<< We can learn a lot from the mistakes that the herpers have made over the
years. They went commercial and now are being highly regulated in many
areas. They have either intentionally or acceidentally produced a huge
array of mutations which they now actually breed for. And, the herper who
really knows much about the natural habitat of the animals that they keep
are few and far between. However, those few herpers who still venture
afield in search of wild critters (oftentimes just for photography purposes)
are some of the best all-around naturalists that I know.
>>
I have no problem with the commercialization of herps. Breeding "show" herps
in different colors or what ever along with the just breeding these animals
has been the best thing that could have happened to them in the long run. Not
only has the breeding of captive animals taken the pressure off the
collection of wild animals it has allowed more people to keep these animals.
More people keeping them equates to more people being concerned with or at
least aware of problems in the wild such as habitat destruction. There will
always be people who prefer keeping a fish that are bred for colors or
pattern or shape. the tropical fish industry shows this, but many people
still want fish that are as close to wild colors as possible. Many tropical
fish are bred for color, many are not, but breeding still takes the pressure
off wild populations. As more people become aware of the problems wild
populations have and as "prices" of captive bred fish become more competitive
less wild caught fish will be caught. In the marine fish industry the culture
of live coral is growing by leaps and bounds to the point that there
varieties of coral that grow better in tanks than wild collected specimens do
and so are more desirable than wild caught. Captive breeding might change
some fish but making those fish more important than just an unseen minnow in
a ditch is important.
Moon
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