100% NAY-long

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Posted by M n R-Reptile on April 26, 2003 at 16:17:21:

In Reply to: Poll Question: Full ban on reptile importation? Yay/Nay? posted by BrianSmith on April 23, 2003 at 18:41:58:

To much to lose, the main problem isnt importing, the main problem is habitat. Some animals do good when their habitat is changed and provides lots more rodents(farms+rodents=tons more snakes)
Some animals though can't adapt to changes in the enviroment, like most amphibians, fragile herps.
If you were to stop importing you would cause a delicate balance existing right now. It goes like this........
where agriculture is booming so are the snake species, in some countries where agriculutre is kept to a minimum the snakes are booming in population. If you were to mess with that above equation you are gonna do hundred times more damage than good.
Also alot of you have percieved in your head that these "warehouses" are filthy, crowded, etc......
You guys are thinking about back in the day when nothing was known about these animals. Sure here and there you might find one importer with a dirty place but the number of those is going out of business. Now adays with freight costs rising so much, the cost of animals rising, the cost of employment and the development of countries, animals arent $5 dollar boas anymore. That 5 dollar boa is actually 30 dollars, plus freight which brings it up to 35.00 dollars plus profit another 5 bucks plus all the overhead they got to cover. You think they can afford to lose such talked about large numbers of animals? Well it doesnt happen. Sure a few die here and there but it isnt hundreds or thousands. No one would be in business!!!!
Its common business sense. Animals die= lost money=no job=no life.
The importers of our day should be well respected due to their tireless efforts to keep animals healthy for the final consumer. Their tireless efforts on working on deals to get animals in that we have ALL BOUGHT.\
Just remember that imports arent bad at all. Sure they come in with parasites, but have you had a stool sample taken? Youd be surprised in what you find!! Nothinga little bit of panacur wouldnt help.
Also there are some animals that shouldnt be imported at all for example ADULT BALL PYTHONS. We all know they usually dont eat for months or never. Have you seen the decrease in the number of adult import balls the last five yearS? I remember 5 years ago I could go to ANY Dealer and buy a hundred of them. Now I have to go to 100 dealers to buy 10 of them. No one really carries them anymore. They dont eat, they are reasons of lost money so why bring them? slowly but surely NO ONE will bring them. Other animals are in the same boat. Those types of animals are not bieng imported anymore due to lost money, what does that equal? more wild babies, population growths, etc.
Sorry this was so long but I just hate the perception people have of importers. Its all that reading done on sites like melissa kaplans sites, and stuff like that.
You got to look at the overall picture not just words.
You can verify some of this stuff by GOING to some dealers, especially in south florida......some dealers places look like laboratories they are so clean!
You can also verify by going and searching sites which include surveys, etc.....on wild populations.

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