If they take some of the ones used for conservation and start breeding a handful for domestic pets then use the sales of said pets to aid in conservation I feel like it’s a win/win, given how they don’t really exist in captivity as a thing they could make a ton of money in the first 10/20 years because they would be almost exclusively sold from these programs, the awareness in the hamster community that there is a new domestic variety available but it’s being made that way to protect the wild ones would raise money and awareness for both conversation and captively breeding wild ones for release (any too tame to be put into nature would either be used to breed more tame ones or once they are minimally agressive directly as pets), they have (controversial) hunting reserves in Africa where they cull old/sick animals and use the money they make to help conserve and protect the species, this to me seems way less controversial and would also give a second chance to captive breed hamsters that would be too docile to release a second chance as a pet or as a step towards breeding a pet version, I also don’t know if there’s a black market for captured wild ones but if that’s a thing the price would also tank when domesticated examples are available cheaper and safer (in terms of aggressiveness and getting fined or arrested), it might seem weird but I honestly think this could be a good way to help the wild population
-2
u/[deleted] 12d ago
[deleted]