# Pet market tipped to save endangered wildlife



## Fuscus (Apr 11, 2010)

*Published On:* 4-11-2010
*Source:* http://www.abc.net.au

Not directly connected to reptiles but I'm sure that more than one APS member will be interested. Of course it won't happen quickly and I can see pollies and developers using a healthy captive population as an excuse to further damage our environment

*Go to Original Article*


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## slim6y (Apr 11, 2010)

Of course, and I am sure I am not the only one thinking it - but doesn't this mean some cowboys are going to go out, capture thousands of wild animals.... Then the captive breeding program starts... .they then get a monetal value... They then start getting nabbed from the wild (cheaper than buying a $3000 hopping mouse - maybe a bit extreme but you get my point).

So instead of making the captive bred animals for sale... Offer then to anyone for 'free' - now there's a thought. 

Make sure the sale of these animals isn't expensive... So a quoll goes for $5 - cheaper than a rat at the pet shop.... 

Making them desirable just endangers them more.

When I first looked at that report I instantly thought - now here's a way to make $10,000 a year!

Tut tut....

But that's only my opinion and I've not really studied the psych of it all... But the way I see it is - make sure they're not so desirable people will steal them... but make them cute as possible so every house will want one - cheaply!


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## Fuscus (Apr 11, 2010)

slim6y said:


> ...


Actually most small Australian mammals are easy to breed and I think the price would drop dramatically within a few years. In SA when I was there the price for legal sugar gliders was $75 and native hopping mice was $5. And given just how hard it is to find and capture native animals I think poaching would be a minor problem ( I'm not saying it won't happen).

But it is possible that we could soon have a problem where people are dumping unwanted litters of quolls instead of kittens.


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## slim6y (Apr 11, 2010)

haha... Poor quolls... I think I'd like a quill of quolls (is that the correct collective noun for quolls?).


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## Fuscus (Apr 11, 2010)

> ELLINGTON:
> Oh, a quill of quolls and quarms. But I splon, I deviate. Two ragged aristocrats await you


The Goon Show Site - Script - The Nadger Plague (Series 7, Episode 3)


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## Kenshin (Apr 11, 2010)

what state are they looking at doing this? qld?


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## mrkos (Apr 11, 2010)

i think our laws involving keeping marsupials have a lot to answer for. I dont see why people should be allow to buy kittens, and puppies and breed the animals without being monitored or licenced by authorities. Austraia used to be a land ruled and roamed by the quoll, the wombats and numerous other soft footed marsupials whats out there now foxes, cats, and pigs. Its obvious our natives cant compete with these larger species for survival in the wild so why cant people breed our natives under a license just like we do our reptiles. Look at our python species there are that many being bred bred these days its hard to imagine any of them becoming extinct or endangered in the future.


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## otomix (Apr 13, 2010)

mrkos said:


> i think our laws involving keeping marsupials have a lot to answer for. I dont see why people should be allow to buy kittens, and puppies and breed the animals without being monitored or licenced by authorities. Austraia used to be a land ruled and roamed by the quoll, the wombats and numerous other soft footed marsupials whats out there now foxes, cats, and pigs. Its obvious our natives cant compete with these larger species for survival in the wild so why cant people breed our natives under a license just like we do our reptiles. Look at our python species there are that many being bred bred these days its hard to imagine any of them becoming extinct or endangered in the future.



Well said mate, Well said. I agree 100%


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