In no particular order, due to the fact that I am super tired, and the past three days have been a blur of awesome.
As for pricing, I do not know. I could not afford the obligates so I never asked. To respect the privacy of the parties involved, mostly the buyers, I will not even give guesstimates. I can say that 100% of the purchase price went to Tesoros de Colombia. There was no middle man.
A group of buyers, months ago, unsolicited by Tesoros de Colombia and of their own accord gave a substantial "deposit" on the obligates with zero guarantee that the permits would come in. That meant that if the permits were never issued they were straight out of luck. No frogs, no refund. Period. You lose, game over.
For perspective, the term "substantial" can be described as significantly larger than the entire amount that we raised from the Indiegogo campaign. This was a serious limb that these individuals waltzed out on.
This deposit is what made the Oophaga permit possible. Without this influx of money, at that particular time, the permits would not have happened. That is just how it is. These people stopped this whole crazy project from grinding to a seriously depressing halt.
It was only fair that the people that risked so much get the chance to reap the rewards. This was by no means the only qualification that landed these frogs in NYC. Like the post says, the frogs are in the hands of a group of people that have shown the means and ability to produce these animals and work together to share information and have each others backs.
After seeing them all, many of which were adult breeders (some calling from the cups, quack, quack) I would not be surprised if we get to see photos of eggs soon. The animals were divided up into pairs whenever possible to make sure that breeding can happen soon. We want these to breed like crazy so that everyone that wants one can have access as soon as possible. That is the sincere goal with this project; reduce demand for wild caught animals by supplying an alternative. Coming soon (I hope): $250 lehmanni for everyone!
There are some more frogs going to California soon very soon. I do not know the details of that shipment.
Alberto Cadolini.
Alberto is one of the best oophaga breeders that I have ever met. He seems to have the ability to "read" what frogs are saying and adapts his setups to suit their needs. (Only person I know with a chiller for a dart frog tank) He also has experience dealing with high end geckos and seems to have a grip on the equitable dispersion of these animals. I know that there are other very qualified people, but Alberto has stepped up in a big way to make this happen. He has been down to Colombia to meet with the staff members and get to know the operations. He was a major contributor to the funds that pushed this to fruition. He organized this import and will organize future importations as a member of the Tesoros team. Due to his understanding of the efforts put forth by the others that have made this happen and the many hundreds of thousands of dollars spent getting here, he will be doing this "pro bono". All of the money for these frogs will go directly to Tesoros de Colombia.
Inquiries about frogs can be directed to him at
acadolini@tesorosdecolombia.com
I have spent the past few days with Ivan. I think he had his first good night sleep in 9 years the other night. It is good to see him smile. This has been a very long time coming for him. I sincerely hope that this is a turning point for him and the beginning of a different chapter in his life and the life of this project. I hope that this is the turning point that makes our donations a luxury to put toward his other worthy projects and not the necessity that they have been to continue.
He is currently working on a repatriation project for truncatus. They are hoping to reintroduce them back to an area that previously had them. This is a pilot project that may some day help bring lehmanni back to places in the wild.
This is most definitely a time to celebrate. Ivan is in New Orleans with Yeager right now, and if I know Justin, there is some celebration going on.
Please, ask questions if you have them. But I ask that you refrain from unnecessary speculation. I have attached my name to this project because I believe in the motivation of the people involved. I will be as forthcoming with information as I can be. This was not a business started for profit. Ivan was doing just fine before he started this. Ivan is a conservationist and that is where his heart is.
Lastly, I would like to thank you. Yes, you personally. If you have read through all of this, you care in some way, shape or form about the well being of these critters and none of this would be amount to anything without your support.
Thank you very much.