More people are keeping insects as pets and even some bugs such as cockroaches are priced at up to $80. But poachers who trade the critters from protected areas are coming at a cost to the ecosystem.
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00:00They're not cute and cuddly, but to some, bugs are the coolest creations.
00:09They're recycling, they're pest controlling for free, they're pruning your plants, they're
00:17the fast food in nature.
00:20Appreciation for these critters could be what's driving the popularity of insects as pets,
00:26with even some cockroaches commanding a high price.
00:30Anything up to $80 a cockroach?
00:32Capturing bugs in the wild to sell as pets can be a lucrative game, but it's a legal
00:38and ethical minefield.
00:41Native wildlife poaching is regulated by each state and territory, with penalties including
00:46jail time or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
00:49Most permits allowing invertebrate collection in protected areas are for science.
00:54People who farm insects to sell need a licence, but the industry is aware of poachers trading
01:00collected bugs, saying they're ethically captive bred, misleading customers.
01:06They need to be empowered to make good decisions to make sure they're getting their pets from
01:09people who are not taking things from the wild and selling them directly on, but are
01:14rather rearing things sustainably.
01:16If somebody is supplying 200 scorpions every month or even more to various pet shops, they're
01:23almost certainly not captive breeding them.
01:25That insect can't do its special job on a planet which Dr Umbers says is under stress
01:31by land clearing and climate change.
01:34You could ask the same question of taking a platypus out of the wild or a koala out
01:37of the wild.
01:38That animal can no longer do its function in the ecosystem.
01:42But growing insect interest could solve the sticky situation.
01:47There's a lot of young people coming up through the ranks now who have been influenced and
01:52there's been a paradigm shift I think around the way we treat bugs and the way we care
01:58for them and what we think about them.
02:00Helping little bugs make a big difference.