CBW Questions

Status
Not open for further replies.

BrianWI

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2011
Messages
1,001
Location (City and/or State)
Wisconsin
Let me interject some additional reality....

You won't be able to long term save any species in captivity. You don't have enough people to do it. Plus, you can only use similar environments to where they came from, not the real one. You will change the animal. You won't have enough people to keep meaningful,viable populations. Basically, as any REAL conservationist and/ or scientist would know, you can't save the animal without saving the habitat. You have lost once you lose the environment's effects on its existence. Once you separate the animal from the habitat, it truly ceases to be what it was. It becomes a pet. Or a curiosity. Or nothing. We have far too many of those.
 

BrianWI

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2011
Messages
1,001
Location (City and/or State)
Wisconsin
Tom makes some very valid points. We all wish to obtain very rare species of tortoises that only exist outside of their native range through poaching and smuggling. i have some personal issues with quota systems for protected species, it is a flawed system and those who gain the system will take advantage at the expense of these noble species. There appears to be some success in madagascar in teaching the locals how important it is to protect their endangered species. So rare yet so beautiful.

And there you are beginning to see the solution. The animal must have more value in its habitat than it has in depleting it to fulfill someone else's desire. That again is hard to do. But to succeed in it, you must keep the animal in the habitat.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,265
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Tom,

Show me the permits for every rare tortoise you bred that have been returned to the wild to restore a population. All else is really just self-aggrandizement and fantasy. You keep pet tortoises. Try to stay grounded in reality. No insult, no attack. Just the real honest truth.

Its not about me. No self-aggrandizement here. I have no idea if any of mine will ever return to the wild and that matters not to me. The point is that captive breeding in general can and does save species. Peregrin Falcon, the annual intake of Red Tails hawks for falconry, the alligator in Louisiana, several Galapagos tortoise varieties, several species of Cuora, California Condor, etc… All species saved from extinction by captive breeding. I'm sure other members of our forum can point out more examples. A simple internet search can point out many more examples.

There were an estimated 40 wild sulcatas left in the country of Sengal just a few years ago. The efforts of one man and captive breeding have put hundreds of them back into the wild. They are now reproducing and babies have been spotted. Look up African Chelonian Insitute and my friend Tomas Diagne. His foundation animals are pets that he's gone around and collected from locals. He captive breeds hundreds each year now.

The reality is that private breeders DO save species. My very own platynota being the best example I can think of. Due to "pet owner" captive breeding efforts there are now thousands of these tortoises in private closed breeding colonies all over the US and the world. The species will never go extinct. When and if the time comes where their wild habitat is "fixed" and the local threats to their survival are eliminated, we will have plenty to repatriate wild areas. Will mine ever be used for that? Not likely. But maybe my babies will, or their babies, or some that are related to them. Who knows? The reality is there is more going on in the world than what you've seen and what you know about. Your negative and incorrect statements and opinions demonstrate this clearly to those who know better.
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,405
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
This thread has gotten SO off topic. And it seemed to be going good until personal finger pointing got into the act. If you want to talk about subjects other than TGlazie's permit subject, please start your own thread. But do it without making fun of other members or their ideals.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

New Posts

Top