Monday 10 November 2008

We have achieved so much!!

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself as the other administrator on Herp Universe! I'm known as Geckoella on the forum and I should be contributing to this pretty frequently from now on so I thought I'd say hi, and a big thankyou to all our current blog visitors! November has marked a few milestones for Herp Universe. We now have a total of around 128 members and we have achieved 6000 posts already in just three months! We would like to say a big thankyou to everyone who has signed up and given their unconditional support, it means a lot!

Recently on the forum we decided to try and find out what our members thought about our hobby. I think the overwhelming majority of members agreed that there were major issues within the hobby which need resolving in order to put animal welfare back on the top of everyone's agenda. We came to the conclusion that not only do we need to tackle the issue of poor reptile keeping, but many shops and businesses also need to be held accountable for their actions when things do go wrong. We agreed that the sale of reptiles should be revised, to ensure animals are going into capable and caring hands.

We realised that there are so many problems and they are madly obvious. We can talk about these issues all we like but still it feels like there is no solution to these problems. The RSPCA isn't effective enough in monitoring possible cases of mistreatment and neglect, after all they believe a reptile is being treated well if it has clean water available at all times! Environmental health is not effective enough in monitoring businesses, and they have been known to call the RSPCA in for advice at times. In my opinion, the only way we can move forward is by working together to sort out such drastic problems. Easier said than done, but we should at least try for the good of the animals we love so much.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

When there are breeders and sellers involved, the welfare of the creature, whether warm or cold blooded is never put first. It is always about the $$$$.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your success!

Jessica said...

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing!

Anonymous said...

i agree that animal welfare should be on the front burner. i can't stand it when animals are not treated right.

Anonymous said...

I think it is a great way to learn about how to care for reptiles. I would have no idea where to begin.

Anonymous said...

That is a good thing that your forum is attempting to do. When you have a group of people, you can do a lot. I wish you well in your endeavor.

Jen said...

Yes, putting reptiles into the proper hands for caring is the key. No one wants to wake up and find one of these creatures on their front lawn, with cars zooming by.

Jennifer
http://thoughtsfromthefrontporch.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I'm with Karen, I wouldn't have a clue how to care for reptiles. However, they may be less needy than say our two cats LOL! And also congratulations on sharing insight into wildlife I never considered before other than "Ugh! Run!" LOL! I'm seeing things in a whole new light :)

Samantha & Mom said...

Wow!! Congratulations on 6000 posts!
Animals should be treated with dignity and respect, no matter what their species!! Great Blog!
Your FL furiends,

Sadie said...

I had no idea there was an RSPCA! That's really interesting. I already donate to the ASPCA, but now I'm going to look into the RSPCA as well. :)

Anonymous said...

I agree. Actually, small mammals like rabbits and hamsters have similar problems as reptiles do. If a dog is neglected, usually the neighbors can witness it as the dog gets skinnier and skinnier or is left outside for days. Or they can hear a distressed bark from inside the house if they are left behind. Little mammals and reptiles...neighbors may not even know they exist and they silently suffer.

 
ss_blog_claim=57f49a8c33266a6e6eae56d042525dc9 ss_blog_claim=57f49a8c33266a6e6eae56d042525dc9