Sea Turtle

[chuckos]

Crab

If you are refering to the pig nose , they are now selling like $15 each for about 8cm at LFS, they are cute had 3 in my indoor pond.

i tink ava has declared the PNT as illegal.. its actually an endangered species too...

havent seen anymore being sold ard..

[[whale]]

the 'pond' outside allows you a good view of the turtles...

I've always wondered ... how do they keep the water conditions stable (eg. SG, pH, etc) in that outdoor pond? Wouldn't the salinity be badly affected when it rains?

[pospeh]

I believe the pond has seawater directly pumped in from the outside (filtered of course).

In any event, the amount of rain is miniscule compared to the total volume of the pond.

[Matt06]

pospeh is right, it is the volume of the pond that makes the effects of the weather minimum. Also, Underwater World do pump water from surrounding sea...

[seamonkee]

Dear all,

Actually AVA is really strict about illegal pets for many reasons besides the fact that some species is endangered. IMO, PNT is not really endangered. However, the worry is that when such "foreign" species/animals are brought into Singapore, they are really destructive to our ecosystem or even us, if say someone release them into our jungles/waters should they get tired of it.

Once they multiply, they would "snatch" resources and become a competition for our native animals. Also, some foreign species, if smuggled without proper quarantine could contain possible pathogens or bacteria. No joke, where I work... I learnt about all these from the "experts"... Even snakes, if not properly housed or cared for, can contain certain pathogens on their skins...

Take the classic example of the red-ear terrapin which is cheaply available at all LFS. Its actually not a local species but from America. They were vastly imported back in the 70s - 80s. Look at our reservoirs and ponds now and you will see hundreds and thousands of them. They wiped out three native species of terrapin found in Singapore due to food/territory competition. A mistake that is hard to correct now...

For those who think about getting foreign illegal species... I therefore urge you all to really think twice... They are declared "illegal" for a very good reason...

Sea Turtles are illegal for keeping and is set by an international protection law (not Singapore). You will be in trouble keeping carcasses of it, let alone a live one.

[marinebetta]

All marine turtles are on CITES appendix 1 and thus trade is virtually impossible in them. Since there is no trade in them, if you have one it is illegally obtained. Ignorance is no protection from the law - proven in some cases already. They are not easy to keep anyway, unless you have a huge pond like UW or Kusu Island - they really need the space to swim and even the smallest species gets big!

PNTs are a different matter. They are not on CITES and can be imported. Often confiscated not because they are endangered or illegal but because the sellers do not have a permit to sell them - what you can sell is actually listed in your shop license.

[Nalin]

Hi All !

One of my colleague caught a Baby Sea turtle from East Coast about 300 to 400 metres out from Shore.It was caught using bare hands ( v.small ) as we were on a rubber dinghy.Location = Near to Bedok Jetty.

It happen many years ago as we were still in the Navy.

[FuEl]

Dear all,

Actually AVA is really strict about illegal pets for many reasons besides the fact that some species is endangered. IMO, PNT is not really endangered. However, the worry is that when such "foreign" species/animals are brought into Singapore, they are really destructive to our ecosystem or even us, if say someone release them into our jungles/waters should they get tired of it.

Once they multiply, they would "snatch" resources and become a competition for our native animals. Also, some foreign species, if smuggled without proper quarantine could contain possible pathogens or bacteria. No joke, where I work... I learnt about all these from the "experts"... Even snakes, if not properly housed or cared for, can contain certain pathogens on their skins...

Take the classic example of the red-ear terrapin which is cheaply available at all LFS. Its actually not a local species but from America. They were vastly imported back in the 70s - 80s. Look at our reservoirs and ponds now and you will see hundreds and thousands of them. They wiped out three native species of terrapin found in Singapore due to food/territory competition. A mistake that is hard to correct now...

For those who think about getting foreign illegal species... I therefore urge you all to really think twice... They are declared "illegal" for a very good reason...

Sea Turtles are illegal for keeping and is set by an international protection law (not Singapore). You will be in trouble keeping carcasses of it, let alone a live one.

How do you define illegal? Over here...even captive bred specimens cannot be imported as the paperwork would not even be approved. By rights captive bred specimens beyond F2 generation should be legal under CITES. But some country just choose to formulate their own laws.

You talk about animals being destructive to our ecosystem. If this is so they should just ban red-eared sliders right away and provide an alternative reptile that would be unable to survive out in the wild. As a matter of fact...even temperate species cannot be imported here. This makes no sense at all.

What we are experiencing here is the mass banning of certain classes of animals without any flexibilty.

Such drastic measures made by some country would definitely perpetuate the black market. I wonder how can conservation really work if such contradictory laws are made such that even local demand can't be satisfied legally.

The agency controlling such importation should really read up on the animals and then pass laws. Not generalising everything. One such example is freshwater tropical fish. Do you all know that not to mention the introduced snakehead..there are also other exotic fishes breeding here? Just go to Macritchie Reservoir at night and you can see South American Eartheaters sleeping in the shallows. Who knows what other things lurk in the waters of this country.

Oh well....no one is perfect. We can just hope time will change things.

[Hecter]

actually i email AVA before about other imports. They gave me the same reason. that foreign imports release into the wild is damaging to the ecosystem. But still there will be pple bringing illegal animals in wat... but if they lift the rules on certain animals, i think more other type of illegal animals will be imported.. then ecosystem even damage.. that's why they trying to keep it strict..

[seamonkee]

I know some of the people over at AVA... most of them are true veterinary experts and they know what they are doing...

I used to loathe AVA many years back when I tried to keep a ferret and was threaten with a fine if I keep it... It's only when I had the opportunity to meet them thru work recently that I understand their true reasons for being so stringent with animal imports and all...

Besides possible damage to ecosystem, illegal pets often carries certain pathogens and viruses that may be harmful to us. AVA serves as a "firewall" for our already very small island nation. Can you imagine if they are not stringent at all? People smuggling in illegal pets (that are often not properly quarantined and inspected) don't know the kind of health risks they are facing...

Besides, our country is very near Indonesia where most illegal animals come from (Orangs, Slow Loris, etc). It used to be that Singapore was a popular "meeting place" for illegal pet traders and buyers back in the old days before AVA (then PPD) was formed... By relaxing our law, we would be sending out a wrong message to such wildlife pet traders, encouraging them to be more open and daring.. (E.g. Taking more animals from the wild to meet the sudden surge in demand)...

Aiyah, neverending story lah.. but hope this help to make us understand our laws better...