Quote:
Originally Posted by Ramsayi  Some snakes should be left in the wild where they belong.Oenpellis happen to be one of those. |
I'm not at all wanting to argue and ask this mostly out of curiosity. Why is it that you put Oenpelli Pythons in this category?
Incidentally, I agree that some species shouldn't be in captivity - Bandy Bandies and several other small elapids come to mind, but why Oenpellis? Is it just that they are not yet firmly established in captivity and so you'd rather it stayed that way? If there were thousands in captivity merrily living and breeding after 20 generations, would it upset you? If Black-headed Pythons were not in captivity yet, would you want it to stay that way? Is it something to do with most of their distribution being on aboriginal owned land? Is it okay for them to be eaten by natives but not cared for and bred in captivity even if the aboriginal people say they are happy for us to take some? Do you think they are particularly difficult to care for?
I'd be thrilled if a government owned zoo or highly competant private individual was given permits to collect 20 hatchlings to start a breeding program with (yes, I know collecting 20 hatchlings wouldn't be the easiest thing to do, but with a few slabs of beer on offer up there it wouldn't take long to get them!). Even if the permit was for 20 juveniles or adults, the impact on the population would be utterly negligible.
Once again I'll point out that I'm not trying to mock you or come across as disrespectful, I'm just having trouble seeing where you're coming from as I can't think of any reason to make sure people don't have the ability to enjoy, appreciate and learn about them.
