IRR

[Morelia_man]

for my year ten IRR (independant reading response) i am going to do "should exotic reptiles be legalised in australia" i would like people to reply to this topic what they think. whether they are for or against?
cheers
charles

 

[gbskda]

It would be nice to have Exotics legalised in Aust, but you have to consider the Quarrantine factor.
As with every animal that enters Aust is subject to a Quarrantine period, and I know for me personally I wouldnt like to pay X amount then wait between 2 to 6 months to get my animal and if by chance there was a disease in the animal and it had to be put down then how would you get reinembursed.
And the other Major factor is with the minority of keepers that get bored with their animals or find them to difficult to keep would simply release them as they do to dogs and cats look at every states RSPCA shelter they get overwhelmed by animals that are disgarded because of this minority of people that cant or wont look after an animal.

I have heard of a keeper in Qld that has released a few snakes (coastals) because he/she has lost interest in them

Regards
Grant

 

[NCHERPS]

I don't think the Quarantine side of things would be much of an issue with Reptiles being cold blooded, yes they can have parasites, worms etc... but it could be sorted out before they are shipped from the country of origin, and given a health cert before shipping etc..
When I brought my Dogs and Cats in from the UK, they only had to spend 30 days in Quarantine, but yes, there is an expensive involved for them.

I agree with your point that people might get bored with they're snakes and release into the wild, this would be the greatest threat, and the one thing along with escapes that the Federal bodies out here would be most concerned about.
We all know that mistakes in that department have happened in the past!

As much as I like the exotics, and I have worked with loads before in the UK, I would be very content keeping all the amazing snakes that we have out here, we are pretty lucky having so many native species to work with.

You can of course see some exotics in this country in zoo's etc, and of course these are subject to strict housing and controls to prevent escape etc..

To sum up your question, my opinion is that I won't be queing up to sign a petition to keep them.


Regards,
Neil
NCHERPS

 

[Brodie]

Count me in NC I dont like many exotics, and i wouldnt keep them anyway. Look at all the beautiful snakes we have here.......................

 

[africancichlidau]

I'll have to give this a lot of thought before replying.

 

[NoOne]

Quarantine would be top of the list. IBD!!! we are lucky here that we have only had a few cases and almost all of them can envolved exotics or natives in the same collection.
Imagine what would happen to wild popultions of reptiles if a bad disease got loose.
Thats the main reason npws won't legalise them, diseases. NPWS need to have some idea of the number of exotcis in the country before they do anything.
Importing reptiles wouldn't be nessecary as there is already plenty of exotics in OZ. We might as well try licsensing them but there would have to be a ban on trading for a year or so to eliminate as many diseased animals as possible.

I think if it's done properly there wouldn't be a problem but i would'nt be racing out to buy any of a while, theres not many i like.

 

[Alexahnder]

i think that it is properly regulated it would work well. Things like random checks by NPWS officers elapid style housing conditions-etc. I think that if they are treated like BHP's or Green Pythons there wouldn't be a problem. Have you ever heard or someone releasing a BHP or a GTP????

 

[Morelia_man]

cheers people,
keep the argument coming

 

[Vat69]

While I can respect the opinion of "..why? we have so many beautiful native animals" I can't agree with it. Sure we've got some nice stuff that people who can import herps into their country would love to get their hands on, but there's so much more out there that we'll never get to work with. It sucks to me that there are so many different reptile species in the world, and we'll only ever get to interact with native ones. I'll never get to feed a chameleon,see the ferocity of an ARP, set up a forest enclosure for an iguana, or own something as beautifully deadly as an eyelash viper.(Yes, I realise one could find an Australian equivilent for the aforementioned). There's more to herps than what we've got in Australia.

Sure, I could just work in an animal park, but it doesn't compare. I think importing could have some good points. Those of us (the majority of keepers I suspect?) who can't afford GTP's or womas, or blackheads might be able to get something equally impressive (in colour,in their own opinion) like a ball python for alot less money. That is assuming they're imported in bigger numbers than just 10-20 animals. I realise that there's alot of keepers who are strongly against the idea of breeding herps to produce different and unusal colour lines (which is fair enough), but then there's all those people who are involved in the black market trade who pay big bucks for it. Making exotics legal would have to have a big effect on this industry. If you import in unusually coloured animals, there's no way no-one will buy it.

It'd also (I think) make herping more popular, by offering people more variety. But then again, that could be a bad thing.
Offering the general public something like a designer ball python could lead to animals dying due to lack of care, or high dumpage rates, like gbskda said. I mean, a lavender burm's cute when it's young, but what do you do when your kid's pet takes up a whole room and tries to eat your kid? Just look at the dumpage rate in the U.S.

I don't know how importing could be regualted properly, or who would do it. I don't see how they'd stop wild herps being taken and sold, even if we were only allowed to keep CB animals. And even though I've ranted on about how it'd be good to import, I don't support it, not unless they found a way to stop WC animals and diseases being imported.
Meh, either way, if you want an exotic bad enough, you can still get one, legal or not.

 

[Guest]

I will hit someone if they bring in exotics and diseases a group of australian reptiles even if they are in quarrintine they still should not be comming into australia Keeping exotics NO WAY :evil: :x

 

[NoOne]

People have to understand that just because exotics are illegal doesn't mean theres none here.
We wouldn't have to import many (if any) reptiles, most species can be found if you know where to look.
I think if it were done very strictly and any sick reptiles put down, we could get an exotic reptile licsense system going.

Alot of people who keep exotics have collections of good heathly, disease free animals no different to us, the fact they are exotics means nothing, not all of them are diseased.

I'm not to worried if we do or don't but it will have to happen eventually, the disease rates are going to get higher the longer they are illegal.
I must say i would love to have a few chameleons.