[MonarchzMan]

I was browsing the Science and Conservation forum and came somewhat to a revelation of sorts.

Is the hobby really as conservation minded as we tout it to be?

As I browsed the forum it became painfully obvious that that forum is not visited very often at all. In fact, it is one of the least used forums on DB despite it being one of the older ones. I can't help but think that this is a reflection on what people deem important when it comes to the hobby. I am somewhat disappointed to see that we get far more posts on something like why vivariums have changed over the years than we do for a topic about a dam going in the Amazon which will decimate Galactonotus habitat.

We see things like don't hybridize frogs, which has a conservation-based argument a great deal of the time, but I wonder how much of that is people truly interested in conserving the genetics of the species in the trade, and how much of it is simply tradition? Do folks, for example, really understand the consequences of hybridization? Do people understand the threat of chytrid? And do they actually do something to help prevent its spread?

We also see a number of people who support Treewalkers, which is fantastic, but how many of those people, I wonder, simply throw money at an organization in hopes that someone else will actually do the work to conserve species? I think that a number of people have this idea that they can't do anything, which really isn't true.

So is the hobby really as conservation-minded as it claims to be? If so, why is the Science and Conservation used so little? Some thread don't warrant much discussion, for sure, but others, such as the loss of Galactonotus habitat, should warrant discussion.

 

[MonarchzMan]

I think that the idea of donating a portion of money from auctions or sales or whatever is great. UE is an excellent example of how this can be translated to direct conservation action and buying up of land to protect habitat. The problem I see with that is that it is a very removed action (although this is not necessarily a bad thing). Personally, I'm more along the lines of EntoCraig where I don't really care to donate money, but will very willingly donate my time to actually see something done (maybe I'm a little paranoid that for some things, I don't actually know that my money is going towards a project of interest for some groups). But, some donations are better than nothing, for sure!

I just wonder how much interest there actually is in conservation amongst the hobby. It only seems as though a handful of people post about conservation topics. I wonder if it's apathy, not caring, or just intimidating to walk into a discussion amongst people who are well versed in the topic?

 

[MonarchzMan]

I'm sorry I didn't realize the thread was only about the dam... It looked like the topic was a little more generalized towards discussing what actions people could/should actually take instead of about a dam for which there is little that can be done..

Right. It was really meant to be a more general comment. I just used the dam issue as an example of why I am perplexed. It is one thing to ask people to get interested in conserving some little fish in one of the Mississippi tributaries, but I think entirely different when you're talking about the dam issue since it has a direct impact on a species found within the hobby. Hence why I am perplexed.

I am big on the think globally, act locally approach. I think lots of people tend to look at what is happening elsewhere and say "that's horrible, and I wish I could do something about it, but I really can't" which may be true, but I think it loses the idea that something can be done (i.e., by helping organizations in said areas), but also implies that they're not looking at what can be done locally.

If folks start looking, I would bet that they would be very surprised at how much needs to be done locally. It can be as simply as reporting frog populations to a state agency. I'm guessing/betting that most state conservation agencies are as in the dark about herp populations as they are here in Michigan. We have general ideas on populations and extent of where populations are, but it is drastically lacking in the data, even for very common species. Simply doing something like that can have a big impact on conservation of local amphibians. I think that we really need to start caring about our own frogs before we start criticizing others for their treatment of their frogs.

And then there are other ways people can help areas like in Brazil, which can help. A lot of it is creating awareness. There was similar outcry with the Three Gorges Dam in China, and while that project seems to still be on track, it did create a global outcry. I don't know that the same has happened with the Brazilian dam.