This is really sick!

[Peter Oefinger]

The German Reptile Park in the United States:
http://germanreptileparadise.com/der-park.html

[Thomas Reich]

Absolutely sick, indeed.

So if by chance you have 100 adders or 500 individuals of Hyla arborea to sell, just give them a call...
Here's the list: http://germanreptileparadise.com/was-wir-suchen.html

These numbers are for the first stocking 2015 only.

[Matthias Kaiser]

Wow you can actually only hope this is a joke...

[Ilias Strachinis]

what is this all about?

[Peter Oefinger]

Ilias: They plan a "German Reptile Park" in the United states - a holiday park which shows herptiles from Germany (and you can enjoy Bavarian beer and food). For this, they want to have hundreds of specimen...
Apart from the fact that all these species are protected by law, the idea seems really stupid: The Americans have hundreds of cool species - why should they go to a reptile park with five - rather unspectacular - species? Furthermore, the visitors will be disappointed because they presumably will see none of those shy animals (maybe the owners of the park will stick some specimen with glue on the ground).
All in all, the complete story reads like comedy. I hope it's a joke.

[Peter Oefinger]

OK - Here's the complete story:
https://correctiv.org/recherchen/tierdi ... tierdiebe/

The good news: This American reptile holiday park was a fake of some journalists, to get into contact with poachers which were interested i nselling native herp species.
The bad news: They really got into contact with German poachers which were willing to sell any herp species they were asked for - in any number: they collect everything in the wild...

Fieldherpers beware: don't publish spots for rare animals.

[Kevin Byrnes]

Well, that was an interesting read. I had no idea the problem was so serious.

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

I guess this adds to the stigma in German herpers being all vicious collectors... Don't get me wrong, I am madly in love with several of the German people on this forum, but it would be silly to deny the fact that Germans (and in fact Czech) have a bad name when it comes to poaching. Hope I'm not stirring up too much here; it's just what I have been hearing over the years...

[Peter Oefinger]

German herpers being all vicious collectors

Haha - don't forget there was also a Dutch guy mentioned in the report...
But maybe this is too simple: You will find everywhere people who need money and therefore will collect animals. The problem is the demand side: People which are asking for these animals as pets. Once again, it turns out that keeping herptiles in terrariums should be a specialist thing and makes no sense for average people...

[Mario Schweiger]

........ keeping herptiles in terrariums should be a specialist thing and makes no sense for average people...

+1