Buying endangered species

[sen5241b]

I thought it was against the law to deal in endangered species in the US? But I see them in stores all the time. Does the US not accept the IUCN endangered species list?

 

Anybody own a Banggai (or Kaudern's) Cardinal? If you do, congrats, you own a genuine endangered species.

 

IUCN

[jason the filter freak]

Good news is that banggai's can be some what reliably captive bred, it is a shame that some are still coming in wild

Edited December 3, 2008 by jason the filter freak

[yauger]

you can buy them captive bred....

[zygote2k]

I was at a LFS a few months ago and the owner was talking about the fact that he was selling "blackmarket" corals. Apparently there are some loopholes regarding endangered species and animals that are on the CITES lists. Does your LFS look for the loopholes or do they protect the species?

[dbartco]

Bangaiis fell short of the endangered species list for cites. So you can sell wild ones. I have 3 ora cultured ones.

[dshnarw]

I was at a LFS a few months ago and the owner was talking about the fact that he was selling "blackmarket" corals. Apparently there are some loopholes regarding endangered species and animals that are on the CITES lists. Does your LFS look for the loopholes or do they protect the species?

 

CITES has no legal standing in the US or anywhere else. CITES only recommends a status be given to a species with the hope that policymakers will make the laws needed to protect those species. Each country/state/etc has the ability to listen or ignore CITES. In the US, we tend to ignore CITES except for some concerned hobbyists who's legal pull is unfortunately rather minimal.

 

IUCN status controls which species are allowed to be imported for hobbyist use. In the case of such species as Bangaii's, it means that wild-caught fish would be taken off the list in the US (but see dbartco's comments). It doesnt apply, however, to captive-bred species. There are several examples of endangered species that no longer exist in the wild, but are plentiful in captivity in the freshwater hobby, and they are allowed to be transferred simply because they are captive bred and can't be returned to the wild anyway. In the case of captive bred species, you're not removing or damaging the wild population, so there's no reason to outlaw its sale.

 

Loopholes in the laws aren't the issue (because CITES doesn't have the power to make any laws) - it's that people are smuggling protected species into the US through other shipments (like boxes of consumable fish from Japan). In our area, I dont think we have to worry about LFS's trying to smuggle illegally obtained corals into the country, as I doubt they have the resources needed. In California, it's much more likely to occur, since much of our Asia/Pacific imports first enter the country there. If I recall, the only two stores in our area that get direct shipments are Roozens and Mr Coral. Roozens may be a bit shady in some peoples opinions, but I dont think they have the $$ or other resources needed to bring in illegal species (and WAMAS would have noticed it at some point). My personal opinion of Sonny is that he wouldn't attempt something like that.

Edited December 3, 2008 by dshnarw

[YBeNormal]

I was at a LFS a few months ago and the owner was talking about the fact that he was selling "blackmarket" corals.

 

True or not, I would take my business elsewhere. There are too many good, legitimate companies around for me to waste my time and money in a store that takes pride in violating laws meant to protect the environment. The same LFS owner probably dumps used motor oil down the drain sewer and fails to pick up after his own dog.

[sen5241b]

True or not, I would take my business elsewhere. There are too many good, legitimate companies around for me to waste my time and money in a store that takes pride in violating laws meant to protect the environment. The same LFS owner probably dumps used motor oil down the drain sewer and fails to pick up after his own dog.

 

Lets all get real. There are LFSs like that.