Why discourage trade in endangered species?

Here in NZ we’ve got several species of flightless bird which are endangered in the wild, like kiwis, takahe and kakapo. I’d have thought that the more breeding pairs there were in different locations throughout the world, the better their chances of survival. The high prices they command guarantee that they’ll be well looked after. Why don’t we encourage an export trade in them?

Export trade is a good idea in theory, except for the fact that it makes breeding a problem. For example, they did export trade with the panda from China’s Wolong Panda Preservation center to the National Zoo here. Since there are so few animals left however, they have to be careful how they breed them to be sure that the lineages aren’t too close, otherwise there would be a higher probability of having less desired genes. Since the 2 pandas at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. have too close of a lineage and do not provide the best offspring, they have to import sperm from other places around the world to artificially inseminate the animal. This is extremely expensive and have very few successful results. While export trade seems like a good idea it is actually extremely expensive and not always in the best interest of the animals. We need more breeding pairs in one place rather than more breeding pairs around the world.

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