[NHCOLL-L:2606] Fwd: Herp Trade Impacts

[Dennis Paulson]

Sorry for multiple posting, but I think this is essential business. 
When we are in discussions about the impact of scientific collecting 
on animal populations, this sort of information should be at our 
fingertips. Collecting for the pet trade seems to be perfectly all 
right in the eyes of most people, even though its effect is vastly 
more than that of scientific collecting. The fact that each pet is 
for the benefit of one person, while specimens collected for museums 
are for the common good does not seem to be factored into the thought 
processes of most people. These are not animals bred in captivity but 
SEVERAL MILLION WILD-CAUGHT HERPS each year. I suppose the big 
difference in the minds of many is that our specimens are dead, while 
these are alive. Our society clearly thinks that because they are 
alive, a salamander in a terrarium (or a parrot in a cage) is 
equivalent to a salamander (or a parrot) in the forest, and that's 
the mind set that must be questioned.

>NEWS RELEASE
>The Center for North American Herpetology
>Lawrence, Kansas
>http://www.cnah.org
>30 March 2005
>
>Challenges in Evaluating the Impact of the Trade in Amphibians and Reptiles on
>Wild Populations
>
>Martin A. Schlaepfer, Craig Hoover, and C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr.
>
>BioScience 55(3): 256-264 (March 2005)
>
>Abstract: Amphibians and reptiles are taken from the wild and sold 
>commercially
>as food, pets, and traditional medicines. The overcollecting of some species
>highlights the need to assess the trade and ensure that it is not 
>contributing to
>declines in wild populations. Unlike most countries, the United 
>States tracks the
>imports and exports of all amphibians and reptiles. Records from 1998 to 2002
>reveal a US trade of several million wild-caught amphibians and reptiles each
>year, although many shipments are not recorded at the species level. The
>magnitude and content of the global commercial trade carries even greater
>unknowns. The absence of accurate trade and biological information for most
>species makes it difficult to establish whether current take levels are
>sustainable. The void of information also implies that population 
>declines due to
>overcollecting could be going undetected. Policy changes to acquire baseline
>biological information and ensure a sustainable trade are urgently needed.
>
>A copy of this article can be downloaded gratis by visiting the CNAH 
>PDF Library
>at
>
>http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp

-- 
Dennis Paulson, Director Emeritus           phone 253-879-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History                 fax 253-879-3352
University of Puget Sound                       e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
1500 N. Warner, #1088
Tacoma, WA 98416-1088
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html