German Tarantula Breeder, Sven Koppler, sentenced for smuggling tarantulas today

[xenesthis]

Just say No!

Just say no to brown-boxing!

 

[forhorsmn]

This is a quote from one of the newspaper reports:
Koppler also claims in his letter that his tarantulas are "harmless to
humans,"
However, West states that all 933 known species of the animal carry
venom that can be dangerous to people.
Tarantulas also carry bacteria that causes flesh-eating disease in
humans, and have "barbed hairs that they can kick onto people which causes
severe skin reactions," West said.

If you look real close, the part about the flesh eating disease is NOT in quotes. I'm guessing (a lot of that going on here) that Mr. West didn't mention that.

 

[Bigboy]

Brown-boxing "red flags"

•*A seller posts an ad on for a rare species that has sold for a high price by a majority of other sellers a price with a price 50% less or more than their competitors. A "too good to be true" price.
• Seller does not have an import permit (or technically did not have a permit until recently
• Seller does not buy from other known suppliers with import permits
•*Seller's price list consistently undercuts their competition and sells stock so low, you have to question how did they get the stock and put up such a low price.
•*Seller's customers tend to be "newbies", very young, who go for price first purchases and never think about these red flags.

Now, anybody in the know, do some research and triangulate and figure in a process of elimination and you know who these brown-boxing sellers are, don't you? Brown-boxing hurts the hobby - period. Don't buy from sellers engaged in this practice. It hurts breeders, investors, legal importers and brings gov. attention to our hobby. Regulate ourselves. Don't buy from brown-boxing sellers.

Seller bought spider and needed money for something more important so was willing to sell low

Seller only sells domestically and purchases wholesale from others for stock

Seller breeds most of if not all of their stock and sets prices competitively

Adapt migrate or die. It applies to business too.

 

[metallica]

i don't have the article, but i think this comes very close:

THE ORAL FLORA OF THE SOUTH TEXAS TARANTULA, DUGESIELLA ANAX (ARANEAE: THERAPHOSIDAE)

Authors: MCCOY, R. H.; CLAPPER, DAVID R.

Source: Journal of Medical Entomology, Volume 16, Number 5, 23 November 1979 , pp. 450-451(2)

Publisher: Entomological Society of America


Abstract:
At least 6 genera of bacteria were isolated and identified from the oral cavity of tarantulas. Species identified included Bacillus subtilis, B. cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, P. fluorescens, P. cepacia, P. spp., Aeromonas hydrophila, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Micrococcus varians, M. mucilaginosus, and Staphylococcus aureus. Some coryneforms and some members of the family Enterobacteriaceae were also isolated.

 

[Zoltan]

Moderator's Note

Until futher notice, we have decided to lock this thread. If anyone has any irrefutable proof or hard core evidence they wish to share about the matter, PM one of the staff members and we may allow it to be posted.

 

[Arachnoboards]

Paul Becker's Official Response

We have received the following response from Paul Becker and are posting it as per his request. If you would like to discuss his response, contact him privately. The two attachments to this post were included with the official response.

Regards,
The Arachnoboards Team

Official Response

People have a right to know.

I know what's happening here, so I feel it necessary to enlighten you.. The people(some dealers etc.)that are price gouging the customers for hard to find spiders are the ones inciting the vicious attacks on me. They spread lies and say that my animals are illegally imported .They do this to justify their own higher prices..It's those people that have formed a little price gouging network when i was gone from 2004-2008 that are attacking me now and inciting others to also attack. Statements have been made by individuals based on hearsay that simply is not true.

ALL my spiders are legal and I have held a valid FWS import permit since I came back.. as well as prior ,also I am bonded by U.S.Customs and Border Protection for importation purposes... I have a big file of importation documents to prove this.

I charge a reasonable price for my spiders and all have been imported legally.. I am actually fair to my customers... so consequently my sales went up and theirs went down..

I do not charge 6-8 or 10 times the wholesale amount like other dealers that joined in the damaging of my name and business and compromising my safety ..I have written over 100 “caretips” to help people in this hobby and I am available for questions by phone and e-mail all day long.
I feel I represent this hobby in a professional manner with every customer new or old. Professional representation of this hobby has completely gone to the wayside with regards to this thread. The biggest dealers hold the most responsibility to represent this hobby as professionally as possible.I feel that if I had responded in the middle of that thread then I would be attacked by people who have been wrongly influenced, therefore becoming a martyr. I will not reduce myself to unprofessional conduct in the same way as so many others have. Ask yourself…Was the Tarantula keeping hobby represented in a professional manner with regards to that thread..? With all the stuff that was taken out of context and bashing that was going on, do you think anyone with any professionalism would make themselves to a witch hunt like that…? I feel I would not have represented our industry positively,but contributed to it’s destruction ,had I responded.

So, for all the individuals out there that have the attitude of guilty until proven innocent..I challenge you to keep an open mind. I have attached a copy of the importation/cargo document and the wholesale prices to prove my statements are correct. I have edited the contact information because I will not reveal my sources, but you can see the prices that I have paid for these spiders. This way you can calculate my mark up and compare that markup with other dealers.

For the remaining unbelievers out there, Please do not send me any more nasty e-mails threatening me because I am documenting everything..
Thanks for reading,

Paul Becker

www.petcenterusa.net

 

[esotericman]

The following .pdf is Rick West's Declaration to the Central District of California Court. It and the entire case, is accessible with a PACER account (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), which is free. You only pay .08/page for documents retrieved via .pdf.

If you have PACER access, the link to the case is here:

https://ecf.cacd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/iquery.pl?551234479654705-L_15_0-0-490111

You may search via name and click on the documents for "USA v. Koppler"

Under "history", it is item #36 "Position with Respect to Presentence Report/Sentencing Factors" Attachment #2.

Thanks.

 

[Arachnopets]

Admin Note

Further developments here:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=211012

(as of 6-9-11)

late update, sorry