Reptile keepers are under attack!
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Animal rights campaigners traditionally attack reptile keeping in one of three ways. But they have begun to use a new weapon that's even more dangerous and could ban the keeping of all but a few species of reptiles.
RRK's Tony Wigley talks about what's being done to protect reptile keepers from this worrying new threat.
It's time to wake up and take notice.
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Responsible Reptile Keeping is a worldwide membership organisation that promotes good reptile welfare and responsible keeping, and we challenge the stories broadcast by anti-reptile-keeping campaigners. If you’d like to support our work, please consider becoming a member and sharing our content as widely as possible.
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Well said. The biggest irony of the existence of animal rights campaigns is the lack of actual conservation efforts of native species outside of the pet trade. It's not about animal welfare or conservation at all. Give me an animal rights campaign that goes after land developers, the skin trade and poaching and I'll sign up with supporting data. White lists have never worked and I'm glad you guys covered this
Thanks, John, we appreciate your insight.
Everyone in the US who supports USARK & USARK Florida should see this channel. This insanity going on over here with the Lacey Act and Florida legislation wanting white lists is horrible.
Thank you. We are working with USARK to address these issues we are all facing. Testing times, for sure.
We are so proud to say we are members! You guys are doing an incredible job, we are spreading the word as much as possible 😊
And we’re proud to have you on the team! Thanks for your continued support and encouragement. 🧡
Thanks for another great video! 🤩
PETA even put in advertising in the middle of this video.. Imagine if we had the funding to do the same.
We should be flattered that RRK is on their radar. 😉
You’ll be pleased to know that we extend PETA the same courtesy by advertising on their channel. 😁
All PETA cares about is money
We need to know more about the individuals heading these animal rights groups, so we can understand where they are getting their funding, what other organisations they are connected to and what their wider agendas are, because there are ALWAYS much wider and far reaching agendas
Most importantly you need to realize that this ALWAYS happens. And that we need to do the SAME. The problem with gun enthusiasts/hunters/fishermen/animal keepers: They react & do not become proactive. And they try to argue against them in their moral framing, this is for their enemies (they are that & there is no arguing that, accept that & act accordingly) nothing more than an entry vector.
To live & let live is a philosophy that they don't live by & that helps them if you still believe in it to get away with violating your rights.
Being kind/nice/merciful & having an open mind is for them a weakness, which they exploit.
The only fear/react to maximum aggression. Therefore, that is what they will get from me.
I do not hate the methodology, I hate the goals.
Robert M. Lehmann, who is one of the leading figures against private/public animal keeping, constantly attacks ordinary keepers/hunters/consumers because they are apolitical moderates, who are good people, he constantly wants to debate them, because he knows they won't fight back, because they cannot fathom & conceptualize genuine ideological conviction & enmity, but he says that he'd never want to debate the AfD (the Far Right party), I wonder why? Maybe because they are actually willing to fight back & succeed? Maybe because they are an actual threat to him & his world view? Maybe because they know that they are in a fight (& not in a friendly conversation unlike those who he attacks, where the aggression is unilateral)? Moderates play for the game, while extremists play for the win. I have no illusion: I'd have nothing to laugh under their rule, everything I built/enjoyed would be destroyed, I will return that to them.
The wider agenda is animal rights. Can't have that keeping most reptiles as they are mostly carnivorous. They aren't concerned about the reptiles but the animal's they eat.
What I don’t understand with the animal rights people is what are they asking for in place of what we have now?
Do they want cows to be wild?
Even though they couldn’t survive in the wild and would go extinct?
Do they want pet dogs to be banned and only have packs of stray dogs?
I'm from Hawaii, and all of our pets that we have are on our states "white list" at least three times a week I see videos of Hawaiian citizens, doing Facebook videos about animals they can't have, but have. Yep, "white lists" don't work.
Yes, we hear this same story in many countries with white lists. You’re absolutely correct.
This is amazing content that i relate with deeply. WE need to be controlling our own narrative. Keep fighting the good fight. I will fight with you.
Thank you. 🙂
It would be great to have you as an RRK member.
Your work is really impressive and important, and I’d really like to see more from USARK in the same vein. I support them, but I see nothing until they do some kind of post about legislation that is about to be fought… it would be great to see them do a bit more outreach and education.
Hiya Snake Therapy
We're working to collaborate closely with USARK and we should be having a meeting with them soon following our discussions with Phil Goss. (Phil has been really supportive of what we're doing which is encouraging.)
We feel that, as communications specialists, it's our job to support organisations such as USARK and REPTA etc, and assist them as they do what they do best, which is lobbying and government advisory work. We take our lead from the information they provide and confer with them to get the facts and data to make our content effective. That's why we're keen to collaborate and work closely with advocacy organisations around the world. (We're also in touch with stakeholders in countries such as Germany, Canada, Norway too.) If we (RRK) can use our skills and resources to execute the urgent outreach/media/PR campaigning it will free the advocacy orgs to do what they do best - assuming we can attract sufficient funding to do the job.
USA keepers and businesses should absolutely support USARK's lobbying and advocacy work, and it would be great if those USA keepers and businesses also join Responsible Reptile Keeping if they see some value in our media and messaging mission. We need both pro-reptile lobbying and online media to work together if we are to successfully challenge the animal rights campaigns against us.
@@ResponsibleReptileKeeping I'm SO happy to hear that. I've been following you guys for a while now, and sharing/reposting. I really appreciate how CLEAR and well articulated your videos and messaging are! I joined USARK as a member only a month or so ago, but I feel like the only things I've seen from them are announcements about proposed bans, or auctions for them to raise money... and I feel like they need to be more like you! Thank you so much for the work you're doing!
Verry usefull video supported by facts! Keep us posted and warm regards from Bulgaria!
Welcome! And thank you for your feedback. ✊🏻
You did a fantastic job breaking down the arguments, misinformation and hyperbole used by animal rights groups. We can all do our part and awareness of the issue and calls to action like this are critical. Thank you for this video, well done!
As an aside, we also have Canherp doing reptile keeper advocacy work here in Canada too!
Commenting to help with the algorithm. keep it up.
✊🏻🧡
Just a minor point: Could you include citations in the description for the statistics you use? As an academic myself, I like to go through the sources to find more information on matters like these. Thank you!
Excellent video, thank you.
A lot of this stuff I've been saying for several decades, mostly to deaf ears.
One issue I think would also be of concern with positive lists and possible total bans, is that when things go underground, potentially the demand for wild-caught animals and smuggling increases. This would not be in line with welfare issues. Moreover, this type of business usually means higher prices, which may attract people with less interest in the well-being of animals, more interest in the money.
Like you said and the example of Norway shows, regardless of the laws, the hobby isn't going anywhere, it just adapts. I am certain that every country which has outlawed reptiles, still has reptile keepers.
And perhaps the saddest example was the recent case of the young Spanish hobbyist dying from a venomous snakebite, because he delayed going to the hospital, on account of the legal issues.
Transparency and responsible keeping legally would be the best option.
Making things unnecessarily illegal just doesn't work.
Right, so from now on Animal Rights are out the window for me and I will be only supporting Animal WELFARE organisations going forward. I wish I could afford to donate to your organisation, but I cannot afford it so I will have to stick to liking and sharing your videos. Keep doing the good work. I am not a reptile keeper (too expensive😊), but I love reptiles and think that private keepers are all that are keeping some species from extinction! So yay the keepers!😅
Thanks for your comment, Robyn. 🧡
Thanks for this excellent video. Much appreciated.
To all of those questioning the underlying logic of animal rights campaigners, I may be able to help a little. I volunteered for almost a decade at one of the largest animal shelters in the United States, arranging for transfers and placements for "less common" exotic pets to prevent them from being euthanized. This position put me in contact with a lot of PETA supporters, ranging from misguided to true believers. There are only a few things you really need to know about the movement to understand their underlying logic:
(1) Captivity / domesticity is the moral equivalent of slavery. Keeping the animal in human care is *inherently* evil and abusive in all cases; that's why welfare and husbandry standards don't matter to many. This form of slavery is, in the view of many supports, viewed as worse than death. Therefore, the massive euthanasia rates are completely justified and understandable - they are freeing the animals from the suffering that is inextricably linked to captive care.
(2) Domestic breeding produces a population of animals that are dependent on human care and can't be released into the wild. Depending on the person you're talking to, they're either better off dead, or at a minimum, must never be bred to prevent the future suffering of their prospective offspring.
(3) I'd have to dig log and hard to find the original quote, but one of PETA's high level muckity mucks - might even have been Wayne Pacelle himself - said the quiet part out loud years ago by admitting that the reason the organization pushes so hard for legal limits on number of animals owned (and by extension white lists) is that once the legal apparatus for those restrictions is in place, they can *always* get those limits made more restrictive down the road, much more quietly and effectively.
(4) I don't know how those organizations are operating in the U.K., but a major trick that's being used is manipulating local land use laws that have the *effect* of banning breeding and keeping, without pushing for an outright ban. The tactics are much too complicated to summarize in a UA-cam comment, but it's worth investigating what's happening to prevent dog breeding in the U.S. to get a sense of their more subtle, but highly effective, tactics.
This is a really helpful insight 👏👏👏
Am i I going to have to tell my crested geckos that they are a danger to society? One did bite a leaf when going for a cricket once and left a nasty imprint on it in the shape of its mouth... pretty sure that leaf had to go to therapy.
😂 Thanks for this, you made us laugh heartily. 🧡✊🏻
Excellently presented Tony, well laid out and really useful 💪
Thank you. ✊🏻🧡
Well said, thank you for exposing the difference btw welfare and rights, us fish keepers are facing the same problems... Oh, and i guess I'm also a reptile keeper now as i adopted my first crested gecko today (after doing tons of research, of course!)
Welcome! Thanks for your feedback. 🧡
Really great presentation of how legislation when it comes to reptiles can be very counter productive.
With the example in spain, if there was a danger of ball pythons becoming invasive, the ban very likely caused a bunch of them to be released
Good work you do sir! Thank you for standing up for us!
Thanks for putting this video up!
Thanks Garrett! We hope that by collaborating with USARK and with support from US reptile keepers, we can make an impact. ✊🏻🧡
@@ResponsibleReptileKeeping I hope so too!
I have been keeping snakes privately, both venomous and non venomous sine 1967. ( l only keep non venomous species today) many of tese snakes have had a longer life than they would have in the wild. The oldest snake in my present collection is a captive bred Black Rat Snake, which hatched back in 1989.
Amazing! And a real testament to your husbandry and care. Thanks for sharing. 🧡
Nicely done. I hope you have this snake for many more years.
Same can't be said about the animal's they eat.
I’m not good at being social with people. My reptiles are my life
And we’re glad they are, Charlie, that’s wonderful. You’re always very welcome here. 🧡
These animal rights people need to watch some nature documentaries. In the wild, animals are getting eaten while they're alive and conscious every single day. Unless it's an animal at the top of the food chain in it's local ecosystem, having human caregivers is generally going to give them a significantly longer life and a far less painful death.
That’s the truth. 🧡 Sadly AR campaigners aren’t interested in that.
I live in Cyprus, where the positive list is implemented. Now, all pythons and boas, tarantulas, almost everything is illegal. You can only keep cats and dogs 😢
It’s a ridiculous and entirely unjust situation. How very sad. 😔
Thanks for sharing.
Yeah. Really unfair, especially to reptile lovers. Not all pets are dogs or cats but that doesn't make them (or any pet) any less lovable.
Land development is the biggest threat to native species. That and rattlesnake roundups
Feral and/or outdoor cats are a big one too!
Good points, these are all big problems.
Amazing video and amazing channel. Hope everyone world wide supports everyone trying to keep reptiles
Thanks for your kind words, Matt! ✊🏻🧡
You guys are doing great things. Thank you for all this information! Best wishes.
Thanks for your feedback, Nicole. We’d love to have you with us if you’d consider a membership. 🧡
I live in Spain (where a positive list has been implmented) and there's tons and tons of abandoned animals appearing in a cuantity that most sanctuaries won't take them anymore and end up being killed. The ones that aren't abandoned are often rehomed several times because people are scared to be caught having them and having the animal killed by authorities so they put less efort into them to be more discrete and spend less in smth they won't be commiting for many time and thus the animals don't live nearly as good lives as before. So the law that was made to suposedly give good lives to animals is making them misserable and killing them.
Valid points and an astute observation of the Spanish situation, thank you.
In case you didn’t see our documentary on it, here’s the link ua-cam.com/video/B2IZl612lFs/v-deo.htmlsi=uAdv1ETOrIRx4kx3.
Outstanding! Came here after watching TWR podcast! Very compelling stuff! I have a question for you though. You frequently say, and i agree with you, that animal rights activist want us to stop keeping and breeding our animals, but Why ? What are they aiming to achieve by that? Is it simply miseducation? Spite? Or is there a deeper agenda at play? 🤔
That's a good question and a difficult one to answer. The psychological complexities behind the adoption of radical ideologies are seemingly impossible to manage, which is why so many extremists exist in so many walks of life. When you add in the unlikely capacity for those people to change their views, it falls to us to concentrate on those who can be influenced by common sense and robust reasoning.
What is clear is that an tiny minority of extremists have a disproportionately strong influence on the legitimate interests of responsible reptile keepers and businesses, and we, with your help, aim to do something about that.
It would be great to have everyone who has commented with support for this video and our mission to join as RRK members via our website membership page,.
responsiblereptilekeeping.org/memberships
@@ResponsibleReptileKeeping thank you for that response, although the answer has not quashed my confusion for a activist’s motivation but at least its factual and honest.
I suppose that i will have to settle without that understanding. typically, understanding what the other party wants and why they want it is key in any debate.
I support reptile ownership but I feel like people need to be a lot better educated before they get them. Some hot snake keepers in my area have been pretty terrible. There was a news story just a few years ago about a cobra that got loose in an apartment complex. I support people's right to keep hot snakes but only if they're going to be responsible and contain them properly.
What about the right to life of the animals the snakes eat? Snakes aren't a necessity. You're just causing more death by owning one.
@@MammothMorals you can say the same thing about literally any carnivorous pet, including cats and dogs.
As someone from Belgium where there is a positive list, well said! It is indeed not something they really ever thought about when they put it up. Great video on this topic!
We appreciate your feedback, thanks! ✊🏻🧡
Let's stand united against the haters!
Thank you for the amazing work Sir!
Thank you! ✊🏻🧡
I'm brand new to the reptile world, having just got my baby crested gecko. I'll definitely be on the lookout for laws that will prevent me from growing this passion I discovered.
A very warm welcome, Richard. We’re glad you’ve found us. 🧡✊🏻
While there are laws which prohibit people from keeping native wildlife as household pets for their conservation, most of these animal rights slogans when directed at responsible pet keepers is absolute rubbish. Especially those release the fish and bird ones lol
Fun fact: Allowing people to privately own reptiles will help conserving them.
Think of Gator Farms. Back when the American Alligator was endangered, it wasn't government programs that helped recover them, but private gator farms.
👏🏻 Exactly!
Like the New Model Army shirt in the old photo.
Great video!! Thanks for sharing!!
Perfectly presented facts as usual. Great work again 👍
We appreciate your feedback, thanks Tim! ✊🏻🧡
I'm not a reptile fan aside from lizards. But I do think animal rights people aren't interested in protecting animals at all. So when the root of something is from an animal rights group I am immediately suspicious of it's veracity.
Aways follow the money.
Yep. This is exactly what I am thinking too.
Fun fact: Most of what my Dad got were wild-caught common toads (and some woodhouse toads from West Texas)
Y'all should collab with US ARC
We are in contact with USARK with this in mind. Thanks, Wyatt. ✊🏻
Very good video, I will do what I can to our hobby it still here , thanks from Sweden
Thank you! It’s amazing to have you with us. ✊🏻🧡
Zoorf in Sweden stand behind this as well and will do our best to share.
@@ceciliadannborgwilson1297 Thank you Cecilia. Please get in touch with us from our website as we’d love to make contact with Zoorf and work together in the future. 🧡
I mean that’s like saying ball pythons can become invasive in the north eastern part of the US
Great video! Very informative and concise.
Thanks, Dude! 🧡✊🏻
My darling captive bred beardie has to be the most cosseted spoiled reptile on the planet and l love him beyond reason. He may cuddle me to death but that’s the only danger he poses.
Wonderful! And we hear this so often from the reptile community. 🧡
Great video, clear and concise. Keep up the important work. Thank you.
Thanks, we appreciate your feedback. If you’d consider becoming a member to support our work, we’d love to have you with us. 🧡
@@ResponsibleReptileKeeping I will consider but honestly since I live in the US I am a member of USARK and donate there and USARK Florida when I can. Thank you for work as well.
Animal rights activists don’t care about improvements in husbandry or conservation. They just have an uncompromising stance against animal captivity, or any interactions between humans with animals whatsoever. As they themselves say, we want empty cages, not bigger cages. Animal writes ideology has an increasing impact imn the modern western world, because of social media as you said. I believe though that it started once people lived in large, technologically advanced cities with fewer opportunities to interact with animals. Nowadays, sadly most younger urban people get informed on animals by cartoons, viral videos or pet dogs and cats, which in their modern form have undergone an extreme humanization trend. Of course, farmers, hunters etc remain, as well as people who keep reptiles and other exotic animals, but they are a relative minority and easy for animal rights people to denigrate as primitive animal exploiters. We are still real - we feed our animals appropriate food without breaking down and most of us have an interest in field herping, and animal rights doesn’t like this. Also, let’s be frank and address the real issue in our case, the majority of society doesn’t like reptiles. That is why animal rights claims are disproportionately successful against them. You can just go outside the reptile community in popular comment sections of social media platforms, which represent the true soul of modern urban western culture, and they really dislike them. As an easy example, there is plenty of societal backlash against controlling invasive birds and mammals, claiming that they have their interests too, they aren’t so harmful, and things like that, yet invasive reptiles are viewed more as a disease and therefore aren’t given intelligence, emotion, or individuality. At least in the UK US and the various central and northern European countries, there is a sizeable reptile community and even organizations that represent us. Sadly, in my country of Greece, we have nothing of this sword. The hobby does exist, though it is quite small and no organization for our interest exists. if Spain has herp societies and still is struggling greatly with animal rights groups, then we don’t have any hope here. Here, even plenty of scientists have a collusion with animal rights and similar ideologies. as another Mediterranean country, I believe that it is far easier for concerns of Spain to be transferred to Greece rather than to Northern Europe. Also, in 2019, Cyprus passed a positive list. It bans for example all pythons, even the ball python, however, it allows other dangerous animals, such as alligator snapping turtles, ostriches, and others. I don’t believe that there is a solution to this. We may be able to slow it down or overturn some minor things, but long-term I believe that animal rights is going to prevail. Very telling is the fact that no country/society has gone back after adopting animal rides. Nobody wants to be seen as cruel or inconsiderate to animals, and if animal rights has the image of helping the animals and is able to market it effectively, then the majority of people are going to agree with them. Reptiles are going to suffer more from this, as so many people aren’t okay with them to say it politely. So, if someone doesn’t find absolutely any benefits to those animals, then it is completely rational to them that they should be restricted, because they see only the drawbacks in a magnified way. At this point, the only resort that is left for us is respect for other peoples opinions. However, if they think that their opponent is evil, they won’t respect it. Fanatics can’t get convinced. I don’t think though that reptile keeping is going to get banned outright. First there are going to be various restrictions and the hobby will be framed as something controversial and not fit for display to the public. This has already happened in some countries. At least arachnids and other invertebrates are still safe, however, people do also fear them and they are quite likely to get banned in an obscure sweeping legislation. Italy for example, had an extreme ban on arachnids since 2002. It started opening now, but still not completely.
Hi Sefanos. You have an in-depth and astute understanding of the situation. We would love to speak with you more if you’d like to get in touch with us from our website contact form. We look forward to hearing from you.
I have been keeping snakes privately, both venomous and non venomous sine 1969. ( l only keep non venomous species today) manyo ese snakes have had alonger lives han eywould have in e wild. The oldest snake in my present collection is a captive bred Black Rat Snake, which hated back in 1989.
Now with Alligators, it's best to donate him/her to a local gator farm.
Absolutely love the work you guys are doing. If i am honest I have one thought on the back of this video. You talk about to activists controlling the narrative through social media etc and there is no doubt you are right. My question i guess on back of that is how do we take back that narrative without increasing output on social media from the likes of RRK? One video a month regardless of how good that is won't deliver what we require. You speak to any successful social media "influencer" (and that is what ultimately we aim to do -influence )is frequency and regularity of content.
That's a very good question and it's right on the money.
Obviously, the content we produce has the most visual impact when it is freshly posted on social media. It's impact does diminish and disappear over time, but it becomes useful in other ways once it's life on social media is done. We expect our supporters to use the content on our website as a directory of information that they can share when the need arises. We're already seeing our earlier videos shared online when misinformation is being broadcast by AR campaigners - the video refuting the AR claims about reptile mortality is a good example. As our support grows our members can be present wherever the online conversation about reptiles is happening. We're providing useful resources they can use to tell our side of the story.
But you're right, we do need to output more content, and our capacity to do so is entirely dependent on funding. While we are slowly but surely attracting more funding we are quite a way from where we ideally want to be in terms of of output capacity. That said, we're only just over a year since RRK's launch and we're already making a pretty significant impact. We're excited to think about what we could achieve with sufficient funding.
Of course, increasing the number of members we have will help enormously in many ways, so please do consider joining RRK if you are reading this. It also helps if stakeholder businesses get on board with support to aide our mission.
Thanks for your support. It's encouraging to read comment such as this. It shows that people care and that we're on the right track. 🙂
@@ResponsibleReptileKeeping happy to keep contributing as a member, it's the least I can do. This is a fight we need to take on as a community. Keep up the good work team RRK
Great informational video - Thanks for sharing
If we can also get people to stop posting live feeding videos, egg cutting and enclosures that arent pristinely kept. All that is used against reptiles keepers.
Also love how all these animal rights people don’t want people to have pets but then just put the animals down
Cem Özdemir of the german Green Party actually outright admitted it - he literally said „Warum braucht jemand etwa anspruchsvoll zu haltende, exotische Tiere wie Schlangen oder ein Chamäleon zu Hause? Das habe ich nie verstanden.“
In his logic it might as well be forbidden when he doesn‘t understand the appeal of it.
Brilliant video thank you ! Subbed, liked and im gonna go onto your website now 👍
You amazing person! Thank you for your support. 🙌🏻🧡
This is a very good video and good information
Thanks for your feedback, John, much appreciated. ✊🏻🧡
I live in Israel, and you can print out our white list on a Post-It note. It's very frustrating.
We're very sorry to hear that. We'd love to know more about the positive list in your country if you'd like to contact us through our website.
Amazingly said.
Thank you. 🧡
I first got into reptile (and amphibian) keeping in my childhood by nursing garter snakes hit by bikes back to health, "saving" (as many as I was able to comfortably keep) invasive bullfrogs that would have otherwise needed to be euthanized, and harboring native tree frog tadpoles and rough skinned newts in makeshift ponds while the vulnerable creek bed watershed I lived beside was midway being made a protected site. As a teenager I then adapted into being "the guy who takes in the impulse bought exotic pet somebody wanted to release into the wild/neglect." While there are certainly horrible keepers and practices out there (lookin at you petsmart) I think the benefit to proper captive raised reptiles far outweigh the negatives. Reptile keeping is a great way to study behaviors, care, and niches that can then be implemented into better protecting the wild populations. And what with all the horrible fungal and other threats affecting wild amphibians I'm fully prepared for reintroduction efforts for multiple species to be impossible without the assistance of the genetic diversity found in captive bred populations. I am particularly invested in axolotls/other "permanently aquatic" salamanders and newts (where I grew up there was a sizeable population of rough skinned newts that fully matured but the males never left the lakes for some reason) and I know that tiny little lake where wild axolotls live is EXTREMELY vulnerable. Extinction in the wild for them almost seems inevitable. But I don't think it's possible extinction in captivity would ever happen (unless humanity also faced an extinction event that is)
I wish these "animal rights activists" would get it into their heads that we are also animals, and we serve a very specific role in Earth's collective ecosystems. While the relationships we have with reptiles aren't as developed as the hundreds of thousands of years of domestication that has shaped many of the other animals we live with, it's still something beautiful that deserves to be protected imo.
Important video, thank you
Thanks for your feedback, Owen, we appreciate it. 🧡✊🏻
Amazing video❤
Thanks, Jude! ✊🏻🧡
Great video as always
Thanks for your feedback and continued support, Shawn! ✊🏻🧡
… but … but what about the responsible amphibian keepers?
I‘m kidding. Well said!
We love you, too! 😉🧡
It's about controlling people. We can focus our attention ON THEM SPECIFICALLY AND AGGRESSIVELY . AMERICAN TAKE . ATTACK ME EXPECT A COUNTER . WHO ARE THEY ?
I wished you would have addressed a little more of the issues on our end, just to make the video slightly less biased. Such as the fact that not all reptiles are kept equally and many keepers, (especially parents buying animals for their kids), do not put in the amount of research necessary to give the animal the life it deserves (working at a sanctuary I see this far too often). HOWEVER, I am thoroughly impressed by your mission and as a reptile keeper myself I am subscribing to help support our community and look forward to coming episodes! I also quite liked the comparison between the wild populations effected by the pet trade vs the skin trade, really puts it into perspective. It's also interesting to hear a little more about Europe's situation, most of the reptile people I see online are Canadian or American.
Thank you Gabriel - we appreciate your support.
And we agree, keepers do have a responsibility to research and care for their animals properly. We do separately address husbandry shortcoming, such as obesity and releasing into the wild. It's always useful to get feedback from viewers, so thanks for taking the time. Thanks for subscribing, and please consider joining as a member to support the work we do.
thank you, I mainy keep fish but can not lose ground on any side it might being reptile to fish tomorrow so please keep going
hey ever heard "release the goldfish into the ocean" kind of stuff? 😂
Thank you! We’re working very hard to get our message out there. 🧡
I'm a lover of reptiles. and have a few, and will keep getting more.
I'm from belgium, and i can say, people DO listen to the positive lists. it's too difficult and risky to get animals that aren't allowed, and you cant give them any health check-ups without the animal being confiscated. Nobody i've ever met has a pet that isn't on the list.
And there's no wellfare problem with reptiles? i'm not so sure to be honest. Every time i'm on reddit i see people proudly boasting with too small and crappy enclosures for their animals. It's baffling what some people house their animals in. Just because all it's basic needs are met, and it survives doesn't mean the animal has a good life.... I see more people with bad enclosures than good ones. So i can understand people being against keeping reptiles.
Agreed that some nations prefer to be more law abiding/more compliant than others, perhaps.
Do you think positive lists / white lists will help to stem keepers who demonstrate poor / sub standard welfare?
@@af7409 a reason why some reptiles aren't allowed to be kept is that they're hard to care for. an example of this is the red eyed crocodile skink. here we're not allowed to keep them because they found that they didn't do well in captivity. due to our climate here and the lack of proper knowedge. in extention there haven't been many succelfull captive bred. leadin to an import of wild caught animals. something they like to avoid for several reason.
now this is just only one possible reason for not allowing a certain species. there are many more, and not all of them have to do with the animal wellfare problem.
my point on animal wellfare was sperate from my criticism on him saying people don't abide the whitelists. that people generally don't abide the whitelists is false. ofcourse there's still people that do whatever they want, but then there's also people that steal or sell heroin.
i don't think whitelists are a bad thing, i don't think regulations are a bad thing. to a certain extent, ofcourse they can overreach.
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Should i be worried about losing my turtle cuz of this?
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Lampropeltis getula and californae are both hibernating species so they can easily survive european weather, the uk has an issue with corn snakes becoming invasive. i am asked many times a year to id snakes found in uk peoples yards and the vast majority are albino corn hatchlings. don't take that as me agreeing with animal rights groups, but we have to be honest and accept there are issues that have to be corrected.
It's important to discern the difference between an escaped or abandoned reptile, one that is non-native, and one that is invasive.
For a species be be considered 'invasive' it needs to satisfy certain criteria, such as being damaging to ecology or the economy, and be able to expand its range.
Otherwise, it would be considered 'non-native'. Reptiles such as trachemys turtles or Aesculapian snakes could be considered in this category, they are certainly not invasive. As such we doubt there is any credible evidence that corns or Calis are or could become invasive in the UK either. We'd be interested to know if you have evidence to the contrary.
Yes, there are occasions when reptiles are abandoned, although these again are far fewer than those from other pet taxa. And yes, there are also occasions where reptiles escape, and these are also far fewer than is the case for other pet taxa.
Helen Roy's recent report on invasive species for IPBES gives a thorough overview of the invasive species issues worldwide. You'll see that reptiles hardly feature and are a minor issue in the grand scheme of things.
nbn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IPBES-Invasive-Alien-Species-Report-Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Corn snakes becoming invasive in UK? Seems implausible, based on their natural history and requirements; I would like to hear more evidence for your assertion.
What you are describing is a case for better educating new keepers on how to prevent inadvertent escapees. That is a welfare issue (for the pet, and perhaps the keepers), not a case for an invasive species.
I have seen no evidence that corn snakes could become invasive, have any significant impact on prey populations or compete with native fauna, or even naturalise in the UK.
It is good to hear you can visually identify corn snakes - I hope you are also able to pass them on to reptile rescue centres or better still re-unite with the owners?
@@af7409 these are not escapees these are litteral hatchlings and even eggs being found. the eggs are being found in electrical boxes and garden compost heaps in urban areas and a few rural places and why would you assume that corn snakes would not be able to survive uk weather? there natural range in the US includes areas that see negative temps and deep snow, i would know i use to live in there range and catch them all the time.
corn snakes have no competition in the UK and would fill a natural niche of rodent and bird control. i have been working with and keeping reptiles for 35 years, so yes it is quite possible for colubrids like corns and even certain milks/kings to establish themselves that is why we need to accept responsibility and not pretend such things won't happen.
@@ResponsibleReptileKeeping these are not abandoned animals but hatchling and eggs being found in electrical boxes and garden compost heaps in both urban and certain rural areas. these are obviously from animals that have been released or escaped as they are nearly all morphs being discovered. the fact they are not finding the adults tells just how well they are adapting to the new environment. the UK may require a negative effect but in US anything considered non native is invasive.
I imagine animal rights movements are more concerned with the welfare and RIGHT to life of the insects, birds or small mammals that most reptiles are fed.
Keeping a pet that requires the death of another sentient animal is not required. So why cause more death than necessary, just for the sake of owning an animal?
Owning any animal will require the death of another - even producing hay means mammals or birds will be killed.
@@ResponsibleReptileKeeping Kinda true. But that's not a requirement of keeping a herbivorous animal. Thats just a problem with current agriculture practices.
How can we expect people to care about the animal's that die due to crop production if they don't even care about the animals that they eat themselves or feed to their pets? You have to tackle this issue before you tackle the other.
@tonywigley I would, yes.
That's just ridiculous so are you saying that a snake has no right to eat a rat because its taking another life 😂 what vegans don't seem to understand is there is a thing called nature. Whether we keep them or not this is their prey. Personally I think its cruel to force say a dog to eat a vegan diet yes they will survive but that is not natural to their needs
Amazing work! Love you guys 🤗
Cheers, Gareth! ✊🏻🧡