So we had our meeting last night with nature conservation.
Everything still sounds very promising, but is not finalized...yet.

Just a bit of background...
We are trying to change legislation, so this is not going to be an overnight thing. We were sent a draft document last week from Ian Engelbrecht for us to read through and comment on at the meeting last night. I had a good read through it and all seemed pretty straight forward from his perspective when setting it up. After the meeting last night, so many possible issues came out of the discussion, that there will have to be some serious changes made to it regarding legal aspects and just general wording. Remember, this document has to be watertight, so that "Amos" sitting in the permitting office can read through this and understand exactly what to do when a permit application lands on his table and to stop people from finding loop holes in the system.
So think the basic message is that everyone just needs to be a bit patient at the moment with the process. Trust me, we want to get it through as much as you guys do, but it needs to be as controlled as possible with as little chance of any abuse as possible.

For the moment, I will not go into too much detail about what was discussed until I get the go ahead from Ian to put some of the info on the website, but there was one point that was discussed last night that I would like to enquire about.

Organisations like the West Rand Herpetological Society have courses that they offer regarding legalities and husbandry of snakes. When people apply for permits, the applicants can submit their certificate with the application which lets nat con know that the applicant has the knowledge to look after and breed with the snakes.
Nat con would like us to start something similar with spiders, especially locals.
It would be a one day course covering all aspects of Theraphosid keeping including legalities that people would have to attend to get breeding permits, but not buying/keeping permits. Obviously it would be beneficial for people to do a course when applying for local keeping permits as well, but the course would also cover exotic tarantula basics, so would be valid for everyone.
I am going to attend one of the snake courses to see how it is run and then setup a curriculum, along with the other members as well as Ian, before the final course is set out. The course will then be offered to the people who are being considered for the first breeding permits and see how we can improve it, before offering it to the public.
I have no idea on what the cost would be, but would guess between R250 and R500. This will be worked out when looking at the final amount of hours needed to set everything up as well as the costs involved in running it. This is not a money making thing though, it is to ensure that when people start keeping the spiders, they know what they are doing, and would obviously be great for new keepers in the tarantula hobby too to see how to look after their own spiders.

What are your thoughts on the above?
Would anybody be interested in doing a course like this?
Any suggestions, etc?

The idea of a basic course sounds like a brilliant idea. I would be very keen to attend something like that, especially to boost my general knowledge on both local and exotic species. It would be beneficial to also get an idea of how Natcon works in terms of legislation etc. Plus it would provide an opportunity to meet some other enthusiasts.

I would love to do this course, it will only benefit T skills :thumbsup:

I think it's an excellent idea and I'm pretty sure many others like me would get excited about something like this.

Not only in terms of the permit requirements but for the exotic keepers as well. This would allow new hobbyists a fast and simple means of obtaining good reliable info, With all the random bits of contradicting information out there something like this would only give guys some peace of mind and promote even greater enthusiasm if anything and like Geeves said it would also give them the opportunity to meet and network.

Awesome stuff and I'll be looking out for where this is going :thumbsup:

Kudu wrote: Awesome stuff and I'll be looking out for where this is going :thumbsup:

Good feedback so far.

Like I said, I am first going to attend a reptile course to see how it is run and then work out a proper curriculum so that we can do this right.

Kudu wrote: I think it's an excellent idea and I'm pretty sure many others like me would get excited about something like this.

Not only in terms of the permit requirements but for the exotic keepers as well. This would allow new hobbyists a fast and simple means of obtaining good reliable info, With all the random bits of contradicting information out there something like this would only give guys some peace of mind and promote even greater enthusiasm if anything and like Geeves said it would also give them the opportunity to meet and network.

Awesome stuff and I'll be looking out for where this is going :thumbsup:

+1 I don't think I could have said it better myself :thumbsup: