Gecko Time: Wild-Caught in Madagascar

[acpart]

Have you ever pondered the pros and cons as well as the ethics of buying wild-caught geckos? The author of this week's article, who lives and works in Madagascar, provides a behind the scenes look at an aspect of the wild-caught process as well as some practical advice: http://www.geckotime.com/wild-caught-in-madagascar-from-forest-to-shoebox/
Aliza

 

[LauraMI]

We unknowingly bought a pair of wild-caught Jackson chameleons October 2012; they were picked up at the Tilney show by a pet store-owner who said he "thought they were captive bred". The female dropped dead in the middle of the night months later and the male died a more painful, prolonged death a month after. We had gotten to know the owner of the pet store and he has become a good friend since, and he admitted when they died that they were probable wild-caught. Later that summer at a show in here in metro-Detroit, a vendor had a single screen cage filled with chameleons, about a half-dozen species. All were black with stress and many were crawling/sitting on the bottom. No breeder would treat their animals like that!
We know someone who procured a few wild-caught Bearded Dragons. It's not a bad idea in theory to bring in original blood to a species that is so cross-bred and seeing so many genetic issues. However, he can't get them to breed, so how is it helping?

 

[Josh2]

What a tough and controversial topic. Obviously wild-caught has to be done on some level but it really boils down to the ethics of care like Aliza said above.
Laura, that's really sad about your chams. Poor things.