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© 2025 AFPJapan Post to stop delivery of live reptiles
TOKYO©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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© 2025 AFP
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AustPaul
Crikey I’m surprised they even allowed that to begin with.
virusrex
Anybody with even a tiny amount of common sense would immediately recognize this, this speaks of heavily irresponsible decisions made for who knows how long.
Lindsay
It’s interesting that the photo they used is an Australian bearded dragon that are protected in Australia and are illegal to export.
browny1
Finally in 2025???
That's the most stunning part of the story.
Deo Gratias
They're going to stop delivery of them?
You mean they were doing it already?
Garthgoyle
I wonder if it took them a doctorate degree to go come to that decision.
virusrex
Probably it took the threat of an article in the media "Japan Post routinely kills reptiles"
GuruMick
Then the teen owner tires of them and releases them into the wild.
Some golf courses have mini hedgehog invasions.
"Nice shot....was that a birdie ?"
"NO...a hedgie "
Alan Harrison
Probably it took the threat of an article in the media "Japan Post routinely kills reptiles"
Japan only reacts when there is international embarrassment.
Desert Tortoise
Why? They operate like UPS or FedEx. I get stuff delivered to me in the US by Japan Post sometimes. They frequently have better rates than the other international shippers.
Kazuaki Shimazaki
If anything, it's a sign that almost all these reptiles make it through just fine, and every time it is a convenience to the user. What are they supposed to do now?
ian
Now customers get to bring home the animals themselves
John-San
Lindsay: Notice the above dragon has no claws and his left hand is deform Here is another image of the same Dragon I found
https://www.thesprucepets.com/bearded-dragons-as-pets-1236896
This image show all three limbs and all three claws are deform and also show its case it is keep in.
Their colouration adapts to their environment hence the sandy colour.
Place the same dragon in a green environment it colouration will adapt a green hue.
With this dragon above I assume it deformed claws is the result of in-breeding
So I also assume this dragon was not smuggled but breed in captivity.
Zaphod
What??? I had not idea that this was an option until now. Getting live reptiles in the mail??
virusrex
Not at all, it could be something done rarely so even if a majority of the reptiles died it would be possible to keep the problem hidden.
Hire a service that transport living animals ethically by providing a controlled environment?
This should not be such a big mystery, but people should not be able to send animals in inhumane conditions just because it is convenient or cheap.
shogun36
Darn it!!!
How am I supposed to send my snakes and lizards to my pen pals now?!?!
Saki Endo
And yet they panic every time I take a postcard in that I want to send overseas, flapping about wondering what to do. Should have just sent a frog overseas instead. :)
iron man
JS; sorry guy lizards got no claws, and limbs are different to hammies and guinea pig petties so they can move quick quick to escape predators. transporting rare species should be banned. I have had gecko natural local invaders to my homes in a few countries, playful especially when tempting you on the ceiling. walking using their none clawed paws. lizards need a terrarium and natural food source. not for me. where's my gecko in the garden sucking up mossies and ants.
Kazuaki Shimazaki
@virusrexToday 04:55 pm JST
Yeah, but if Japan Post was willing to do it, and people have been entrusting their reptiles without losing them, there won't have been demand for specialized services in Japan. Do they even exist or are prevalent enough to be reasonably accessible?
ian
Keeping those animals in a controlled environment is most unethical
Mocheake
Sorry sir, we only deliver dead komodo dragons and anacondas now.
purple_depressed_bacon
I'm sorry, what? How did they even allow such a thing in the first place??
Desert Tortoise
Bearded Dragons are popular pets among boys where I live in the desert. They are not protected in the US to my knowledge and seem pretty abundant. Our boy found one outside and kept it as a pet briefly before his mom kind of put her foot down and told him to release it.
Hercolobus
Prohibit all non native animals before it becomes like Florida and Puerto Rico.
virusrex
Again making this baseless assumption, for all you know everybody used the service once after the reptiles died, or unethical companies letting half die as "transportation costs", etc.
There is enough demand that services precisely made to ethically transport living animals exist, that means enough people use them for this purpose even having the option of using the post.
https://www.008008.jp/transport/pet/ to give one example.
I mean there are plenty of business that have to procure reptiles repeatedly, obviously they are not all using the post.
This comes even while ignoring the main problem, that according to the law in Japan animals (including reptiles) should be treated ethically and spared foreseeable suffering. Letting them die of exposure just because it is convenient is not allowed.
Kazuaki Shimazaki
@virusrexToday 07:43 am JST
Because if people lose reptiles, it's hard to imagine them not saying anything on say the Internet. Surely someone must be asking "I need to ship my reptile, can I just mail it" and people would be saying "No. I lost my reptile to the post. You'd have to use a service."
I don't know whether to thank you or to note that it'd be much cheaper to get a human from Tokyo to Osaka
Why are you assuming they died, rather than that being just an abstract possibility?
virusrex
Yet the problem was enough to make the post stop doing it, even when no report of this being discussed in the internet, again, this can be something that people do so infrequently (and fully knowing it will bring unacceptable deaths) that even a small number of deaths would mean a majority of the shipped reptiles.
So send a human with the reptile, it is prevalent and easy to access as you said, now you move the goalposts and want it also to be cheap?
Being an abstract possibility do absolutely nothing to refute the argument, it is still an abstract possibility that is against the law in Japan.