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Re: Wild caught for pet shops, a tragedy?
[Looking around for the popcorn-eating emoticon, waiting for the debate to begin]
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It's easy to have that mentality, and I'm not necessarily knocking the philosophy behind it. After all, who isn't for conservation, right?
But realistically, its not a very cut-and-dry issue, when you consider really how commonly-kept herps are in the pet trade: Chinese water dragons, savannah monitors, African fat-tailed geckos, tokay geckos, blue-tongued skinks, uromastyx, Russian tortoises, and of course, baby ball pythons, just to mention a few.
Its nice that people make the decision to "never buy WC" but when you think about, that really limits your options for expanding your collection, especially if you're on a budget. How many people you know breed savannah monitors in captivity? tokay geckos? Russian tortoises? I know there are some, but CBB animals are often double the price you'd pay for a WC one. A lot of newbies are either unwilling to pony up the extra dough or more often than not, are completely unaware CBB is even an option. The latter, I'm mainly referring to the average Jill or Joe who walks into Petco and sees a savannah monitor or water dragon. They may not even have a clue of the submerged iceberg they're standing on that represents the captive reptile industry.
A lot of animals are still only available (mostly) through wildcuaght collection and importation because they are either very difficult to reproduce, or there is marketability in reproducing them in captivity. For example, for most dealers, it is cheaper to order a crate load of WC tokay geckos than go to the effort of breeding the things. I'm not saying its right; I'm merely pointing out the reality of the situation.
In short, if the tides are really going to turn, you're going to have to convince every single person out there remotely interested in keeping herps to only buy from captive bred stock. Personally, I feel this is unrealistic and futile goal.
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