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"In regards to the AZA affiliated importer from England, I think we're on the same page about the (remote) possibility that there may be rugosa in private hands".
The point is the zoo system and their affiliates delt with these and I personally saw that SOME ended up in private hands. I do not know if they were confiscated, CB adults or LTC WC traded by an Australian Zoo.
This still happens in certain circles ( including Australian zoos) the general population knows nothing about and legal CB rugosa are being traded among these zoos and their affiliates and eventually to some private breeders. I say this only to make clear that it isn't "remote" for someone to have legal animals as these are mostly "closed" circles. The problem with many closed circles is eventually they fill up with desirable species and the overflow needs to go somewhere. Then we may see a private breeder or even a dealer with them.
Positing that a dealer from the 1960's having gone to prison for drug trafficking makes his importing equally illegal is not much of a case against legally required animals particularly since most of the laws pertain to importing/exporting from Australia, SA, Mexico, Europe, etc did not exist then. It wasn't until 1968-'73 that the permitting processes began being implemented. Also, TZ wasn't the only importer at that time. There was Bill Chase (who sold Chinese giant salamanders at the time) , Bern Levine of Pet Farm, Gators of Miami, Ray Singleton Imports in Tampa and Bill Thacker of Love for Sale (some name for a reptile dealer, huh?) from Gainsville just here in Florida.
Many individual people imported boxes into the US and we had "unboxing parties" because you never knew what would pop up (particularly exciting when a large cobra sprang out having escaped its bag!). It was like a Herpers Secret Santa event.
The parties ended, as they were, in the early '70 once the trade became more regulated and packing lists had to be accurate so nothing surprising was to be expected.
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