Amphibians in home... Is a crime?!?!

[francesco]

very interesting but has anyone ever actually seen or taken pictures of salamandra salamandra in Sicily? None of my books mention relict populations in Sicily.

 

[sergé]

Nope, that's the point. There is (beside some writing in some vague papers) no evidence of them existing there.
But back to the laws: all European species that are listed on the FFH guideline (guidline EU 92/43) are protected within countries of the EU, so also Sicily as it is part of Italy. Species like Salamandrina are even strictly protected and Italy needs to designate protected area's for this species..(some national parks can been seen as that). And for all captive bred animals that are on these lists you have to 'prove' that they have been captive bred, so you need to keep a register for that...
Besides that every country within the EU can make sharper laws to protect it's national nature. For instance in the Netherlands it is forbidden to keep any amphibian living within our borders. But in Norway, I think it was (non EU member) it is forbidden to keep any reptile or amphibian...

So..every country, or in some countries regions, can have different laws. You should always be aware of that. Also when you exchange animals...

 

[caleb]

The UK's interpretation of Directive 92/43 is a bit different to most other EU countries- only the species native to the UK are protected by it. The only amphibian concerned is Triturus cristatus.

(I went into a bit more detail about this in a previous post:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/cgi-bin/show.cgi?tpc=8&post=3856#POST3856 )

In the UK you can currently keep any amphibian species except crested newts (T. cristatus) and natterjacks (Bufo calamita) without any legal problem. Captive bred individuals of these species are legal too (if you can prove they're captive bred).

 

[sergé]

The UK still think they are not part of Europe

, but just wait for the first law suit an organisation starts against the government...they will surely win if they go to European Court. So for all you keepers out there, just make sure you save your bills when you buy animals or get a written note from the breeder saying the animals are captive bred, so you can always prove that you haven't taken them out of the wild.

 

[william]

i think that it is illegal to sell wc t. helveticus and vulgaris without a licence, (even then it is restricted to a certain time of the year and it is illegal in some counties) but not to keep them. it is illegal to sell the young of wc adults that includes if one is cb or the other is wc. the young in that case are called captive reared however the offspring of captive reared individuals are then called CB and it legal to sell them

 

[francesco]

Serge: I wish it was as simple as that! In Italy it's up to every single region (for example lazio, calabria or sicily) to ratify which species are protected. There's still a lot of bureaucracy in Italy and that's why for example in lazio you're allowed to keep alpestris but not vulgaris which is far more common. However I've given up understanding laws so I just focus on other species.

PS There are some protected areas where you can find salamandrinas.

 

[sergé]

Hi Francesco,

the Italians may think that, but if someone drags them to European court they will surely fall. You as a European can make an offical complaint to the European Commission and they will than ask questions to your geovernment. But it only goes for FFH species:
all Speleomantes, Proteus anguinus, Chioglossa lusitanica, all Euproctus, Salamandra atra, S. lanzai, S. a. aurorea, Salamandrina terdigitata, Mertensiella (Salamandra) luschani), Triturus carnifex, Triturs italicus, Triturus karelinii, Triturus marmoratus, Triturus dobrogicus and Triturus montandoni. They have all the same European protection but many governments are still way behind putting it into their laws. All WC of these species are forbidden, except with licence. Captive breds are possible. Besides that all countries/regions can make their own laws on all other species, like Triturus vulgaris or Triturus alpestris.