January/February
2004
Cold-blooded:
Our Treatment of Reptiles
The Satya Interview with John Behler
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John Behler.
Photo courtesy of the
WCS |
John Behler is the curator of herpetology
at the Bronx-based Wildlife Conservation Society, which controls the
Bronx Zoo. Behler, responsible not only for curating the Reptile House,
which remains the most popular exhibit at the zoo, is involved in extensive
conservation work, as well as authoring books on herpetology. Beth
Gould paid Behler a visit to hear about the
challenges that reptiles face both in and out of captivity.
How did you become interested in reptiles?
I think I’m typical of a lot of little boys, one that probably
never grew up. I was always fascinated with reptiles, I can remember
being seven and eight years of age, catching loads of garter snakes
and bringing them home. My parents built a small pond that I would stock
with green frogs and bullfrogs and they were around for quite some time.
When my father was called to duty during the Korean conflict, instead
of going to Korea, he was stationed in Oklahoma. When Mom, sister Judy,
and I took the train west from our home in Pennsylvania to join dad
the only thing I took with me was my butterfly collection, most of which
had come from the radiators and grills of cars. At this time, in the
early 50s, the big drain on wildlife hadn’t really happened yet,
and Oklahoma was just loaded with reptiles. I quickly had a bedroom
filled with all manner of lizards and snakes as well as scorpions and
tarantulas.
Those were some real formative years in my life. My dad and his two
brothers were dentists, as was my cousin, so I guessed that was my destiny.
But when I got accepted into dental school my dad had a talk with me
and said, “You’ve been in my office twice recently, and
both times were to hold a girlfriend’s hand. I don’t think
that qualifies as an interest in dentistry. As much as I’d like
to have you as a partner, why don’t you see about studying zoology?”
I was an extremely fortunate kid, in all manners.
I studied zoology at the University of Miami and then East Stroudsburg
University in Pennsylvania. At that time I was very interested in butterflies
and salamanders, as well as turtles. After graduate school, I taught
for a couple of years at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in upstate
New York. I came to the Bronx Zoo in 1970, and 34 years later, I’m
still here.
Can you give a brief overview of the reptiles you have here
at the Bronx Zoo?
It’s a big list. We have a biodiverse collection, with about 125
species. And many of those reflect what we’re doing in the wild.
Tell me about the work you do with endangered species and their
preservation.
We work very closely with our international division which has field
programs in about 80 countries, including China. One program is the
conservation of the critically endangered Chinese alligators. We believe
there are something on the order of 75 remaining in the wild, most of
which are males. The chance of recovery by themselves is pretty remote.
In sort of a misguided program years ago, the Chinese government captured
large numbers of the remaining animals in the lower Yangtze valley,
and instituted a breeding program, which resulted in about 10,000 captive
alligators. When the program peaked, there was no place for them to
go, and there was trouble supporting the program. We have since entered
the picture and done an assessment of the remaining habitat, and the
situation is bleak. We are working with the Chinese government to restore
and protect that habitat and to reintroduce captive-bred animals. We’re
also supporting a number of crocodilian scholars working in that part
of the world.
We also have a program for endangered radiated tortoises from southern
Madagascar. Our zoo program has bred nearly 500 radiated tortoises and
represents an assurance colony against a worst case scenario, that they
would be driven to extinction in the wild.
It’s part of our collection philosophy. We consistently work with
animals in captivity to develop an assurance colony, not only for radiated
tortoises and Chinese alligators, but for a host of other animals. It’s
part of what zoos call a “Species Survival Plan.” We interact
with other zoos to maintain those populations.
But the problem with assurance colonies is you wonder what kind of life
you’re saving these endangered reptiles for. Two hundred years
later are humans going to be enlightened and return these assurance
colonies to nature? Boy, that’s a long stretch.
When are we going to be able to afford conservation? Conservation is
really a luxury. You find it in real affluent communities. These are
the realities we’re dealing with. How many generations must go
by in China, for example, before there are any serious notions about
conservation on a broad scale? And our own example, especially under
the current administration, is apocryphal. We’re attacking our
clean air, our vernal ponds, our wetlands, and the Endangered Species
Act is being assaulted.
What is the biggest problem facing reptiles
right now?
The big problems right now are habitat loss and the take for food [from
the wild]. The assault on turtles, for example, is the highest it’s
ever been in their evolutionary history. There are about 300 kinds of
turtles and tortoises, and about 50 percent of them are endangered.
All of the 90 species in Asia are captured for the food trade at rates
that are clearly unsustainable. Tens of thousands of tons of turtles
and tortoises per year arrive in the markets of China from Burma, Thailand,
Vietnam, Indonesia, and even the United States. Malaysia is a major
funneling and transfer point in the region. At least four to ten tons
move through there to China in one week alone. This is all driven by
the change in the world economy. When Chinese currency became convertible
in the early 1990s, there was an explosion in the wealth of China. In
the past, people just couldn’t afford the luxury of buying a turtle,
whether to consume or for medicinal use.
Are most of these turtles being eaten in China?
Yes. They’re being eaten in China. They’re being eaten out
of existence. Many of the species have been pushed to the edge of extinction,
experts believe that several species have become extinct over the past
decade.
So you’re more concerned about food rather
than the potential irresponsible hobbyist?
Much more concerned. Food is the issue. And the tentacles of the marketplace
have reached North America—we are exporting tons of our snapping
turtles and Florida soft-shells to Chinese markets. If we can’t
protect our wildlife habitats and stocks in this country, how can we
begin to preach conservation in third world countries?
Is there anything that is being done to rectify
this situation?
Yes. There is vigorous activity by major conservation organizations
including the WCS as well as Conservation International, World Wildlife
Fund, and a number of other NGOs. Specifically created for this problem
was the Turtle Survival Alliance, which is an amalgam of zoological
institutions, veterinarians and private people who are committed to
not allowing any more turtle species to become extinct and to developing
assurance programs.
Usually these animals are shipped in the cheapest and most inhumane
conditions, so we really want to work with the airlines that transport
them in violation of international regulations and without proper documentation
and permits. There have been many confiscations in Hong Kong and Vietnam
and elsewhere in Asia, which also causes problems—you’re
overwhelmed with turtles, what do you do with 7,000 animals?
Why can’t they go back to their natural
habitats?
Because we have no clue which stream or even which country they came
from. Also, many breeds from different places have been put together,
so diseases are shared, and you have animals with incredible veterinary
problems. It’s really a witch’s brew of diseases that you’re
working with. If you took them back and released them, you would ferry
disease to any remaining wild population.
What is your opinion of people keeping reptiles
as pets?
That’s not an easy question to answer. A bearded dragon that’s
10 inches long, a cute, attractive pet that’s fascinating in one’s
den or on one’s bookshelf, is a hell of a lot different than an
animal that has the potential to reach 20 feet in length.
When I was growing up there were not many choices. There was the so-called
dime store turtle, a red-eared slider, and of course, kids like myself
saw one of these and had to have it. It was sold with a ridiculous little
plastic tank with a plastic palm tree, and one bought a small container
of dried ants as food. Basically, the whole program was designed not
to teach kids how to take care of a living organism. It was a marketing
scheme dependent on failure. It took a long time before information
about proper care got into the mainstream. Today the industry has changed
dramatically. You can go to trade shows and see all manner of reptiles
and amphibians being offered for sale. Some of them have been bred through
many generations and make excellent pets, such as king snakes and corn
snakes. With these sales have come a phenomenal increase in the literature
available to the hobbyist.
So you think that the hobbyists no longer treat
reptiles as expendable pets?
No. There is still a lucrative market, but to maintain them properly
is not a cheap exercise. You need to acquire an enclosure of sufficient
size, and the nutrition and heating requirements now are all fairly
well known. A snake might cost you $10, but the support system might
cost you ten times that amount.
The mass-market needs of the reptile pet industry are basically being
met by domestic propagation of wildlife, but there are still some problem
areas. We do not want to see large numbers of animals exploited from
the wild. That is a big problem, especially in Madagascar and several
other countries in Southeast Asia.
Because of their potential long lives and growth,
there must be quite a few hobbyists who would like to get rid of their
reptiles. Is this your experience?
Each week we receive dozens of calls from the public here at the Bronx
Zoo. An example is a caller who says, “I have an iguana and I
don’t know what to do with it. It’s four feet long. I’ve
had it for three years and I don’t want it any longer.”
Another caller might say, “I have a Burmese python. It’s
twelve feet long. It’s my son’s snake and he has gone off
to college. I can’t keep it any longer. I tried to feed it and
it almost bit me.” The calls are usually about a python or an
iguana. Every week. Dozens.
What do you tell them?
Our collections, with few exceptions, are filled. We’ve taken
in one Burmese python in the last several years, and that happened to
be a 19-foot snake. Where do the other ones go? Some suggestions we
offer are to get in touch with your local high school or science teacher,
or the pets for adoption column in the newspaper. The same routes you’d
go for a dog or cat. It’s a problem for which we don’t have
answers.
Do a lot of them end up at the city shelter?
I don’t know. Occasionally we hear from them and we offer advice
on care. They are not really equipped to provide long-term care for
reptiles. There are a number of organizations, like the New York Turtle
and Tortoise Society and the NY Herpetological Society, that have adoption
programs. We are also aware of the needs of other zoos for their breeding
and exhibit programs. For example a zoo may need an African rock python
for a new Africa exhibit. Sooner or later, we’ll get a call from
a New Yorker that has one they are most willing to part with. We often
try to place these animals, but it’s not really in our purview.
It is not that uncommon for people to call up with a cobra, rattlesnake
or alligator they want to donate. We’re obliged to take endangered
species and venomous snakes. They’re often a little easier to
place, but often they’re in bad shape and require lots of expensive
veterinary care. Rattlesnakes are occasionally brought from Texas and
turtles from Florida for certain Asian food markets in the city.
On a more local level, if someone finds a turtle
or tortoise or iguana, what should they do?
If you live near any New York park, there’s a likelihood that
in the summer you will see iguanas. Our parks have become dumping grounds
for the unwanted. There have been calls regarding reticulated pythons,
Burmese pythons; even cobras on the street in Manhattan that were caught
by police emergency services. We can’t respond to animal calls
except under the most unusual conditions. We have to recommend Animal
Control, I just don’t know of any other agency that’s going
to respond. If it’s a dangerous animal, police emergency services
is usually involved and we may provide assistance.
Road casualties are probably the major problem for our local turtles
and we seem to have a penchant for building roads right through wetlands,
so there’s lots of movement across roads. There are a number of
scenarios. The typical scenario, say you’re in a rural environment
and you see a box turtle crossing the road. The thing to do is to get
out of your car and move the turtle to the other side of the road in
the direction it is heading. In the spring the roads along wetlands
are loaded with frogs and salamanders moving to their breeding pools
and there can be tragic loss.
The other big threat to local reptiles is development; often we’re
not planning for nature at all. In the case of a tract of land that’s
being converted from forest to a couple hundred homes, there’s
no place for box turtles to go. They normally spend their lives in an
area about twice as large as a football field. They just don’t
pick up their old kit bag and move on to neighboring lands—often
there are none. What happens is most of them are hit on the roads; or
if the developers have built roads with Belgian block curbing, the turtles
walk off the edge, go back and forth, and can’t find their way
out. So they get hit, or they end up down a storm sewer and perish.
The corridors that connect habitats are lost, populations get isolated,
and there’s continued road mortality. All of a sudden, people
notice that there is no wildlife in their backyards, where it once was
plentiful. The fields and forests of our youth that supported the wildlife
that little boys and girls found so exciting are being lost at a frenetic
pace. And gone with them are the great opportunities that instilled
the wonder of the natural world in our children.
Publisher's Note: February 3, 2006
All of us at Satya were saddened to hear of the passing of John Behler
this week. He was an admirable advocate on behalf of reptiles and
all threatened animals. His knowledge and enthusiasm will be greatly
missed.
—Beth Gould
