The importance of captive breeding

[ari]

Hi All

Just thought I would let you all know about the situation up on the Atherton Tablelands with a further Gouldian Finch release, please checkout thread attached

http://www.mareebawetlands.com/gouldian.html

This just goes to show the importance of captive breeding in my opinion, and helps out nature when there are inbalances & decline in populations in the wild.

It would be a terrible shame to see this most beautiful species vanish from the wild - what would happen if there were no captive bred species?

This also to me is the case with certain reptile species which whether are common or vulnerable - may or may not be currently being captively bred.

I condone harvesting from the wild, unless it is done legally, note LEGALLY. But unfortunately certain legal restrictions do not allow this unless for scientific purposes.

I was bored yesterday and started to read through various NWPS permits etc and noticed that there are some species declared "COMMON" infact so common that they can be even sold by petshops - now there is only a handful of species that petshops are allowed to sell. Can you believe that 1x species inparticular that is part of this above list only has 1 or 2 breeders in the whole country. I phoned NPWS and asked them why is this species allowed to be sold by petshops when there are none available to sell, by the way I don't have a petshop. If this species is so common and allowed to be sold by petshop why dont you allow minimal harvesting from the wild - legally. Infact I asked how did this species even get on the list.

All I can say is if minimal harvesting is not allowed only on common species for that matter what happens when something goes wrong in 5 years time and what is currently common becomes vulnerable - with no captive breeding in place.

Once again I condone illegal collection from the wild unless it is done legally but hey anyones opinion on the above is welcome particularly if I am missing something or misunderstanding. Please note all captive bred reptiles currently being bred at one stage have come from the wild whether it was 20 - 50 years ago.

Cheers

 

[newtosnakes]

Unfortunately, I think that once you start saying that certain species can be collected from the wild, you open up the door to people going hell for leather and then when they get asked, they can say "no, I am only collecting species x", when tucked away in the back of the car are bags full of browns, lizards etc..
IMO it is better to leave it that no species can be collected from the wild, whether they are common or not.
Is it expected that people will collect all these "common" species from the wild, house them in personal collections (or more likely sell them on the blackmarket) and then when this so-called common species becomes dwindled in the wild they say - "right, put all the wild collected animals back where you found them".
But I agree with ari in that the first "captive bred" snakes had to originally come into possession somehow.

 

[ad]

Ari the same way you are querying the animals on the npws list, people will query the list of 'collectable' herps.

nts, people are out there illegaly wild collecting atm - just by allowing us 'good citizens' to collect common species wont change the 'illegal few' - how many of us do you think will go to 'the dark side'.
How big is the 'blackmarket' for common animals?

 

[Retic]

I think I am right in saying a couple of species of knob tailed gecko are on the petshop list ? How on earth were they added ? I honestly think it was akin to pin the tail on the donkey, a list was put on the wall and they stuck a pin in it.
Ari, I think you mean you condemn wild collecting unless it is done legally ?
I happen to think there is scope for some licensed regulated collecting from the wild, I don't think it has hurt populations in WA or SA ?

 

[ari]

Yep

Hiya Boa

Yep that is exactly what I mean - minimal legal collection. And yep you are correct Knob Tails. Take Nephrurus Asper for example - how in heavens name did that get on the COMMON list and also being available to sell from Petshops. There is only 2x breeders in the whole country. Is it common cause when they walk in the bush they see 5 million jumping around. But yes I am talking about minimal collection regulations.

Plus why is it that Victoria & other states can only keep the minimal number of species - and yet QLD can keep virtually anything to a point.

It is all very bizaare. Besides I am talk about this in relation to backup survival - similar to the Gouldian Finch senario. Not to profit or commercialise.

 

[Nephrurus]

a couple of species of knob tailed gecko are on the petshop list ?

Hahaha... the brisbane pet shop list thing is funny. From what i hear, it was a mix up in the names. They never specified scientific names when the list was submitted, only Rough knob tail and Smooth knob tail. They meant to say Central knob tail and three lined knob tail...... hahahahaha Makes me laugh... reptiles should never be sold in shops. I like the challenge of tracking down the animal from a breeder.

 

[ari]

Hiya Nephrurus

Hi Nephrurus

They actually have the scientific name on the NPWS form on the internet - it definately says Nephrurus Asper, but then ages ago when I spoke with NPWS they had no listing for Nephrurus Amyae.

I reacon they think Asper & Amyae are one and the same, what do you think mate?

Yeh I agree about some petshops. But then there are some which are PERFECT.

Cheers

 

[Nephrurus]

My understanding is that the Petshops association in QLD submitted a list of species they wanted. The petshop folk forgot to include scientific names! hahahahahaha National Parks said "OK, you can have these species" (probably whilst sniggering to themselves), knowing full well that neither of those gecko species are widely available.

HAhahahaahahaha.......

-Henry