DANIEL, I can only tell you this much,
and it may sound terrible, but we had no concern for the de -populating an area or country for that matter of fact when I was importing. It would not be feasable to bring in the quantites of herps that I brought in as it would surpass all the importers of today. Imagine over 200 boxes per month. between 3 countries in Africa, and this went on for years. If I would mention this, no one would believe me, or worse , would think that I lost my mind posting this way, but it is a fact. I cannot tell you other than my experience as a reference. But to give you an example, over 20 thousand Jackson chameleons per year just on that item. Our facility was 20,000 sq ft. and we had the business run like a well tuned swiss watch.
But I would like to put that aside for a moment to address some of the other difficulties that I have observed in this fascinating business. We were a self- regulatory operation. Nothing illegal, and strictly above board in our operation. My philosophy was a simple one. I offered to make money for other people, if they purchased from me. Not only that , but I offered protection. Everyone made out well. Week in and week out dealers would line up outside of our premise at 4 or 5 in the morning, and the doors would open, and you had your pick of whatever you wanted like a candy store. If you were not a recognized dealer, we would approach it differently, but thats how we ran our business. No one had permits, their was no problems with fish and wildlife, and we all knew each other. Even if you were short financially, the monies were made up at a later date.
This is exactly the way Chris from LA Reptiles runs her business today. Patterned right after the way we did it 40 years ago. Although the times may have changed, the philosophy has not. Chris makes money for her clients, and her clients know better than to test the waters by not screwing around with her.
Todays market is drastically different, and the flood gates have opened so wide its impossible to differentiate who is whom. If I were Jeff from Kingsnake, I would only allow wholesalers to advertise in a wholesale section, a breeders section for breeders, an import section for importers and so on. How that would be achieved is not so simple, but it could be done. Here you have a hodgepodge of wholesalers selling to individuals, individuals buying from importers, children representing themselves as a business, and on and on. No control, people hiding behind emails, and a trail of blood money that reads like a nightmare novel when you hear some of these stories on the BOI
I feel sorry for Rob and alot of other great people who have tried to elevate themselves to a standard that keeps on hitting a brick wall, and as a pessimist at heart, I see in the not to distant future, the ruination of the herp industry because things today always seem to lead to a health issue. I was around when the salmonella wars occurred between the health dept and the turtle breeders, and I fear that the day will come when you will need a health permit to ship any herp via airlines. Its just a matter of time.
Sorry Iam going off tangent here, but it just takes one individual to bring a problem to a health official, and things have a way of boomeranging out of proportion. Also, imagine, with all the animals that we were bringing in, not once with one exception, did we ever receive a visit from fish and wildlife at our establishment. Now compare that to their appearances at these shows of today and the waste of time and manpower that they go through to check these operations and what there inventory is, their permits, etc. Look at the ambiguous laws from one state to another even in transporting herps accross state lines. It can be a nightmare. I am enclosing another article that I have, its only the first page, of a 5 page article that was written about our business i believe in 1975. You may find it interesting.
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