smallest fly river ive ever seen

[dirtyblacksocks]

I suppose I should include that the Lacey Act states you have to KNOWINGLY accept an animal that is protected for it to be enforceable. It used to be KNOWINGLY and WILLINGLY, but has been revised because lawyers were finding too many loop holes under the WILLINGLY part of it - and innocent people were being convicted of breaking the law.

So - as with all illegal animals - you can plead ignorance. Of course if you're reading this you aren't ignorant.

A full write up on all of this can be found here:
http://aquaticpredators.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25085&mode=threaded

If you care to educate yourself.

 

[dirtyblacksocks]

Any Fly River under 10" is gray area Illegal untill someone starts producing them with consistancy and actually documents the process. They are protected in PNG, and aren't allowed to be Exported from the Island. The hatchlings you see are from eggs collected from the known nest sites. Once hatched, they're laundered in Indo, Japan, and Europe, then sent here. USFW knows this, and keeps tabs on anyone Re-Selling hatchlings. End users are fine once they have the animals. I've never seen one confiscated, as they're more worried about who's actually bringing them in. I'd run away from anyone who is selling them in any kind of quantity. It's just an invitation for the USFW or your local DNR to come knocking. I've had several people try to sell me hatchlings Online or at Shows with "Paperwork", but I have yet to see any kind of documentation to go with them. The few Zoos and Private Individuals working with groups are still a few years away from seeing any kind of production. 90% of the FRTs that have been hatched in captivity were from gravid, Wild Caught Females when they were legal to bring in. Very few have actually been Captive Bred and Born........

Kamuran over at Bushmaster's is the only person I know of to have ever obtained permission to legally import fly river turtle's into the United States - with the exception of zoo's and herpetologists doing whatever research.