Jack Hanna Phone Interview

[Emmastaff]

I like his idea of signing a contract to have the animal returned to the breeder. It is much like what responsible dog breeders do, have their buyers sign a contract to return the dog if at any time the owner does not want it. If this was a requirement of breeders,I think it would deter irresponsible breeders. They would probably be more likely to screen who they sell to, as they do not want a ton of animals coming back to them in the future.

Jack's idea is taking a concept that is the ideal in the dog world (which itself is plagued with irresponsible breeders, puppy mills, and tons of animals in shelters) and tries to apply it to the reptile world. The only problem I see is that it would have to be a requirement, where as in the dog world it is only "preferred". There are still lots of irresponsible breeders in the dog world, and in the reptile world, if we want to preserve our rights to keep these animals, perhaps it would have to become the reality and not just the ideal. Not really sure how that would be done though? Really irresponsible breeding and selling is a problem in every type of animal, dogs, horses, cats, you see it everywhere.

It is too bad reptiles are singled out as much as they are. But the reality is that the spotlight is on herps, and because of that, we need to do something about it. Perhaps the reason for this is that there is not a universal solution for the disposal of unwanted reptiles. Dogs and cats have animal shelters, horses have rescue organizations, and the unfortunate method of slaughter. There really is no solution out there for unwanted reptiles, so either there needs to be one, or more control over who they go to in the first place, or both. But in my opinion this issue stems from the lack of a place for unwanted reptiles to go. Animal shelters are already stretched to their limits financially, so few are equipped to take these animals. Zoos are already full to capacity too, so another solution needs to be developed.