SeeSpots Conservation Society

SeeSpots hopes to make easily repeatable systems and a support network for them. These systems will have different purposes, for example, training, fund raising, and increasing the numbers of endangered plants and animals. Many of these systems will be modeled on already existing ones. SeeSpots Bengal Cattery is the first of these systems.

The time has come. In fact, it is too late.

The world is ending. The coming changes are going to effect EVERYTHING. The water that falls from the sky, the air we breathe, the food we eat, already are being compramised. It is not a question of if but when the balance will tip. Unfortunately, the truth is, in many respects, it already has.

So what are we to do? Well, the good news is that the environmental movement that started in the 60’s has come of age. Neo-environmentalists have certainly changed their spots. The days of shrieking hippies are coming to a close – if not already gone – and the age of the eco-preneur is dawning.

The biggest two changes are that #1, environmentalists are becoming more level-headed in general and incorporating the concept of sustainability into their plans. That basically comes down to money. We all get excited about some atrocity we see in the news, it is normal for people to experience outrage when they encounter something they find morally/ethically objectionable. But this feeling passes, and we can’t march in the streets for days on end. The rent will come due and we – grudgingly – have to get back to our jobs. Rare and exotic plants and animals comprise the second largest (arguably the largest) single market on the planet, and most of that money currently goes to organized crime. It is second only to the illicit drug trade link. The reasons behind this are both complex and many of them ancient but the point is that in 2009 and after, it will pay to be green.

#2, the modern environmentalist has shaken off their natural reluctance to use their enemy’s tools. This is an interesting twist. Now environmentalists use battery-style breeding techniques to breed endangered animals! Something that would have gone over like a lead elephant in the 70’s. They use commerce, science, politics – their brains to achieve their goals just like the the greedy businessman but for something good.

We are going to support the eco-preneur movement. Period. We will reject outdated and unsustainable ways of thinking and running a [non-profit] business and embrace the new. We will try our best to save the world. God knows it needs saving.

I know what you are thinking: “Doesn’t the “preneur” in eco-preneur come from entrepreneur? And isn’t an entrepreneur all about making money?” NO. I have been an “entrepreneur” (defined simply as a person who risks his/her own money – as opposed to other people’s money) most of my adult working life and I often made less than my receptionist. It would be a grave miscalculation to think that I and the supporters of SeeSpots are motivated by greed. Personally, I think that when survival is the issue, greed is suicidal.

So perhaps, though personally I hate debating semantics, it is time to nail down what is meant by words like “rare”, “pet”, “wild” or even “endangered”. I think I know what “endangered” animals are versus… “un-endangered(?)” ones… Uh, yeah – well – that was my point right? I have to explain clearly what I mean.

First we should start with “greed” and “ambition”. When I wikied “greed” Wikipedia said that greed is basically a mental illness – a physiological state where a person’s desire for material possessions overrides all else. So that is not what we are talking about. What we are talking about is “ambition”. Ambition is about setting goals, and even some of the most humble and selfless people of our past were very ambitious. Was not Mother Teresa’s work ambitious? And even the most humble Gandhi did not have small dreams. To set ambitious goals is neither egotistical nor greedy, it is necessary to succeed. Who wants to fail for lack of ambition?

Regulation, regulation, regulation.

Many people including my(former)self don’t like the sound of the word “regulation” and associate it with restrictions, and the limiting of free will. But let’s look at the big picture.

Actually, the opposite is true. Now, we mostly have prohibition of the buying and selling of exotic plants and animals and their parts. Prohibition has consistently not worked for a very long time. All it does is create a black market that is inevitably supplied by criminals and unscrupulous syndicates – and ask any tiger how well prohibition has worked. Let me use a real example of how regulation can help everyone. I think this idea has to be one of the all time greats: The farming of seahorses link. Starting in the Philippines, this project has swept the Pacific and even become a cottage industry in Southern Australia where regular families, offices, and shops buy pre-fabricated seahorse homes and sell any babies produced to subsidize the cost of the aquarium. People who really get into it have been known to turn a profit. Which of course just goes to pay for rent and food. But the point is that the seahorses benefit and so do the people trying to help them. Regulation offers not a solution, but an avenue to a solution – it is just a tool. Can this model be applied to other species? Most certainly. This is what we at SeeSpots mean by, “sustainability”.
We are hoping to offer people who demonstrate dedication and commitment to helping – an incentive to help. What the magic formula of rarity and ease of breeding is – I don’t know. But we are going to try to find out.

So how do the pieces fit together?

I see them fitting together very elegantly indeed. One might even confuse this practical plan for a Utopian one. These are the important elements:

• First World. In the First World costs, such as vet bills and even food are high when compared with the global economy. On the other hand the quality is also high and the First World certainly has its perks. High veterinary standards (to go with the high price), easy access to good veterinary equipment for example. Generally, accommodation is excellent and salaries are high. So only in the homes of the First World does the “fostering” of rare and endangered animals make much financial sense. Because of the high cost of upkeep and the high cost of the animals themselves.
• Adoption fees. Just like with children, I would like to see us moving towards a system where animals are not so much bought and sold as “adopted” from “agencies”. These agencies are private breeders that watch over their local “cottage breeders”. Recently CITES legislation has made it very hard to move endangered species across international borders. That means that not only is it no longer possible for breeders to get new stock from the wild – it means they can’t even get captive-born stock from other countries. This is a very important change. Breeders periodically need to bring in new stock or they will just be inbreeding the same stock, and they can not maintain the large populations necessary to avoid inbreeding problems (for cats it is a minimum of 200 individuals). So they need to develop large “reserve stocks” to draw upon for fresh stock. These breeders for breeders do not currently exist in numbers – but they could. Similar to what has been done in Australia with seahorse breeding.
• Small numbers. First World households can only hold so many animals so a balance must be struck. Only species that can live harmoniously in a normal human household will be considered for what we call Rational Breeding Programs. Even so, most households can not “farm” animals, just keep a breeding pair. Therefore only relatively rare and expensive animals are economically viable.
• No Pets. No animals will be “sold” as pets these animals are for breeding purposes only.