People against wild caught Garters

[FunkyRes]

For example; because San Francisco Garters are so rare in the wild, removing one from it's habitat will probably have a negative outcome on the overall population.

The problem with SF Garters isn't small numbers as much as it is extremely small range that has largely been built. Where they persist, either they have good numbers or there are non collection impacts on their overall population (such as the elimination of their primary prey item, Rana draytonii).

Ever year, hundreds of snakes are killed by cars.
Small scale collection removes peanuts compared to road kill.
Yet the populations persist - and where they do not persist, it is almost always because of habitat alteration.

Another issue with SF Garters is that they exist largely in isolated populations, which means if a particular population is over collected, there is no corridor for production in neighboring populations to move in and replenish the site. This can result in excessive inbreeding among the garters that remain which can cause a population crash.

A study done on Sagebrush lizards showed that intentionally depleting an area resulted in lizards from neighboring areas quickly moving in, that can't happen with isolated populations.

[GarterGeek]

The problem with SF Garters isn't small numbers as much as it is extremely small range that has largely been built. Where they persist, either they have good numbers or there are non collection impacts on their overall population (such as the elimination of their primary prey item, Rana draytonii).

Ever year, hundreds of snakes are killed by cars.
Small scale collection removes peanuts compared to road kill.
Yet the populations persist - and where they do not persist, it is almost always because of habitat alteration.

Another issue with SF Garters is that they exist largely in isolated populations, which means if a particular population is over collected, there is no corridor for production in neighboring populations to move in and replenish the site. This can result in excessive inbreeding among the garters that remain which can cause a population crash.

A study done on Sagebrush lizards showed that intentionally depleting an area resulted in lizards from neighboring areas quickly moving in, that can't happen with isolated populations.

What you say makes sense, and I have no arguement against it.

I was merely saying that the arguements for and against collecting wild-caught specimens may not be applicable in all situations. Although, there are much greater problems for the San Fransisco Garters, privately collecting them for pets is probably not a good decision. Common Eastern Garters are abundant and removing two or three should not cause a great problem. It might not have been the greatest of examples, but it was the first to come to mind.