I agree with this,....more

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Posted by BrianSmith on April 24, 2003 at 14:08:42:

In Reply to: Neither... posted by GyrFalcon on April 23, 2003 at 23:08:21:

I am all for erradicating the importation of already overpopulated species or those that are already readily available in captive bred form. And I think that the only exceptions should be if the species' in question is rare or it's numbers are threatened in the wild or otherwise,... and that the imported snakes should only go to zoos with breeding programs instilled, or to qualified breeders with proper permits to breed threatened species. As far as wild caught morphs go,... even though it is my bread and butter,... if there was an exception for that reason then the rule would be repeatedly bent and broken. I see no reason why an albino or a morph can't be taken in by a reptile breeder in it's own country of origen,... the new morph line established there,.. and then the "captive produced" offspring sold to herpers in the USA. Let's face it,.. this isn't the only country with qualified breeders in it. So I am "Nay" to pet industry importation or designer morph importaion, and "Yea" to threatened or endangered species imortation to qualified breeders. (incidently I do not place myself in this catagory as I breed for pet purposes)

:I'll have to agree with Randilyn. There are circumstances out there that agree with taking a reptile out of the wild and into captivity. She mentions genetic mutation, such as albinism. An albino snake would have a really hard time surviving in the wild. Snakes have their coloration as a camouflage, and an albino (or other genetic mutation) would stick out to any predator.
:I also agree with posts I've seen on other forums about this. After so many years, if we do have some kind of ban on importing, the existing blood lines will become too inbred. (obviously, this will be quite some time) but if there is no new blood introduced, we'll see some really inbred snakes.
:I do support a ban on importation if it's just to take snakes out of the wild for cheap pets. In this day and age, there really is no excuse for buying something like a WC ball python, or burm, or any other readily available snake.
:Getting to my opinion, I think there should be a partial ban on importation. A ban on snakes harvested from the wild for pet purposes. Legal, with very specialized permits, for breeding and introduction of new blood lines only.

::I do think that the entire world's population of captive snakes is good enough to make sure there is always good blood, no inbreeding. Wild animals also often bring disease/parasites. So I'm kind of yay, we have lots, the wild populations are all going downhil, let them be.

::But also nay on the ban. I think there are rare circumstances where an animal can, and should be brought into captivity. Such as an albino someone might happen across (rare but it happens), or some other wild looking, LIGHT colored/morph of a snake. It probably wont survive in the wild, and would have one hell of a happy life having it's food handed to them on a silver platter and having all the sex it wants ;) And every so often it's nice to see some new wild morph that is super-rare and takes forever to be aforable. It's almost what keeps this hobby _alive_ and going. The desire for some new morph and to earn a profit.

::I don't think there will ever be an utter complete ban.

::I think I'm 90% on Yay, a ban. But still... eh.. *shrug*

::-Randilyn
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