Cham Community & Conservation

[Brock]

We need to do something about this and be pro active. Of all the issues related
to chameleons and their husbandry, conservation is number one.

There's so much money being poured into conserving Madagascar - aparrently
more than anywhere else in all of Africa. Yet every year 1/3 of Mad. burns and
so much of its ecosystem is slash/burned for agriculture.

How can WE make a difference.

I'm sure there are some senior members on this forum who have been to Madagascar
and have seen first hand what is making a difference. It would be very helpful
for them to advise on what us common people who can just throw money at
the problem can do.

1) Paid membership to the forums? Just for those who want to - maybe 20$ a year.

-it adds up fast and can accumulate a significant amount annually towards a good cause.

-perks can include increased memory usage such as for pictures and inbox, etc.

2) Percentage of sales? For everyone selling chameleons, it should be encouraged
to donate 5% or 10% to a Conservation Fund.

-This can be per clutch or annually, and can be from anywhere between 5%
and 10% or whatever the breeder can reasonably afford.

-I don't know what kind of perks this would have for the breeder, but maybe
figuring something out for incentive purposes would be beneficial.

-Let's face it, without these unique ecosystems, none of us would be here.

3) anyone else have any ideas? and anyone know where else our chameleons come from needs help?

[CleaTheChameleon]

This is hard to think of something than it looks you basically said it all. Maybe we can have WWF sponsor us and we can tell them our ideas. I know they will love us for that.




www.worldwildlife.org

[eisentrauti]

I think WE should sponsor WWF and not the other way round ? Why should they sponsor us ? Because we are asking polite ?

[CleaTheChameleon]

Ok we should sponsor them dont want to get in a little fight here

[eisentrauti]

All those arguments that we keep them for educational reasons etc. are a very bad joke in comparison to the number of animals which are imported every year. Nearly no branch in the hole hobby terraristic is so addicted to WC animals. To be honest, there are not even 10 chameleon species which would be still in captivity without new WC blood

[Brock]

I think WWF is a great idea. So what would the next step be...

Contacting some cham breeders to see what they'd want to donate?
Or contacting WWF to see exactly what we can get done here?

Maybe this can be called something that can be abbreviated, so that breeders
can put it in their ads or on their website and advertising banner that shows
that they are giving back. Something like CFC for Chameleon Forum Conservator, a stamp of approval of some sort.

Or something like that...

I know I'd rather buy from someone who gives back than someone who is just
in it for the money. Hands down. I also know a lot of other people would be that way too.

[eisentrauti]

Did you ever try to make money with breeding and selling reptiles ? It's not so easy as it looks on the first sight (beside you are breeding e.macularius or snakes which live their hole life in plastic racks).

[cushcameleon]

I think this is a great idea Brock. Hopefully you can get something organized for the forum. Good luck.

[Brad]

We looked into this a few years ago, mostly for Madagascar. At the time there were not many legitimate options that would specifically help chameleons. However, there were a lot of lemur conservation efforts that would also benefit some chameleon species. I have not done any recent research.

I'm not sure percentage of sales would ever become a reality if implemented as a group. It would require too much oversight to be done properly. It also has the potential of putting participating breeders at a disadvantage in the market and raising the price of captive chameleons.

I have seen goal oriented donation drives work on other forums. Usually all members have the option to donate and in doing so receive a related image below their name in forum posts. I would want guaranteed results from a legitimate conservation organization before getting involved. Also, I fear the IRS and would need to look into all the details of collecting donations. Some organizations might even allow direct donation and could send info to the forums for recognition; I've seen it before.