FAQs

The HCT is not a membership organisation so it is not possible for you to join it in that sense. We do occasionally have job vacancies and these are announced in our "News" pages which can be accessed from the link at the top of this page as well as being more widely publicised. In addition, of course, there are often opportunities for volunteers to assist in our work. Please feel free to contact us to be advised of any appropriate tasks.

The HCT is a charitable organisation funded by a generous endowment together with other charitable donations. In addition, it is the recipient of a number of grants from statutory and other related bodies for specific conservation related tasks.

We are concerned only with the conservation of reptiles and amphibians, not their care in captivity. We would certainly wish that any captive reptile or amphibian received the best possible care and would suggest that at least as a start point you visit Chris Davis's, Terry Thatcher's, Melissa Kaplan's or Nick Smith's websites. Even if they cannot help you directly they can almost certainly point you in the right direction.

In summary, we are not opposed to the keeping of amphibians and reptiles in captivity so long as they were acquired legally and the time, financial means and level of knowledge are sufficient to ensure a high standard of care. Similarly, we do not oppose trade of legally held captive-bred animals providing there is a high standard of care in all the production, transport and sale activities and that this is in full compliance with conservation, welfare and other legislation. Our full policy statement on this issue can be seen here.

Much reptile and amphibian habitat in this country has been lost due to afforestation. Sometimes this is intentional and sometimes it is a semi-natural process. In either case, the natural cycle of events which would allow fresh habitat to develop has been lost due, generally, to human pressure in one form or another. As a consequence, the only way to restore the habitat is to control the afforestation. Although to the uninformed eye it looks beautiful, in practice it is almost invariably due to the invasion of alien species such as Pinaster. If one looks past the initial beauty one sees - and hears - that within the dank dark depths of an alien Pine forest there is an almost complete lack of life. There is nothing there that our native species can utilise. So, the trees are cut down to allow the habitat to restore to its truly natural state in which it provides a home for some of our rarest and most beautiful animals. Not just reptiles and amphibians, but endangered birds such as the Dartford Warbler and superbly beautiful insects like dragonflies. We always leave some native trees because they are part of that natural balance.