Tell my sons about releasing WC Animals

My sons collect everything!!!
They have caught some bullfogs and wanted me to post them here. I did, but have gotten numerous emails asking the question "Why not just release them back into the wild?" I have been trying to tell them about it, but would like some of you to post your feelings and knowledge here for them to read.

I plan on releasing these this weekend back to where they were caught. I really want them to read about why it is important to release, or even not to catch in the first place, WC animals.

The turtles are going to be kept here for about a month then released into a huge lake where they will have a better chance of survival than the little strem where they were caught. The Bullfrogs are going right back the that same stream.


Thank you in advance for your posts.

There are many many reasons why wild caught animals should not be kept. The most important is stress to the animal. Think of it like this. You are going along about your business having a good time not harming anyone. All of a sudden a group of strangers come along and take you far from home to a place much smaller and much different than where you are from. You do not understand why and the people who took you may or may not understand the things you need just to survive. It would not be a pleasant experience. Reptiles experience stress in some of the same way humans do. They can get sick or get a disease because their immune system is weak, they can lose their appetite, they may even do things that mutilate themselves by trying to escape.
 Also it is important to leave these animals in the wild for everyone to enjoy. Removing wild populations can throw a whole ecosystem out of whack. Species other than those you catch may suffer also. Habitat destuction can occur from catching wild animals.
  There are reasons to catch wild reptiles. If you are planning on breeding them and are serious sometimes it is the only way to get certain animals. All captive bred animals originally came from wild animals. You need to have a lot of knowlege and skill to do this though. Another good reason is to study them for a SHORT time. Keep them for a few days if you feel you must. Watch them and learn from their behavior, then release them where you found them. Of course it is always better to study them in the wild. I hope this helps.
Sacha Skaggs

Hi,  well said, Sacha!  
 Our 8 yr old son was having the same problem last year.  He figured since we kept reptiles (bearded dragons, rankins dragons and geckos), that it was okay to catch the ones outside to keep as pets as well.  He was tought pretty much the same things that Sacha was saying before, but as far as really understanding the whole thing, not so easy.  We took him to a nature center that we used to go to with school, about 20 yrs ago. There they have an excellent educational program that explains the different reasons for which we don't catch and keep wild animals, and disturb their environment.
 We are also in an area where there are bog turtles.  They are heavily protected in our surrounding area and have halted construction of roads and new home building.  Seeing this being done to protect them also helps our son understand why it is important to respect and help preserve the animals and their environments.
 Look for a good nature center with exhibits and learning and maybe that will help.  
 Bob

OK, now this... I have 5 sons. 2- 12 year olds (twins) 2- 10 year olds (not twins) and a 7 year old.

Out of all of them, only the 7 year old understands (maybe) and accepts why we are releasing the Bullfrogs.

THe older ones are too money orientated I think. I am going to have to pay for this &nbsp;<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Thanks to those who have repsonded and I hope more of the herp community responds as well. I an still getting the &quot; but Why?&quot; questions.

It is like hammering a nail into a steel wall! <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Here's something that your other sons might understand if they are more money oriented. Certain animals are protected by local, state and federal agencies and anyone who catches or sells a wild caught animal on any of these lists is subject to both fine and imprisonment. I used to work for an animal control agency and this one guy insisted on bringing us raccons that he had trapped. We kept telling him that he could not bring us the raccoons because they were protected under the indigenous species law. He said that he didn't care because they were ruining his roof. We sent him a fine courtesy of U.S. Fish and Game for $10,000. I know that these agencies would probably be more lenient on children, but the animals are protected because they serve a purpose in the habitats that they are from, and human tampering upsets these systems. Unfortunately for some people, the only way to make them understand this is to force them to pay money.

Nikki

Too bad you all seem to have the same mindset. I am not looking to argue but just express my point of view. There is absolutely nothing wrong with collecting and then keeping wild herps if done so legally and if you know how to care for them (which may include an expensive trip to the vet or deparisatizing by yourself).

Each year my son and &nbsp;I catch some wild herps such as green frogs, Garter Snakes, Smooth Green Snakes and so on. These guys are often kept for a while, like a couple of weeks to most of the summer and then they are released. I do not allow them to become tame, and make sure that before being released back at the same area where they were caught.

Selling these herps would be ok too (if legal), if you first treated them for parasites. I have on occasion sold WC herps. I am careful not to collect and sell too many - and I have about 35 years of experience that tells me it has not been too many. This is the big kicker about catching them and then selling them. In a very short number of years - sometimes in just one season - you can wipe out the animals that you like to catch from one area so that the breeding population is too small to maintain itself in the face of other predators and other natural hazards. It would be better to catch them, keep them a short time, and then let them go where you caught them - than would it be to sell them. Sure you can make money selling them, but after a few seasons you may not find anymore to sell. And if you do keep em for awhile then make sure they are not tamed down, or they will lose that edge that keeps them wary of predators in the wild. Also make sure they were not exposed to other herps in your collection that could spread disease to them that might be released into the wild. This is a valid concern although not one that seems to have happened a lot in recent memory judging by the seeming lack of any published scientific papers on it.

By the way - you say you will release turtles in to a giant lake instead of the stream where caught because they will stand a better chance of survival. Let me quote you on that: &quot;The turtles are going to be kept here for about a month then released into a huge lake where they will have a better chance of survival than the little strem where they were caught. &quot; This could be a very bad move on your part. For one, what makes you think they would survive at all in a lake? Why would that be better for them than would the original environment in which you found them? Are they naturally occuring in that lake, if not you could really cause an environmental disaster by releasing them there if they are alien to that specific lake. They should only be released back where you found them.

All of the above, is my opinion - albeit based on lots of experience.

By the way I feel I must specifically address the post by lioness. Every state in the USA has provisions in the law for capturing and removing nuisance animals. If you worked for an animal CONTROL agency then that was part of your job, and getting someone fined for capturing racoons that were damaging his property was ludicrous. Who did you say you worked for - was it a state agency? I doubt it very much, because if it had been then you would have been mandatedif not by regulation then by good ethics to instruct the person as to how to properly go about having nuisance animals removed from his property. Now you may have done that but if you say you did after resading my post, well isn't it curious that you did not say so at first. If you actually did so and the person failed to follow regulations then a fine was in order. Now tell us the outcome of that fine - was it paid - was it mitigated - or was the person exonerated.