Animal
protection groups say the global exotic pet trade is a growing
multibillion-dollar industry that’s having a devastating impact on wildlife
populations across the world. In New Zealand, lizards and turtles are traded
freely, legally and in increasing numbers, and when the odd one has escaped our
cold temperatures have largely stopped them reproducing. But those temperatures
are heating up.
The World
Animal Protection is urging people not to buy, own or breed a wild animal as a
pet. It’s commissioned polling that found a quarter of exotic pet owners
did no research before buying a wild animal as a pet ... and more than half of
them didn’t realised their pet was classified as 'exotic'.
Cassandra
Koenen heads the group's campaign on exotic pets.
“There’s an
assumption that a reptile can be released into the wild and it will be fine,”
she says. “But that doesn’t take into account the biodiversity (of the place
it’s being released to). In countries like New Zealand that’s something that’s
highly challenging,” she says.
“One of the
challenges in owning an exotic pet is that in many countries it’s legal.
There’s a perception that because it’s legal then it’s a great idea. That’s not
the case.”
Koenen is
talking to state and federal governments in several countries about the concept
of a “positive list” – a list of species that are allowed to be kept as pets.
It’s basically restricted to domestic animals (cats, dogs, guinea pigs, horses)
and anything not on the list is banned. Belgium introduced it in 2001 for
mammals. Koenen, who is based in Canada, says for example in Toronto it’s not
legal to have a flamingo as a pet because if released, it wouldn’t survive in
the wild.
Department of
Conservation science advisor, biosecurity, Rod Hitchmough, says quite a number
of species now have the potential to establish in this country and become a
problem. Some Australian lizards in particular, such as blue tongue skinks, are
a worry - another that’s
been found in several water ways are Water Dragons. They
are carnivorous and go for New Zealand's giant land snails.
He says
imported birds are an issue as well – he names rainbow lorikeets and ring
necked parakeets as flashy flying creatures that are prone to escaping, where
they compete with native wildlife.
Hitchmough
says it’s not illegal to keep these lizards and birds as pets, but
problems arise when people don’t want them any more or they escape
… particularly when people release them to reserves. That is illegal. He
says the extent of any damage they do isn't exactly known, but it's not just
direct damage to the environment that could be a problem. Diseases may well be
transmitted to native species, and there's predation to worry about as
well.
The most
worrying are the ones that have the potential to establish. For birds that’s
rainbow lorikeets and ring necked parakeets; with reptiles it’s water dragons
first with blue tongue skinks second. “Water dragons can be very elusive,” he
says. But they're also very expensive, which means owners are more likely to
hang on to them.
The
assumption is that either pet owners just get sick of them and let them go –
they turn out to be too expensive or they just get too big. "It's pure
speculation though.”
Trade Me is
awash with red-eared slider turtles, which is the species being collected most
often by reptile rescue services. "Kids have lost interest", one
honest seller says.
Red-eared
slider turtles - one of the world's 100 worst invasive species - are
increasingly being found on urban edge areas, and in the water ways of towns
and cities. Auckland's Western Springs Park is a popular dumping ground and
they’re often spotted in marsh at Bethells Beach. At the moment it’s not
too much of a problem because sex determination is temperature-dependent, and
it’s too cold in New Zealand for females to hatch. But Hitchmough points out
that with global warming, that may change.
“It’s about
being a conscientious pet owner,” he says. “If you no longer want your pet, do
the right thing and find it a good home, or give it to a rescue organisation.
Also, not breeding if you don’t know what you’re doing. Breeding them is not
illegal but whether it’s ethical or not is a personal decision.”
Hitchmough
points out that making the turtles readily available cheaply increases the
likelihood of impulse buying, regretting the decision, and letting it go.
He says
turtles were rare as pets in New Zealand until the 1960s. “A lot of species
have only been in the New Zealand pet trade for 30 years at the most and the
numbers have been building up, so it’s quite recent. We don’t know why that is.
There’s no proof that a lot of these things were illegally imported ... and it
would be very difficult to prove.”
Pet
accord
There are
1800 different pet species here not native to New Zealand, most of them
ornamental fish. The Ministry for Primary Industries is setting up a Pet
Accord, which has assessed 35 species as being of high risk
of becoming established. New Zealand has the highest rate of pet ownership
in the world, but there's a list of escapees which have gone on to form wild
populations here.
At the
moment MPI is working on an eradication programme for the European Alpine
Newt, which has been seen near Waihi - that's on the verge of a successful
conclusion.
MPI's
principle conservation advisor, Erik van Eyndhoven, says several programmes are
also underway to catch Indian ring-necked parakeets, including near Thames and
in Christchurch. They are easier to find than amphibians, with the public happy
to report them. Red-eared slider turtles, he says, are "certainly on our
radar and something that needs to be watched closely", but they have been
assessed of being of medium concern when it comes to establishing feral
populations. Adult males and females have been released but temperature bias
does keep the numbers down - however van Eyndhoven says there are micro-sites
where females have been produced.
"Anecdotally
we are getting more and more reports of red-eared slider turtles," he
says. However data is not collected on it - and reports also go to councils
around the country, and DoC. "Definitely we want owners to realise that
they can't release them into the wild." The cheap price of replacement
pets also concerns him - that makes it easier to just go and get another
one.
Van
Eyndhoven says there are a variety of reasons as to why pets get out -
including people who can't bring themselves to euthanise a pet and let them go
instead. He says there's also a religious element where releasing animals is
enshrined in practices.
DoC and
Biosecurity New Zealand recently issued a press release aimed at the Chinese
community, reminding Buddhists that the practice of 'saving lives' of animals
should not extend to releasing invasive species such as red-eared slider
turtles and koi carp into lakes and streams.
"This
action is not only against the law, it is extremely harmful to the native
species living in these areas. Native species do not co-habitat well with
these imported species as we know from the disastrous introduction of rats,
stoats, possums and weasels," it said.
The Chinese
Conservation Education Trust has offered to let Buddhists attend a native
species release instead.
Not good for
the natives - or the turtles
Sarah
Liggins, a trained veterinary nurse, runs North Shore Reptile Rescue from her
home. She gets turtles passed on from the SPCA or pet shops, or they’ve been
dumped in a box outside her gate, or handed in by people who find them on the
road. Often they have rotting shells or dog bites from fending for themselves
in the wild. It’s not the damage to the country’s water ways that worries her,
but the cavalier treatment dished out to the turtles.
They’re
creatures that need a lot of care and attention, and that costs money. Initial
setup costs are around $1000, for a tank, ultra-violet heat lamp, water
conditioner, food, filters – “a lot of people get put off when you tell them
that,” says Liggins. They also smell. When they get bigger they need a proper pond
– they will end up being about 30cm long. And they can live up to 40
years.
“It’s
definitely time-consuming (looking after them),” she says. “Finding a savvy vet
can be hard too – people don’t want to pay for that. A lot of people think they
can buy one of those blue sandpits from The Warehouse and it’ll be fine.”
She had to
find homes for 20 turtles before Christmas but has none at the moment – the job
goes in fits and starts.
Liggins says
they’re being mass produced by breeders who are simply feeding demand – they’re
going for $38 on Trade Me. “I’ve spoken to a couple of people who breed
red-ears for the pet market and they don’t have any problem with it,” she says.
“They say it’s doing minimal damage to the environment, that hardly any get
released. But we’ve seen a lot of them at Western Springs, most of them big
adults. They’re in Lake Pupuke, I’ve rescued axolotls from there too. I’ve seen
turtles in a stream at Belmont, one down at Takapuna beach, some from a creek
in Brown’s Bay – you find them everywhere.” Many are in salty water or filthy
ponds, in terrible conditions or with damaged shells.
Liggins says
the turtles do eat native fish, and if there’s a shortage of those they will
come up on land to eat mice and skinks, but to her knowledge they’re not
causing huge environmental damage. She says Australian water dragons and blue-tongued
lizards are another story however – the water dragons can grow a metre long.
Liggins
would like to see pet stores adopt a ‘no questions asked’ policy for people to
return unwanted turtles instead of releasing them into the wild.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
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