Apparently someone in the private sector is keeping Marine Iguanas

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...391965.-2207520000.1383795015.&type=3&theater

 

I wonder if those are really marine iguanas and this is for real? I am doubtful. How did you find this, jusko?

 

I found out about this through urban jungles radio. there all about reptiles and these are def marine iguanas david.

 

Those really are marine iguanas. I can't say I'm surprised i was recently shown photographs of a critically endangered bird species apparently being bred privately in Europe. There's absolutely no way they were legally obtained and haven't been kept in a zoo in 20+ years

 

Apparently someone out there......

That really DOES arouse my curiosity.
Which endangered bird species?

 

From the records that people have posted here it doesn't look like any legitimate zoos have kept marine iguanas since the 1960s.

http://www.zoochat.com/38/marine-iguanas-1930s-89053/

 

According to a comment, they came from a german zoos and the owner has papers. So then the animals have to be very old, as the only german holders Frankfurt and Berlin apparently had them only in the 60ies....

 

I had heared rumours about Marine iguanas smuggled now and then to Europe or America but this is the first proof I get to see !
It seemed a Dutch guy also tried to get some from the Galapagos but he disappeared.....

 

In Switserland there seems to be still a little group of persons which are keeping ( and breeding ? ) Spix macaws and I'm also sure a lot of other critically endangered parrot-species are kept - legal or illigal - in privat hands !

 

I know of a fellow who just imported a couple of Pangolin into the states. He's quite proud of them, has pictures and videos all over his facebook page.

 

Naive question: are they live marine iguanas, or just stuffed models?

 

Unfortunately it is just a photo that "Urban Jungle Radio" posted onto their page. They says "apparently someone out there in the private sector is keeping Marine Iguanas," so we really don't know who the person is.

 

That bag of reps was confiscated before it actually left the Galapagos. The above however are definitely in a reptile enthusiast's hands. This is not saying I condone the practice.

 

This is one of the more shocking/interesting things I've seen on this site.

I'm not one to be surprised to find out that a private citizen is keeping exotics illegally. There are probably more people than we'd want to imagine out there keeping stuff that you wouldn't expect. The rarity and regulation of this particular species makes this case stand out.

I have to wonder about the authenticity as well. Are these real? Are they really what the caption says they are? Are they mounted specimens owned by a collector playing a joke? It's tough to say without video.

 

I ran the picture by a herpetologist friend who said that it has been floating around for a few years and no one is sure that it is real or where it is, if it is real.

 

@groundskeeper24, unfortunately no! I really have seen good photographic material of these marine iguanas in private hands on Facebook sometime. Just I can kick my head in now … for not marking it out where and when. It certainly was not the site that the current link up was from. It was more or less link up through some mutual FB friends of mine. I will keep a look out if I can retrace it.

 

@DavidBrown, not being sure if it is real (by your esteemed herptile friend) is no the same as it does / did not exist. It did … (and knowing what is sometimes in private hands and their rarity and how one comes by these is a road of its own).

Notwithstanding that, I DO believe that private bona fide keepers do have a role to play in herptile and other wildlife (conservation) breeding. And quite a few of the serious herptile breeders ARE very conservation minded. But alas we live in a consumption society where sometimes one feels nothing is sacred, least of all CITES and other wildlife law enforcement regulations.

 

VC those rumours are old and actually proven to be untrue. And there are many private breeders that work seriously with endangered species, unfortunately there are always idiots that should be prosecuted.