This seem familiar...? A mother and her young child enter a pet shop and the child rushes over to the section that has reptiles and amphibians for sale. "Mommy, Mommy, I want that one!" the child says, and chooses an animal, while the sales attendant says, "Great choice! Easy to care for, doesn't grow very large, and eats like a bird!"
The animal is paid for, along with the necessary "accessories", and brought home. Now, three things can happen; one, the animal is actually cared for and given a good home and lives a long, fruitful life, maybe even getting a cagemate and having babies; or, the child is soon bored with the daily "chore" of caring for it and so the parent, on tiring of having to care for it his/herself, either returns it to the pet shop or turns it in to the local animal shelter; or, the animal gets sick and, rather than spend some serious money on veterinary care the animal is "put down".
Now, how much thought is actually given as to where these animals come from? Years ago, someone found out that a lot of money could be made by going out and catching as many critters as you wanted, and selling them. Back then, no one worried about how healthy the animals were, or how to ship them safely so as to minimize losses. Sadly, this is still true to a great extent today; modern transportation methods mean quicker shipping time. Commercial "jobbers" and field collectors jam-pack animals like sardines; the more shipped, the more money is made. The herp "industry" is gaining more and more popularity, and more and more people have just "got to have" the latest craze in exotic reptiles and amphibians.
So, what's the big deal with this "wild-caught vs captive-bred" thing? In light of the massive destruction of habitat that is occurring worldwide, it has now become necessary to establish captive breeding programs to save many species from extinction. Herps are no exception to this; their popularity is on the rise and overcollecting has virtually eliminated many species from their natural ranges.
There are two schools of thought on this issue; on one hand, those in favor say that wild - caught specimens are needed to supply demand, or that they are needed to establish breeding stock. Those against maintain that it is morally reprehensible to yank a creature from its home, stuff it into a shipping crate along with untold numbers of its fellows, and send it God knows where to suffer stress, sickness, and eventual death.
Wild-caught specimens generally are in poor health when they arrive at the places where they are to be sold to the public; stressed out from being jammed together with others, jostled around, subject to extreme temperatures, and lack of water, what is normally a bearable "normal" parasite load suddenly erupts into a life-threatening infestation that overwhelms the host's "compromised" system.
Captive-bred specimens, on the other hand, do not have to go thru all the stress that wild-caught animals do; they are born in captivity, free of parasites, raised by humans and accustomed to their presence.
One point that is often argued here is that in order to get captive-bred animals, at some point there had to be wild-caught parents...this is true, but, one would think that enough time has passed that hobbyists and breeders around the world have had time to establish several generations of animals that have been born and reared in captivity, thus abating the need to go out and take more specimens from their habitats.
The bottom line, sadly, is usually the "almighty dollar"; as long as there is someone willing to buy an animal, the store will find a cheap source for it even though it means getting a tankful of sick, parasitized, stressed animals and hoping that enough will survive to be sold and thus turn a profit.
We have tough choices to make here; while we hate to see an animal suffer and would like to take it home and "save" it, if we end up buying it it sends the message to the store owner that they can go ahead and order more because there will be someone willing to buy it.
For more information on the horrible statistics of the wild-caught reptile trade, visit the Tortoise Trust website...just go back to my Main Page and from there go to the Links Page, where you can link up to the Tortoise Trust.