Quote Originally Posted by bshmerlie View Post
Red Eyes are not becoming extinct. In fact they are of Least Concern on the IUCN Red list of threatened or endangered animals. They have a wide distribution better than a lot of tree frogs. But habitat destruction is taking its toll. 20,000 red eyes are imported into the US annually. As a hobby we should cut down that number. TONY just needs to step up production.
Working on it! The entire genus Agalychnis was recently placed on CITES Appendix II, supposedly to protect A. annae and A. moreletii. The argument was that it was too difficult to distinguish the 5 recognized species so they all needed to be protected equally. I find this a bit suspicious since A. annae is endemic to a country that does not allow any exports (Costa Rica), and A. moreletii is easy to recognize with its solid black eyes. Anyone with open eyes and half a brain shouldn't have any difficulty identifying which species are which, but I guess I may be giving too much credit to the fish and wildlife inspectors to think that they are so equipped. I don't know Canada's policy on importing CITES species, but if they have tightened their restrictions then that may be the source of the rumor.