Ethics

[bladeblaster]

Will be interesting to see how many people are honest about this.

There have been a number of threads about breeding ethics, so lets see what people think.

Its a simple question "Is it ok to breed an animal with inherant genetic defects?", yes or no.

There is not grey area, one defect is acceptable and another is not, thats all rubbish that individuals use to justify things to themselves. A defect is a defect period.

To clarify defect, I mean something that is clearly detremental, or out of the ordinary from what a healthy 'normal' animal would be.

That could be neurological problems such as with spiders, bad eyes, kinking, shortened life span etc etc

It also emcompasses breeding animals hat have a chance of having these defects, i.e a lot of steps are taken to minimise the risk of the defects coming out, but there is still always a chance that the will crop up.

I would like all people who answer no to list what morphs, of what species, they own.

THIS IS NOT A DEBATE ON ETHICS ITS A POLL

If you want to debate it please start a new thread.

[naja-naja]

if you mean one-eyed snakes, snakes that have twisted spines etc then of course it unethical. but colour, size etc (which many will argue is a genetic defect) then no. i vote that it is unethical to breed animals that have detrimental genetic problems.

[Dextersdad]

Originally Posted by bladeblaster

Will be interesting to see how many people are honest about this.

I was going to be honest before I saw that. Now I might mix things up a little.

[bladeblaster]

Originally Posted by Dextersdad

I was going to be honest before I saw that. Now I might mix things up a little.

as you know mate some people on here are far from honest, sheep mentality rules

[AshMashMash]

Of course anything with heritable defects should not be bred from, simples. Not all defects are heritable though, such as those from wrongly incubated eggs and things, in which case that's fine.

It's very silly to breed obviously defected animals.

[bladeblaster]

people who have voted no, please can you post what morphs you own, otherwise its a bit of an empty vote, cheers.

[Ssthisto]

Originally Posted by bladeblaster

Its a simple question "Is it ok to breed an animal with inherant genetic defects?", yes or no.

There is not grey area, one defect is acceptable and another is not, thats all rubbish that individuals use to justify things to themselves. A defect is a defect period.

You do realise that by so defining this, you're saying either:

1. It's ok to breed any genetic defect, no matter how severe.

2. It's not ok to breed any genetic defect INCLUDING colour and pattern morphs which represent a "defect" in the generation of wildtype colour and pattern.

I cannot agree to EITHER of those two statements.

I own and breed amelanistic-type snakes. Amelanism, due to the lack of melanin in the eye, results in reduced sight or even blindness, in the vast majority of species that have ocular amelanism.

I would be willing to own and breed scaleless snakes, which are "defective" in their ability to produce scales, although there apparently are no ill effects known in ratsnakes at this time.

I would be willing to own and breed snakes with colour and pattern defects that render them less camouflaged in the wild than their wildtype cousins.

I am not willing to buy or breed snakes that show neurological balance/movement defects.
I am not willing to buy or breed snakes that show spinal kinking.
I am not willing to buy or breed snakes with overt physical deformities of the head/skull/vent.
I am not willing to buy or breed snakes known to be or to have been determined nonfeeders.

[Dextersdad]

Originally Posted by bladeblaster

as you know mate some people on here are far from honest, sheep mentality rules

Joking aside, it's a tough one to answer for me. We have an albino but aside from having the strong chance of having poorer than average eyesight that only gets worse we're happy to have her and will try to breed from her.

Albinoism in humans is also something that I wouldn't discourage (in terms of if the parents knew they had the gene before getting jiggy).

Serious problems that come with it I would steer clear of.

We have 2 rescue Persian cats (I won't deviate for long) and I would never, if given the chance, breed them as they're totally screwed inside and out.

[bladeblaster]

Originally Posted by Ssthisto

You do realise that by so defining this, you're saying either:

1. It's ok to breed any genetic defect, no matter how severe.

2. It's not ok to breed any genetic defect INCLUDING colour and pattern morphs which represent a "defect" in the generation of wildtype colour and pattern.

I cannot agree to EITHER of those two statements.

no I tried to define defect as best I could as in something that could affect the animals health/well being. Colour and pattern mutations, on their own do not affect the animals health, just its physical appearance.

[SNAKEWISPERA]

In Jags Its ok.....