my son is doing zoology at massey and has checked this out for me
the lady seems legit from that end
just some personal thoughts on the topic
have had our reps for a few years now and i have picked up no diseases off them
that doesn't mean they are not carrying something though
i personally would like to know what diseases they do carry as many are treatable
to have this done professionally will cost a lot of money in lab time
the animals i have are readily available in nz and have been here for awhile
and related to other peoples reps
cross contamination in your own collection can happen very easily
one of the facts used to have the green iguana declared a new organism
was that they were carrying mount pleasant salmonella and this was not found in nz previously
but was present in a couple of collections in the states
this suggested that these lizards were related to these collections and probably smuggled
a few weeks after having them declared a new organism and removed from peoples collections
an application was put to erma to have mount pleasant salmonella removed as a new organism
as it had been in nz for a few years
if this is a smokescreen for biosecurity etc and i lose my collection
then there will be legal avenues to pursue
the reptile hobby in nz is fragmented, and shrouded in secrecy as people are worried about
having animals confiscated or stolen
sadly the recent actions of authorities in the green iguana case, the theft of the day geckos
from hamilton zoo and the high prices of tortoises on that site
have only added to peoples protection of the rarer reps they have and distrust of people viewing their collections
just some personal thoughts on the topic