In my opinion..................
The licencing regulations in this country are ludicrous. It's sole purpose is another government method of revenue raising. I do say this slightly tongue in cheek because IF MANAGED correctly the system is workable and controllable. Most of the DEC employees have no idea whatsoever about reptile care, never mind anything to do with OPMV or DPS and the likes. They are unable to offer advice or guidance and do nothing to check on the conditions of captive animals.
I have lived in Oz for 11 years but have been keeping and breeding snakes that you refer to as exotics for almost 20 years prior to coming here yet I have never kept any venomous reptiles and do not really have the desire to. In my 30 years as a reptile hobbyist I have kept Burm's, Boa's, Red Tails, Kings, and even Anacondas and Retic's and NEVER.......NOT ONCE did I have any escape!! Is this down to luck or good management?
So why should someone who is prepared to break the law be able to keep the types of reptile I adore while I can not? Is this fair? A good system where the animals must be registered and micro chipped.(surely technology now will give us the ability to fit the chip with a GPS tracker??). Checks done by the DEC, (who could actually do some real work for their pay for once) checks that are beneficial to the people who pay their wages....US and the animals they allegedly protect!!
I recently purchased a beautiful Diamond from a keeper in Victoria. When I went to pick up the reptile I bought everything he was selling, not because they were so good but to give them some decent care as they were kept in the most horrific conditions I have ever seen. (Sold on this site). If DEC was doing their job could this situation have been controlled? Of course it could, some basic lessons learned in a training program for new keepers and a once a year spot check from someone with experience would keep keepers like this out of our hobby or at least give them the skills to participate properly without harming the animals. Anyone who really loves looking after reptiles I believe would gladly undertake a training course that would satisfy the animals basic requirements.
The US is all ready to ban the importation of Burms and Rock pythons because of the alleged issues in the Everglades yet there are reputable herpetologists say there is no problem as these animals can not survive the conditions in this area outside of summer. There are many exotic reptiles that could be kept in this country with zero impact on the natural fauna as they would not survive the conditions. Many US snake keepers are afraid that this is the start of the end for the hobby, the nanny state taking over.......Is that not what we are living in?
Many Australians break the law every year and take to killing the native fauna just because it happens to wander into an area that makes the citizen feel uncomfortable with little if any repercussions from DEC even though these animals are protected. We are destroying the natural habitats of our own fauna so quickly that within the next generation it is possible that no one will be able to take any fauna from the wild. What will happen to the genetics of our beloved snakes with the gene pool so weakened from inter breeding. And all this in a country that loves to murder animals as a hobby!!!!
Just to finish off my rant.................venomous reptiles in the US are strictly controlled and it can take a keeper 5 years to complete the relevant training yet here it is possible to keep some of the most venomous reptiles in the world just by obtaining a licence and paying the fee, sound like a logical control to you? Maybe the yanks should just put similar controls in place for these big pythons that they have in place for venomous?
