Large Orders Of Ball Pythons

[josh@outbackreps]

I know some of you guys are all pro-export, but don't these numbers sound slightly high?

Benin+Ghana= 8,000 (!!!) wild-taken snakes. I think we can all assume the 110,000 farmed/ranched BPs are not getting the best of care, to put lightly.

If you all love these animals so much, why support a system like this?

For one, those are the numbers for export for the world not just the U.S
Second that is what is allowed, not what is actually taken, the demand is not as high now so less animals make it onto the market.

Everyone seems to think that 50k animals going to the pet trade is going to damage the wild so bad, but what about the 46,000 blood pythons that are skinned each year, and the 437,500 retics that CITES allowed for skins in 2002 alone.

There are tons of reptiles being slaughtered for the meat and skin trade each year legally and illegally, so ball pythons being exported in manageable numbers for the pet trade should not be #1 on everyone's "hit" list when 8-10million red-ear sliders are being exported for meat, along with millions of pounds of other turtles....

Just something to think about.