Post by AlienSnail on Nov 28, 2010 10:11:03 GMT
Eric was contacted by a supplier he used to deal with. This supplier told Eric that he had a whole bunch of Megalobulimus, and that eric should hurry up and make his decision as to whether or not to purchase them, as they would fetch the same price selling them to shell collectors.
I know that we should always tell these sort of bad dealers that we're not interested due to the sales ethics, but at the end of the day it's very difficult to just sit back and let these rare snails die.
So - I hope no-one can critisise Eric for buying these snails, after all he did so to save them, and I would like to make it clear that Eric firmly believes this species should be left in the wild and not collected at all.
What should we do as a community do you think? This is an appalling situation where rare, endangered snails are being collected by people willing to kill them for the shells. Unfortunately they are not yet officially a protected species (though this will hopefully change).
I wrote to the UK Shell collectors and have yet not received a reply. But perhaps if snail keepers and shell collectors alike could agree not to purchase any of these snails then perhaps dealers would stop collecting them.
Does anyone have any other suggestions, information, opinions etc please?
the email to the shell collectors......
Hello Mr *****r,
I hope you don't mind me contacting you.
Our interests are similar yet different. I am part of a community that keeps live snails, and your community likes to collect the shells, so I think we all appreciate the beauty of snails.
May I please bring a problem to your attention? A member of my forum has been contacted by an unscrupulous snail exporter who has offered my member the sale of several Megalobulimus oblongus haemastromus snails, and has informed this member that he can offer these to shell collectors for the same price, so he should hurry up to make the decision. In other words it's a case of 'buy these snails or they'll be killed and sold as shells'.
This unusual Barbados species used to be very common, but due to an invasion of Achatina fulica, and the local people's efforts to get rid of these (affecting ALL snails) this slow-breeding species is in real danger of being wiped out completely. Seriously, the situation is dire for the snails, but the local government is being slow to catch up on this fact. Therefore officially this is is not yet a protected species.
May I ask please, that although the Megalobulimus oblongus is not yet protected, that you could perhaps consider getting the message out to the community to avoid buying these particular snail shells please?
A number of us in the snail community keep these (bought before they became rare) and they keep well in captivity, however they rarely breed. Pretty much all of us (to my knowledge) have decided not to buy any more of them as they are best left alive in the wild. However I'm sure some of us will be happy to sell on to your community the shells of those snails who die naturally, as with other species that we keep.
Also I was wondering if you would like to share any scientific data/knowledge between our communities?
Thank you very much in taking the time to read this.
I know that we should always tell these sort of bad dealers that we're not interested due to the sales ethics, but at the end of the day it's very difficult to just sit back and let these rare snails die.
So - I hope no-one can critisise Eric for buying these snails, after all he did so to save them, and I would like to make it clear that Eric firmly believes this species should be left in the wild and not collected at all.
What should we do as a community do you think? This is an appalling situation where rare, endangered snails are being collected by people willing to kill them for the shells. Unfortunately they are not yet officially a protected species (though this will hopefully change).
I wrote to the UK Shell collectors and have yet not received a reply. But perhaps if snail keepers and shell collectors alike could agree not to purchase any of these snails then perhaps dealers would stop collecting them.
Does anyone have any other suggestions, information, opinions etc please?
the email to the shell collectors......
Hello Mr *****r,
I hope you don't mind me contacting you.
Our interests are similar yet different. I am part of a community that keeps live snails, and your community likes to collect the shells, so I think we all appreciate the beauty of snails.
May I please bring a problem to your attention? A member of my forum has been contacted by an unscrupulous snail exporter who has offered my member the sale of several Megalobulimus oblongus haemastromus snails, and has informed this member that he can offer these to shell collectors for the same price, so he should hurry up to make the decision. In other words it's a case of 'buy these snails or they'll be killed and sold as shells'.
This unusual Barbados species used to be very common, but due to an invasion of Achatina fulica, and the local people's efforts to get rid of these (affecting ALL snails) this slow-breeding species is in real danger of being wiped out completely. Seriously, the situation is dire for the snails, but the local government is being slow to catch up on this fact. Therefore officially this is is not yet a protected species.
May I ask please, that although the Megalobulimus oblongus is not yet protected, that you could perhaps consider getting the message out to the community to avoid buying these particular snail shells please?
A number of us in the snail community keep these (bought before they became rare) and they keep well in captivity, however they rarely breed. Pretty much all of us (to my knowledge) have decided not to buy any more of them as they are best left alive in the wild. However I'm sure some of us will be happy to sell on to your community the shells of those snails who die naturally, as with other species that we keep.
Also I was wondering if you would like to share any scientific data/knowledge between our communities?
Thank you very much in taking the time to read this.