Who would belong to snakebusters here in WA (the voluteer catch and release list). I was speaking to a group down at ARC yesterday and heard about some of the conditions for catch and release. How's this for a few conditions;
1. You need to wear the CALM voluteer shirt when going out to an emergency callout - OK I can see the logic, but it could be inconvienient if you were at work and had to rush out.
2. You need to ring CALM before you go out to a site - OK if all your doing is sitting around the house waiting for a call
3. Get the property owner to site a waver if you need to move anything to get the reptile.
By the time you've done all that if there is enough time you can go and remove and relocate the reptile
4. You need to ring CALM when you leave the site
5. If its a python you can't release it into the wild - you have to give it to CALM who then tender it of to the pet trade
. Nice way to use up your voluteers and not really focusing on the animal's welfare.
I don't know about you, but for me it smells off - doesn't treat people who are doing the public a service - removing reptiles, with respect. If they are worried about catch and release voluteers doing the wrong thing maybe they should vet them before they issue a permit.
