required. For the second group, obviously serious effort should be made to put those species into the first group, and if they cannot, then collection should be regulated.
Hybrid Mode
