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The Case Against Captive-Born-Only Policies

by Robert Price

CITES administration is arbitrary and does not consider the dangers of human consumption of many reptiles and amphibians and human encroachment upon habitat in their countries of origin. You probably wouldn't eat a salamander, and neither would I. In the course of my research on Elaphe (rat snakes and their kin), and turtles of the genus Cuora, I have traveled to Hong Kong and China. There is an old saying in China that the Cantonese will eat anything with four legs except the table. It's not meant to be disparaging -- it's largely true. I defy any rational person to explain how the Giant Salamander (Andrias) benefits from the prohibition of its international trade when they are being caught left and right and eaten out of existence in their own country!

I had honestly never seen a live Giant Salamander until I went to the Orient in 1987. My experiences in the snake markets in Hong Kong and the open air markets of Canton were very enlightening. These merchants will sell any snake, or its gall bladder, or both, for medicinal purposes and human consumption. In the food markets of Canton province, they sell Andrias out of old ceramic and metal bathtubs for negotiable prices. The largest Giant Salamander I have ever seen alive was in the very well regarded Canton Restaurant, prominently displayed, with some dozen others in a tank near the entrance, so that patrons might pick the one they wished to have prepared for dinner. I won't bother you with elaborate turtle egg stories; we don't eat them much in the United states, but they're highly sought after in many third world countries where no one knows or cares if their dinner was endangered or not.

For many years, with occasional success, I have attempted to breed rare Chinese species of Cuora (Chinese box turtles), many of which are no longer sold in the USA because of policies in China. To the best of my knowledge I am one of the few people in world who has observed mating of Cuora aurocapitata. There is no substantial financial reward in breeding a turtle that might lay four eggs, but at least the species might be kept extant in captivity. Only Oscar Shiu in Hong Kong had access to several of these species, and now prices are prohibitive, and I suppose when the Chinese take over Hong Kong availability will cease completely. What good is done by prohibiting international trade in turtles (and snakes) which are highly sought after for their supposed medicinal and sexually restorative properties in the countries of their origin?

I've had to import specimens of snakes and turtles in the past for scientific research purposes. None of these were endangered or CITES species at the time, but some now are, and a few which are not should be (Bogerophis rosaliae comes to mind). I even had to kill one (the holotype specimen of Boa constrictor longicauda). It was ill and would have died eventually anyhow, however the rules of the International Committee on Zoological Nomenclature say you have to have a specimen on file in a major scientific institution for a taxon to be recognized. During my tenure at the New York University Herpetology Laboratory, we occasionally had single live specimens of endangered or threatened species dumped on us, with little efficacious way of pairing them up.

Having worked extensively with the systematics and distribution of the genus Boa, I can illustrate some dramatic differences in the impact of wild collection within a species. The Hog Island Boa, almost certainly a new subspecies, is likely extinct in the wild and will never be named officially as nearly all the specimens in existence were collected out of their native Honduran Cays years ago by greedy hobbyists and dealers. We know next to nothing about the natural history of this animal and all the captive born specimens in the world can't document its pedigree. The fact that is has been bred in captivity is very positive, but that is what should be happening with Andrias, which is huge and ugly, so therefore apparently unwanted by collectors. The black boa (see above), which I discovered and named, is restricted to a small geographic range in Peru as far as we know. It took me and Paul Russo over a year to obtain enough specimens to make a statistically significant description. Fortunately, the Peruvian govemment's instability resulted in few if any subsequent shipments out of the country after it was described, and captive breeding has been successful. However, under different circumstances the snake might have been collected out of existence in the wild. By the same token, there are enough Boa constrictor imperator and B. c. constrictor distributed naturally over millions of square miles to keep the pet trade satisfied for generations, even if they were not so easily bred in captivity.

Another very quirky situation I've encountered in the past comes to mind. I was, at the time, attempting to prepare a Catalogue of American Amphibian and Reptiles account of Puerto Rican Boas. They were being bred by researchers in Canada. I originally wanted only a piece of shed skin from a wild caught specimen of one Puerto Rican and one Jamaican Boa for microdermatoglyphic analysis. I was unable to obtain them without significant CITES paperwork. Further inquiry revealed that the Canadians had successfully bred several hundred Jamaican Boas. The Jamaican government, whose unofficial position is that there are no large dangerous snakes on the island (to placate the tourist trade) did not want them back. I asked my sponsoring professor, Hemdon G. Dowling, who owned a home on Jamaica and was hence a resident not likely to encounter immigration problems, if he would bring some back to their natural country of origin in a suitcase. It seemed to be the only possible way to do it legally. Unfortunately, it was not possible to get any specimens, wild caught or captive bred, from Canada into the U.S.A. So we have many captive born Jamaican Boas in Canada with no place to go because of bureaucracy. Obviously, the captive breeding of endangered animals should be coordinated with their countries of origin, so that responsible breeders and govemments can meet each other halfway on repatriation of their native fauna.

In conclusion, considering the few examples cited above, it behooves both herpetological organizations and governments to examine the collectability, market demand, likelihood of survival and breeding in captivity, and abuse of all taxa (subspecies and color variants included) in the country of origin before prohibiting or discouraging sale or trade of wild caught specimens. Some protected taxa, no matter how unattractive or unmarketable, would fare much better if devoted herpetoculturists had a chance to breed them. Some non protected taxa are still being collected into extinction by greedy business persons, both domestically and abroad. We are still only breeding a small fraction of the world's reptiles and amphibians in captivity. Zoos only have the capacity to do a little, and tend to breed what is threatened or showy. We need to ensure that rare, ugly herptiles are available for the dedicated herpetoculturists as well as popular pet items for the more economically minded breeders.

Blanket discouragement of wild caught trade is arbitrary and capricious, and not often the result of perspicacious thought or in the best interests of particular taxa, but is rather the result of sanctimonious legislation, persons who mistakenly believe that keeping an animal local is in the best interest of its conservation, and hypocritical successful breeders who don't want competition. Having watched the captive breeding of herptiles in the United States evolve into a large, networked, and integrated hobbybusiness since its infancy, I additionally wonder how much of the anti wild caught sentiment is really based in the vested economic interests of persons and institutions doing the breeding, casting importers in the role of the villains who, while possibly trying only to make a living and not caring much about the fate of an individual animal, may inadvertently be working in the best interests of that species. Until all threatened taxa can be bred in captivity, domestic herpetoculturists should consider working with those importers who can supply new species to be domesticated, even if such importers are not overly concerned with the health or disposition of their stock.

Department of Biology
Nassau Community College
Garden City, New York 11530

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Wantagh, New York 11793