Field Herping & Collection Ethics

Finding animals in the wild is always an amazing thing. Especially if the person witnessing comes from a more urban environment. Be it bird watching, scuba diving, or herping, we as animal lovers aspire and dream for the moment we get to see our target species in the wild. For some, it’s taking a photograph of a particular species in the wild. For others, it’s finding a desired species to bring home; adding it to their breeding project or even just as a desired pet, presuming it’s allowed by law.

But when is it ok, and not ok, to remove an animal from the wild and sequester it to captivity? This is a question almost every person reading this has asked themselves at one point or another in their life. And if it is ok, when is ”ok” too much?

My name’s Phil, and I’m a herper. When I first moved to south Florida in the year 2000, I had wild fantasies of flying on fan boats, swimming with dinosaurs, and catching every cold blooded critter I could find. But I would never take them out of the wild! Or so I thought. Clearly my thought process on captive wildlife and herpetoculture has evolved since I was 15. Back then, there weren’t half the field herpers in south Florida that there are today. TV, Instagram, and a general love of reptiles has blossomed south Florida into a treasure trove of seeing and catching herps in their native, or non- native habitats.

Television shows about invasive pythons has people stoked to get attacked by mosquitoes and deer flies just to see the “Florida” python. Professional internet personalities who’ve cut their teeth on “almost” getting bit or actually getting stung by something exotic, has folks enamored with wild and lethal species. And kids who grew up catching corn and ribbon snakes as a child, are now adults with children of their own. What better way to share a passion, then by educating the next generation of animal lovers. So when we go field herping, when is it ok to take animals out of the wild? And how many is it “ok” to take?

Obviously in certain ecosystems, invasive plants and wildlife have run amok; Brazilian Pepper Trees, Cane Toads, and Lionfish, to name a few. Provided that these species were not introduced by a government for a particular or helpful reason (such as the Grass Carp in Florida) then these species should be collected in their entirety for the better of the environment. But what of our native animals we love so much?

We as animal people can unanimously agree, that if scientific fact, data, and physical research indicates that a species is in decline, then that species should NOT be removed from its ecosystem. However, if no laws are in place, and not enough physical data is available, then we need to make a moral and educated decision. Some years back, a particular road out in the Everglades on public land, was famous for being ridiculously full of snakes each night. Almost every species of Florida snake could be found. Over 100 water snakes (Nerodia ssp.) could be seen in a two-hour span. And every so often, there would be no snakes at all. One might hypothesize weather patterns, or overly hot daytime temperatures were to blame. Nope. It was because two men had caught every single snake they found that night and sold them all to a wholesaler the very next day.

It took me a long time and a good amount of growing up to understand the concepts of renewable resources and carrying capacity. Looking back at those two guys who kept all those snakes to sell, week after week, year after year, made me realize that they weren’t wrong for doing it. They were wrong for the way they did it.

Obviously everyone is entitled to their opinion. Some people just don’t care and others are misinformed or were never educated to the topic. Presuming that these individuals who caught snakes legitimately on that special road were within the law, then there’s no problem. Or is there? One might hypothesize that the snakes removed from the road are but a small fraction of the snakes found in the entirety of the thousands of acres of public land. Others may preach that these individuals tainted or even ruined field herping on that road for others who intended on seeing snakes conveniently.

It’s this author’s opinion, that these snake catchers weren’t wrong for doing so. But they should have spaced out their harvesting, so as to not over collect these renewable resources to give nature (and other herpers) time to rebuild and replenish. A more modern concept in conservation is that of carrying capacity. An area of sustained wilderness, usually surrounded by urban development, is only capable of maintaining a finite number of individual animals. Once that number exceeds this capacity, species die off, move out of the area, or assume the role of a species they’ve taken over and extirpated.

Wildlife management programs factor these capacity numbers through research studies and people in the field making educated decisions on the number of animals that can be harvested or collected. Deer, fish, migratory birds, and reptiles, are all species regulated by state and federal laws to eliminate overcrowding of wildlife areas, as well as to help prevent overharvesting by people.

So when is enough too much? Some folks may say, leave it be and let nature sort it out. Don’t remove any flora or fauna from a “natural” area. But by that thought, would it be ok to remove fauna from private property that’s kept natural? Is there a difference?

The term “Public land” is used frequently in conventional hunting. Land that is governed by the state, but owned by the people. If no laws are in place, should it be looked at as state land or our own private property? And should we field collect from said lands? An opposing thought would be, take whatever you want (within the law) and let nature repair itself. In theory, if there are no animals left in an area, humans will stop going there. And in time, more animals will return to use that land like they have for millennia. 

A popular philosophy amongst modern herpers is the “age rule.” Essentially, a herper won’t remove a mature animal from the wild. The idea being, that this animal has had a full life, or will have a full life. It’s reached sexual maturity and has possibly already produced offspring, creating the next generation. Making them vital to the sustainability of the ecosystem for the years to come. However, a juvenile or neonate specimen could be removed and personally kept.

The thought behind this is, that most reptiles never make it to adulthood. That’s why mom has so many babies. Most of these babies die from predation. Some will die from human causes. And others will make the full life cycle to adulthood to produce offspring of their own. By this rule, herpers keep the baby or juvenile because the likelihood of that baby becoming a statistic are pretty high. We then could presume that the adult will continue to contribute to the ecosystem for years to come. What’s better, taking one adult, capable of producing hundreds of offspring, or collecting six babies that have never even seen what’s across the street?

The morals of this topic are for you, the reader, to decide. We as naturalists, hobbyists and conservationists respect the laws and regulations set in place to protect our beloved animals. We should follow the laws and not exploit them when facts are unfounded or unavailable. “Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.” You as a herper need to decide. What will our field collecting actions mean for the future of wild reptiles and amphibians? We’ll never know until we act them out. I hope we choose wisely.