An update on
The
Hanumavilasum
Tiger Spider Sanctuary
by Andrew M Smith (Chairman)
Update – June 2006.
I cannot believe that two years has passed since Paul Carpenter and
myself stood under that black Indian sky, surrounded by the shadowy
outlines of tamarind trees and shone our torches on spider after spider
as we searched the boughs above our heads. At some point we must have
touched the face of the forest god himself - for in that unique glade we
were inspired to dream of preserving the immediate area as a
micro-sanctuary. For three exhilarating and exhausting days – and nights
- we had surveyed the richest Poecilotheria site, the pair of us had
ever seen and as we sat on a log and I fired up my pipe – we were
overwhelmed by a terrible bleakness and fear that what we had
experienced was only illusionary. I have not been back and although my
friend, Thurston Kroes has been to the vicinity - he only fleetingly
visited the site and thus:
I cannot tell you how the plantation and the spider colony have
fared. The region, you will remember, was also torn asunder in the
tsunami and it is likely that many of the fishermen and plantation
workers that I interviewed are now dead. One is further left with a
strong impression of the unsettling arbitrariness of fate, by the fact
that in the year when the wave struck, I had just left Sri Lanka. The
devastation was to include the hotel and the staff, where only days
before – outside of Hambantota - I had said farewell to my IUCN team.
Thus does the fickle finger of fate decide our lives!
When we returned to the UK, Paul Pierce-Kelly generously agreed to fund
a site survey with the assistance of the renowned Indian conservation
group, Zoo Outreach. Various meeting were arranged and I was asked to
draw up a proposal for funding, which I dully did. Ironically the very
day that I arranged to meet the instigator of this organisation, BTS
officer, Ray Hale had informed me that a second zoo Drusillas, near
Eastborne had also
agreed to become associated with the project.
Nevertheless the fates
that govern the destiny of a project were to decide otherwise and I was
gently informed that day, that due to the politics that govern the world
of Indian conservation – no Indian organisation could be found that
wanted to be associated with the BTS. Which, of course, is one of the
ironies of life, in that there is no conservation lobbyist or hobbyist
organisation on earth that has contributed more to the captive breeding
and the knowledge of these spiders (over twenty years) than the BTS –
and yet still we are a hobbyist organisation and as such are despised by
many professional wildlife and conservation bodies.
To paraphrase the
words of one particular figure - "we do not want to be associated with
the ‘blood money that is at the heart of any hobby or organisation that
is linked to the wholesale collection, marketing and keeping of
tarantula spiders". My protests that this view was false and that the
BTS does not condone mass collecting for the pet trade and only supports
captive breeding and the small-scale collection of specific species, by
collector/breeders - as you can imagine - fell on death ears.
Unfortunately, like it or not, in the eyes of most researchers in the
world of wildlife law enforcement and conservation, the keeping of
tarantula spiders is viewed as just another face of the trade in wild
animals – and although we are not on a par with the trade in reptiles
and parrots, we are still not kosher. Not good, I am afraid, and I
suspect that it will not improve until we are seen to police our own
hobby and discourage the last importation of large numbers of wild
caught spiders. To put it bluntly, in this day and age, we do not need
to be associated with the gross injustice associated with wholesale
collecting for the pet trade. In fact, I would argue that the continued
live trade in large numbers of Grammostola rosea - primarily shipped in
for the pet-shop trade – can now only be defined as scandalous. The only
collecting of wild caught spiders that we should condone are the small
numbers needed for captive breeding – anything else is unnecessary.
The last thing that I heard about the Hanumavilasum tamarind plantation
and temple site, was that its importance as a scientific site had been
picked up by a leading Indian conservation group and that they were
exploring the idea of allowing an established, Hindu temple trust in
Calcutta to take the plantation under its wing. It would seem that this
particular religious trust has been associated with natural history
conservation projects for many centuries and it was thus felt that it
would be appropriate for this body to offer guidance to the guardians of
the Hanumavilasum temple site. All one can do is keep ones fingers cross
and hope that the local god Muneeshwarankovil has enough influence to
preserve this sacred site - which is probably immune to change in the
short term. In the long term, the picture is somewhat darker as these
local deities and temple sites slide into gentle decline, when the young
people of the region leave for work in the cities and the regional
villages become retreats for the old, the infirm and the least
motivated. I suspect that when the last old villager is placed upon his
funeral pyre, Muneeshwarankovil will ascend to the heavens with his
ashes and then the poor will come and log the plantation for firewood.
Thus will be the fates that decide the future of this particular
Poecilotheria hanumavilasumica colony.
It may interest the reader at this point, to know that the BTS are very
aware of the PR implications behind the problems that have arisen
concerning the development of this project and are tackling the issue of
how the hobby is negatively perceived by a number of conservation
bodies. One of the first things that we have done is establish the
annual BTS Overseas Research Grant, which is for the princely sum of
£500 (approx. $900) and is intended to support and fund the work of
researchers – on the Theraphosidae and Scorpionidae, in developing
countries. We are thus putting our money where our mouth is and linking
the resources of the BTS to research projects that increase our
understanding of these beautiful spiders and, at the same time, our
standing in the scientific community. We are also launching at the end
of this year a discussion document - aimed at both our membership and
the hobby at large – called, An Agenda For Change. The intention is to
examine the hobby as a whole and then introduce a programme of
initiatives, which it is intended will seize the moral high ground from
the various organisations and individuals who purport to speak with
authority on the subject of the conservation of theraphosid spiders. In
future, we intend that it will be the BTS, (in liaison, with other like
minded tarantula societies) which will be there to offer funding and
encourage the publication of independent, hard-hitting regional faunal
surveys, taxonomic and behavioural studies – by local researchers. We
intend that it will be the BTS, with its huge body of published papers
and articles (dating back over twenty years) which, will be seen to be
the primary resource and the first port of call of any organisation that
is seeking information on the trade, husbandry and captive breeding of
theraphosid spiders.
We also promise you that if the membership draws our attention to any
unsavoury aspects of the hobby, which are in need of examination – then
we will not shirk from our responsibility in calling for an open debate
and discussing the issues in public. Many of our membership, for
instance, who have passed through overseas airport gift shops, have been
shocked to see for sale hundreds of cases of dried tarantula spiders and
other exotic fauna. We are now, very aware of how the collection of this
material is associated with our hobby and we intend to launch a public
debate and, if it is your wish - initiate a campaign to stamp out this
disgusting trade. We are still examining our researchers reports but we
are swiftly coming to the conclusion that outside of the orbit of
habitat destruction, it is this trade, which is directly responsible for
the decline in many of the theraphosid colonies that we have monitored
in the Far East. Even more alarming, our field researchers have observed
large numbers of South American species being set in display boxes in
Malaysia, which would indicate that this ghastly trade reaches out much
further than the Cameron Highlands. At this point, I should point out
that for many decades the boxed butterflies have been captive bred in
both Malaysia and Costa Rica – but that is not the case for spiders.
They have been pillaged from their habitat sites, killed by spiking or
by placing them in plastic bags in the sun and then shipped by the
thousand to companies in the Far East, who relax, set and box them for
sale in tourist outlets. So, the next time that you are told, you and
the pet trade are responsible for the decline in tarantula numbers in
the wild – spit in their eye. It is these buggers who have done
irreparable damage to a number of tarantula colonies and it is we who
have been blamed. In our discussion document – An Agenda For Change,
this is one of the many areas that we wish to profile and throw into the
arena for debate. If dried spiders are to be boxed, as part of an
economic programme that aids local workers in the third world, then
those spiders should be the product of an indigenous captive breeding
programme – not wild caught.
If you are a tarantula enthusiast and are not a member of the BTS, then
join us in our work to protect and develop our understanding of these
wonderful spiders. We are the most professional of all of the hobbyist
organisations and for your membership fee you will receive a quarterly,
full colour Journal, access to the BTS Exhibition and the opportunity to
attend the BTS February lectures – which are the key social event for
many enthusiasts and where you can meet up for a weekend of lectures,
good food, beer and bonhomie. The event is now so popular that members
fly in from all over Europe and the United States to attend. We are also
beginning to draw up discussion plans for an additional weekend of
taxonomy workshops and further bonhomie in 2008 – all of which makes the
BTS a society that is well worth joining.
We are a society that encourages healthy debate - that respects the view
of others - and listens to and champions the views of its members. Many
of you will have also noticed on the Internet that we have an active
policy of discouraging discord and destructive flame wars. We also have
a transparent financial and administrative system (an AGM and published
accounts)) and a large committee that meets, face-to-face, three times a
year. We strive to empower the hobbyists and arachnoculturist’s who join
us, with access to the cutting edge of husbandry and captive breeding
literature – written by many of the leading names in both arachnoculture
and the larger world of theraphosid research. As the chairman of this
society, I would say to all of you - by all means support, cherish and
work for your local national societies - but if you want to make a
difference, then join the BTS. Tarantula spiders are global - as are the
problems that they face - and only the BTS has the resources and the
infrastructure to reach out, over the next decade, mobilise its
international membership and endeavour to champion noble causes. We also
have a strict policy of supporting and treating with all other tarantula
societies, websites and independent journals on an equal footing – based
on respect and co-operation. We do not do destructive schism – we intend
to do unity and noble causes.
And if we don’t – then others will champion them in our stead, and those
others may not look kindly upon arachnoculture and take the opportunity
to sweep us away with those who would abuse and exploit them. At present
most wildlife and conservation bodies, view hobbyist’s organisations,
such as ours with grave suspicion. If we are to work together then it is
going to have to be one of mutual respect - and respect has to be
earned.
Andrew M Smith - Chairman
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