RAUK - Archived Forum - Slow worm sale laws

It is illegal to sell slowworms - the interpretation of the law is muddled but I thought that the selling of such animals is illegal - capturing animals for the purpose of selling - so collecting pregnant female slowworms and then selling the offspring would possibly be illegal - as you are collecting the adult in order to sell the off spring

Of course everything has to be tested within the courts to get a definite answer - so the question will remain unanswered until someone is arrested for selling slowworms -

Personally there is absolutely no need to sell slowworms and in many respects there is no need to keep these animals -

Jon

The WCA(1981) 9(5) prohibits the sale of wild Slow Worms.

It explicitly states that any schedule 5 animal is assumed to be wild, unless proven otherwise.

If you were to take a Slow Worm from the wild, which subsequently bred, and you could prove that the animal was born in captivity, you would then be guilty of taking the original parent from the wild, which is illegal under section 9(1) of the act.

There is a technicality, untested as far as I know, under 9(5) which states that you cannot sell anything derived from a schedule 5 animal, which might incude offspring.

Anyway you look at it, somebody would be guilty of an offence somewhere.

link to WCA: http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-3614

[The WCA(1981) act gave only section 9(5) protection to Slow Worms, but this was amended in 1988? to include section 9(1) protection. The link above gives only the 1981 act, you have to check for amendments.]

Briefly (though Caleb has pointed you in the right direction)

a) It would be illegal to sell wild caught slow-worms (as you know) unless you had a license to do so. There is no law that states you cannot catch and keep any of the wildspread species of reptiles. (Nn, Vb, Af, Lv though of cause adder are  DWA) yourself if you have no intention of offering them for sale.

b) Off-spring from a wild caught gravid slow-worm that gave birth in captivity would be 'captive reared' and therefore you could not sell them legally unless you had a license to do so.

c) If you can show that the breeding occurred in captivity there is no restriction on the sale of the young as they are captive bred and therefore the WCA no longer applies.

Personally I would go for a garden population if at all possible, though of course slow-worms can do very well in captivity, you just don't see much of them!

Hi Gemma

I totally agree - leave the slowworms in the wild (garden)!

Has that been tested the assumption that slowworms born in captivity can be sold without a license?

Jon

It's not an assumption, the WCA does not apply to captive bred animals by definiton.

Hi Gemma

I was referring to the gravid female collected and then the offspring being sold with or without a license - as it has been said before all animals are considered to be wild unless it can be proven otherwise -

'Err nah mate I have had these slowworms in captivity since 1979 - look I have the stud book guv!'

You can see it now the explanation in the local pub where young slowworms may be on offer for 20p each or ú15 the lot etc - where did those animals come from? were they collected recently or are they the descendants of animals kept in captivity since 1979 - a very hard case to prove

This is how I believe some hobbyists explain why they can breed crested newts in garden ponds and tanks etc and sell them to people across the country - as once featured in BBC Wildlife - the animals have been in captivity since 1979 -

Regards

Jon

Hi Gemma

I totally agree - leave the slowworms in the wild (garden)!

Has that been tested the assumption that slowworms born in captivity can be sold without a license?

Jon

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I found these two gravid females in my local slow worm spot at the beginning of summer. I caught pretty much every slow worm there was there (roughly 45) and noted their distinguishing features and photographed them all before releasing them back, but I kept two of the gravid females just to watch them give birth before re-releasing them. Just a curiousity thing really. Some of the other females I released have also become gravid when I saw them the other day, which is great :) lots of little babies slithering around later this year!

I never intended to sell the babies, as they're essential for the site to carry of thriving as it has done for the past 30 +  years :) I was just wondering how the law would work on a captive born animal rather than a wild one.

I totally agree that they wouldn't make good pets though! I used to have them as pets when I was a kid, but the two I have now are purely for curiousity as for when they give birth - then they'll be going home to their friends

Also, edited to add, before anyone asks about their set up, the tank I am keeping them in is a replica of their natural environment.. they get new chunks of compost and grasses with various worms and bugs in for them to catch themselves... they don't have a water bowl, the ''rain'' just gathers on leaves or in corners for them to drink and moisten themselves with. I am keeping them as natural as possible to make sure they will successfully return to the wild :)

I agree Jon on the proof bit, but then again the burden of proof would be with the vendor and then it would be a magistrates decision if the 'proof' was adequate or not.

As you say it would be all to easy to fake a stud book and without some a genetic test even proving the off-spring were from captive stock would be difficult. Lets just hope nobody would be dumb enough to try and sell them in the first place! But it does highlight yet again a failing of the WCA.

I think one problem that does come up though is that many people think by captive breeding our natives they are somehow contributing to conservation, in my opinion in the case of slow-worms this is futile, but such people may not be aware of the slow-worms general abundance at some sites and the true threat of habitat loss/fragmentation

In some ways I'm glad though that there is no restriction to taking for the widespread species, it can be really interesting to keep short-term captives to observe certain behaviour as Princess-Venom has done, I would not want to see this made illegal.