Ethics Policy - Insects

Are your specimens ethically sourced?

Of course ethically sourced means something different for everyone. To us, an ethical seller is someone who raises and breeds the bugs rather than capturing and killing them. Butterfly farms are an amazing way to do this as a lot of the time they will release a portion of the butterflies raised back into their natural environment to keep the populations count up and promote natural diversity.

We try to be as ethical and sustainable as possible however if we cannot guarantee if something has been properly sourced, we do state that in the individual listing (e.g., bats are nearly impossible to be ethically sourced). As much as we trust our suppliers, because we are not the ones collecting the specimens we cannot guarantee anything. Some of our specimens come from a local registered breeder, some from small butterfly farms, some from researchers, some come from hobby enthusiasts and others have been found or given to us.

All of our butterflies and insects have passed the appropriate CITES, Dept of Agriculture, Bio Security, Quarantine and Postal Inspections. Everything we sell is legal to buy, sell and own.

Butterfly farms - what are they?

Majority of our stock do come from small insect farms around the world. On these farms butterfly pairs mate and lay eggs. The larva feed food plants, pupate and then the cycle continues. Adult butterflies have a very short life span and die soon after mating, they are then collected for museums, collectors, schools, Dept of Agriculture, etc. Many of these butterflies are also released as larva to boost wild stocks as butterflies lay hundreds of eggs.

CITES INFORMATION

All endangered insect species are listed with the Convention of International Trade for Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). There are some very rare butterflies on this list however at Oddity Bug Club we do not sell these protected species. The only butterflies we sell on occasion are Birdwings and our permits for these cannot be transferred. This means that even though we get them with the appropriate CITES documentation, we have to apply for a new permit to export the butterfly again. This is quite time consuming therefore we do not export our Birdwings outside of Australia. All of our Birdwings have been purchased from licensed breeders & collectors with the appropriate paper work.

 

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