Its not just the legal side, some ppl care about our biodiversity. They are much worse than illicit drugs as 1 individual keeping exotics is capable of establishing a population, this may cost millions to fix or simply further destroy our biodiversity. I really cant see how a few ppl getting wasted on drugs has more impact on the country than risking our biodiversity by keeping potentially invasive species. Sure there are good experienced keepers who keep them with minimal to no risk, but i would imagine most exotics would be in the hands of uneducated morons who probably wouldnt even know what the word ecosystem meant. Also many of the corn morphs look way to stupid for them to survive in the wild, but i would imagine there may be wildtype ones around too, if there are as many as some claim.
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Its not just the legal side, some ppl care about our biodiversity. They are much worse than illicit drugs as 1 individual keeping exotics is capable of establishing a population, this may cost millions to fix or simply further destroy our biodiversity. I really cant see how a few ppl getting wasted on drugs has more impact on the country than risking our biodiversity by keeping potentially invasive species. Sure there are good experienced keepers who keep them with minimal to no risk, but i would imagine most exotics would be in the hands of uneducated morons who probably wouldnt even know what the word ecosystem meant. Also many of the corn morphs look way to stupid for them to survive in the wild, but i would imagine there may be wildtype ones around too, if there are as many as some claim.
This is the tricky part, most experienced keepers with half a brain would be able to keep them safely and would simply feed off unwated stock. On the other side if some kid gets some to keep as hugging toys and they escape while being talken for a walk, or they end up breeding them and might think "oh yay lets let them all go free" without even knowing that what there are doing is bad.
Miss_Croft
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Will – you are not allowed to keep corns in Australia because when the laws were set the herp hobby was not developed as much as the avian hobby. (Not as many people kept reptiles as birds when the government set the laws.) This meant banning all exotic reptiles impacted less people than banning all breads of exotic birds. Ever since the government set the laws they have said NO to the importation of any new types of not commercial animals (With the exception of zoos and some wildlife parks). This has resulted in smuggling of commercial and non-commercial animals and plants. The net effect has been a rise in the introduction of exotic diseases (Failure to release the goals of the laws). For 25th of October – someone tried to smuggle banana plants into Australia. There are other examples of rusts, bird diseases (and questionably reptile) introduced by smuggling of animals or plants (Full or partial)
Exotic means the animal or plant was not there before Captain James Cook came to Australia (With the exception of the cat). In the US before Christopher Columbus arrived at San Salvador. What that means is any Australian animals in the US are called exotic and any animals from the US in Australia are called exotic.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10539373&ref=rss
saratoga – I am not suggesting wholesale legalizing exotic reptiles in Australia – but start by determining what types of reptiles are in Australia – and then do a bio-diversity risk assessment on those reptiles. Just as a side note: Snakes were not in Guam before the introduction of the brown tree snake around the WWII – as a result the existing animals did not evolve protection from snakes and there are no predators to control the snakes. For example – I doubt a Galapagos Tortoise would pose a direct risk to Australia’s bio-diversity – They may however pose an in-direct risk with the importation of exotic parasites and/or diseases.
Pre-guessing any assessment I would suggest corn snakes and sliders would pose a threat to the Australian bio-diversity and as such more effort would be put into reducing Australia’s exposure to the existing animals in Australia. (read destroying any existing feral colonies and education around removing them from private hands)
Cris – I agree animals and plant mater are far greater threat to Australia than a few drugs – sadly airports around the world do not see it that way.
Exotic means the animal or plant was not there before Captain James Cook came to Australia (With the exception of the cat). In the US before Christopher Columbus arrived at San Salvador. What that means is any Australian animals in the US are called exotic and any animals from the US in Australia are called exotic.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10539373&ref=rss
saratoga – I am not suggesting wholesale legalizing exotic reptiles in Australia – but start by determining what types of reptiles are in Australia – and then do a bio-diversity risk assessment on those reptiles. Just as a side note: Snakes were not in Guam before the introduction of the brown tree snake around the WWII – as a result the existing animals did not evolve protection from snakes and there are no predators to control the snakes. For example – I doubt a Galapagos Tortoise would pose a direct risk to Australia’s bio-diversity – They may however pose an in-direct risk with the importation of exotic parasites and/or diseases.
Pre-guessing any assessment I would suggest corn snakes and sliders would pose a threat to the Australian bio-diversity and as such more effort would be put into reducing Australia’s exposure to the existing animals in Australia. (read destroying any existing feral colonies and education around removing them from private hands)
Cris – I agree animals and plant mater are far greater threat to Australia than a few drugs – sadly airports around the world do not see it that way.
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