Aquatopia Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 Did anyone else watch the australian Border Security program on TV last night ? Some twerp from melbourne imported two green tree pythons from South Africa (illegally). They came out of transit in perfect condition, which was good in itself, but because of biosecurity etc they were euthanased at Taronga Zoo - too much of a health risk apparently. Crazy crazy crazy. And so tragic - these snakes really were amazingly healthy. Surely they could have been kept in quarantine to check their health and then at least shown at the zoo ? Or sent on somewhere that they would have been accepted or returned to their native environment ? The airline carrying them in the first place should have been made to bear the cost of shipping and I am sure there would have been an animal society in S. Africa that would have taken them back to nature. They do have SPCA over there after all. I just dont agree with the policy of killing stuff you dont want. Grrrr :evil: :evil: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 I totally agree with you Aquatopia Such beautiful creatures and to have them destroyed is totally gut renching, makes me soo angry to see this sort of thing happen to such an innocent creature :evil: What a stunning colour they were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 they should have euthanised the fella that smuggled them in :evil: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 Dead Right Phoenix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 they should have euthanised the fella that smuggled them in :evil: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Australia has a lot of very rare and unique reptiles and the risk to them from any disease carried by those animals is extreme. It is not easy to be 100% sure that a reptile is free of disease unless it is a dead sterile corpse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 as much as I hate to say it, I have to agree. the "what if" chance of bringing some weird bug in would risk soo many animals that the utilitarian approach may just have to be taken. I don't like it, and never will, nor do i support it, but i can appreciate why it is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkie Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 i dont even like snakes but i totally agree i mean its not like they asked to be taken from there home sent half way around the world only to be executed very sad indeed.but unfortunately it says allot about us humen beings the dollar is more important than than doing the right thing.imagine if we treated illegal imigrants like that after all thats all they are lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquatopia Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Correction, they should have euthanised the bureaucrat who decided that smuggled animals should be killed because its the easiest option, and hit the smuggler with a hefty fine to pay for the animals to be transported back to the country of origin and re-homed. :evil: Thats a damn fine solution ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquatopia Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 as much as I hate to say it, I have to agree. the "what if" chance of bringing some weird bug in would risk soo many animals that the utilitarian approach may just have to be taken. I don't like it, and never will, nor do i support it, but i can appreciate why it is done. Australia has a lot of very rare and unique reptiles and the risk to them from any disease carried by those animals is extreme. It is not easy to be 100% sure that a reptile is free of disease unless it is a dead sterile corpse. I agree with you both in principal The other solutions people have suggested would seem to make sense at least though - because killing an animal under those circumstances still seems bang out of order. It was kept under quarantine conditions to ascertain what it was in the first place, so then it would seem logical to maintain quarantine conditions and arrange for safe return to point of origin, along with liaison with the local SPCA to arrange return to the wild. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquatopia Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 i dont even like snakes but i totally agree i mean its not like they asked to be taken from there home sent half way around the world only to be executed very sad indeed.but unfortunately it says allot about us humen beings the dollar is more important than than doing the right thing.imagine if we treated illegal imigrants like that after all thats all they are lol. Interesting point - and some of 'em probably have nastier diseases than a poor sold snake can bring in !! :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 It's stupid because one of the reasons most animals can be imported is because they're endangered. Yet when they're smuggled across the border, they get put down. That's really helping to save the species... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquila Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I thought the same thing as well. Those snakes were in beautiful condition! I think the snakes came from southeast asia though...which makes it even worse because that is way closer and the animals could have easily been returned, at the importer's expense. They only fined him $3000...when each of those snakes apparently sells for $6-8000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 And it would have cost many times more than that to carry through the investigation and prosecution. Who would pay the thousands of dollars required to maintain those snakes in Quarantine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 And it would have cost many times more than that to carry through the investigation and prosecution. Who would pay the thousands of dollars required to maintain those snakes in Quarantine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 makes you wonder why they smuggle them when they are readily available in australia http://www.ultimatereptiles.com.au/html ... rsale.html must be greed if they made the fines higher or a prison sentence it might be more of a deterrent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
repto Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 interesting to read all these responses.Alot worse things have happened in our own fine country?(for whatever reasons?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquatopia Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 And it would have cost many times more than that to carry through the investigation and prosecution. Who would pay the thousands of dollars required to maintain those snakes in Quarantine? Sometimes, when life is involved, be it animal or human, cost should not be the only consideration. In fact, the cost of keeping small animals in quarantine is nowhere near the cost pet owners are actually charged. The ability to hold animals in quarantine at Taronga zoo exists and is maintained all the time regardless of whether there are animals there - so to have actually kept a couple of snakes for a few days until it could be arranged for them to be sent on somewhere appropriate would not, in my mind, have been that large. Still, unless any of us have actual facts and figures its pure speculation. For my two cents though, no-one will change my opinion on how rediculous it seems to kill two herps on the CITES list when efforts could have been made to 'repatriate' them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquatopia Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 makes you wonder why they smuggle them when they are readily available in australia http://www.ultimatereptiles.com.au/html ... rsale.html must be greed if they made the fines higher or a prison sentence it might be more of a deterrent Spot on livingart - spot on Start impounding peoples property or throwing them in jail and it might make them think twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquatopia Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 interesting to read all these responses.Alot worse things have happened in our own fine country?(for whatever reasons?) They probably have, but this was current and caught my attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iszac Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 makes you wonder why they smuggle them when they are readily available in australia http://www.ultimatereptiles.com.au/html ... rsale.html must be greed if they made the fines higher or a prison sentence it might be more of a deterrent this happened over a year ago now, maby more. They were available LA but alot more expensive,The price of gtps have dropped a heap over the last couple of years, babies were going for 10k+ afew years back. Sad thing is that most of the greens in aus are the new guinea strain, or atleast crossed with the aussies :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilli Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 hmm i know someone that works at the ports(maf)and he tells me when they find snakes and beardies and unfortunatly i cant have them (they go to sleep) would be nicer if they just sent them back but makes me wonder what about the reptiles they didnt find surly some have been missed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reptilenutt Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I know for a fact that they have found a Blue Tough and snake on the Auckland Wharf and a monitor Lizard at the Tauranga wharf and they were all put down very quite .... The MAF that came to get the monitor Lizard from of the ship in Tauranga came with a ice-cream container and when found out what was in the hole would not go down and the Blue Tough that was found in Auckland came in the middle on some sheets of steel .... And that is not to name the number of spiders and giant snails plus ants that have all come in to . There are little lizards that come from the islands’ on a lot of the containers ... and they run across the ground when they are landed on the wharf ... So Maf think the wharf are safe and there are rules to stop the animals from leaving the wharf area but all they have is a fence with big holes ...what a laugh ... if they just new ..lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Best hope they don't carry a disease that wipes out all our native reptiles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquatopia Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Concern and vigilence over imported diseases is important, but it does make me laugh (in an ironic and sad way), because history has shown that on several occasions, deliberate and approved action has caused as much if not more carnage to both the animal and the human world than accidental arrival of little critters. Possums in New Zealand, Cane toads in Australia and western human diseases in the rainforests spring to mind. At the end of the day, a famous quote from Jurassic Park springs to mind.... Nature finds a way ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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