Update – June 2006.
I cannot believe that two years has passed since Paul Carpenter and myself stood under that black Indian sky, surrounded by the shadowy outlines of tamarind trees and shone our torches on spider after spider as we searched the boughs above our heads. At some point we must have touched the face of the forest god himself - for in that unique glade we were inspired to dream of preserving the immediate area as a micro-sanctuary. For three exhilarating and exhausting days – and nights - we had surveyed the richest Poecilotheria site, the pair of us had ever seen and as we sat on a log and I fired up my pipe – we were overwhelmed by a terrible bleakness and fear that what we had experienced was only illusionary. I have not been back and although my friend, Thurston Kroes has been to the vicinity - he only fleetingly visited the site and thus:

I cannot tell you how the plantation and the spider colony have fared. The region, you will remember, was also torn asunder in the tsunami and it is likely that many of the fishermen and plantation workers that I interviewed are now dead. One is further left with a strong impression of the unsettling arbitrariness of fate, by the fact that in the year when the wave struck, I had just left Sri Lanka. The devastation was to include the hotel and the staff, where only days before – outside of Hambantota - I had said farewell to my IUCN team. Thus does the fickle finger of fate decide our lives!

When we returned to the UK, Paul Pierce-Kelly generously agreed to fund a site survey with the assistance of the renowned Indian conservation group, Zoo Outreach. Various meeting were arranged and I was asked to draw up a proposal for funding, which I dully did. Ironically the very day that I arranged to meet the instigator of this organisation, BTS officer, Ray Hale had informed me that a second zoo Drusillas, near Eastborne had also agreed to become associated with the project.

Nevertheless the fates that govern the destiny of a project were to decide otherwise and I was gently informed that day, that due to the politics that govern the world of Indian conservation – no Indian organisation could be found that wanted to be associated with the BTS. Which, of course, is one of the ironies of life, in that there is no conservation lobbyist or hobbyist organisation on earth that has contributed more to the captive breeding and the knowledge of these spiders (over twenty years) than the BTS – and yet still we are a hobbyist organisation and as such are despised by many professional wildlife and conservation bodies.

To paraphrase the words of one particular figure - "we do not want to be associated with the ‘blood money that is at the heart of any hobby or organisation that is linked to the wholesale collection, marketing and keeping of tarantula spiders". My protests that this view was false and that the BTS does not condone mass collecting for the pet trade and only supports captive breeding and the small-scale collection of specific species, by collector/breeders - as you can imagine - fell on death ears. Unfortunately, like it or not, in the eyes of most researchers in the world of wildlife law enforcement and conservation, the keeping of tarantula spiders is viewed as just another face of the trade in wild animals – and although we are not on a par with the trade in reptiles and parrots, we are still not kosher. Not good, I am afraid, and I suspect that it will not improve until we are seen to police our own hobby and discourage the last importation of large numbers of wild caught spiders. To put it bluntly, in this day and age, we do not need to be associated with the gross injustice associated with wholesale collecting for the pet trade. In fact, I would argue that the continued live trade in large numbers of Grammostola rosea - primarily shipped in for the pet-shop trade – can now only be defined as scandalous. The only collecting of wild caught spiders that we should condone are the small numbers needed for captive breeding – anything else is unnecessary.

The last thing that I heard about the Hanumavilasum tamarind plantation and temple site, was that its importance as a scientific site had been picked up by a leading Indian conservation group and that they were exploring the idea of allowing an established, Hindu temple trust in Calcutta to take the plantation under its wing. It would seem that this particular religious trust has been associated with natural history conservation projects for many centuries and it was thus felt that it would be appropriate for this body to offer guidance to the guardians of the Hanumavilasum temple site. All one can do is keep ones fingers cross and hope that the local god Muneeshwarankovil has enough influence to preserve this sacred site - which is probably immune to change in the short term. In the long term, the picture is somewhat darker as these local deities and temple sites slide into gentle decline, when the young people of the region leave for work in the cities and the regional villages become retreats for the old, the infirm and the least motivated. I suspect that when the last old villager is placed upon his funeral pyre, Muneeshwarankovil will ascend to the heavens with his ashes and then the poor will come and log the plantation for firewood. Thus will be the fates that decide the future of this particular Poecilotheria hanumavilasumica colony.

It may interest the reader at this point, to know that the BTS are very aware of the PR implications behind the problems that have arisen concerning the development of this project and are tackling the issue of how the hobby is negatively perceived by a number of conservation bodies. One of the first things that we have done is establish the annual BTS Overseas Research Grant, which is for the princely sum of £500 (approx. $900) and is intended to support and fund the work of researchers – on the Theraphosidae and Scorpionidae, in developing countries. We are thus putting our money where our mouth is and linking the resources of the BTS to research projects that increase our understanding of these beautiful spiders and, at the same time, our standing in the scientific community. We are also launching at the end of this year a discussion document - aimed at both our membership and the hobby at large – called, An Agenda For Change. The intention is to examine the hobby as a whole and then introduce a programme of initiatives, which it is intended will seize the moral high ground from the various organisations and individuals who purport to speak with authority on the subject of the conservation of theraphosid spiders. In future, we intend that it will be the BTS, (in liaison, with other like minded tarantula societies) which will be there to offer funding and encourage the publication of independent, hard-hitting regional faunal surveys, taxonomic and behavioural studies – by local researchers. We intend that it will be the BTS, with its huge body of published papers and articles (dating back over twenty years) which, will be seen to be the primary resource and the first port of call of any organisation that is seeking information on the trade, husbandry and captive breeding of theraphosid spiders.

We also promise you that if the membership draws our attention to any unsavoury aspects of the hobby, which are in need of examination – then we will not shirk from our responsibility in calling for an open debate and discussing the issues in public. Many of our membership, for instance, who have passed through overseas airport gift shops, have been shocked to see for sale hundreds of cases of dried tarantula spiders and other exotic fauna. We are now, very aware of how the collection of this material is associated with our hobby and we intend to launch a public debate and, if it is your wish - initiate a campaign to stamp out this disgusting trade. We are still examining our researchers reports but we are swiftly coming to the conclusion that outside of the orbit of habitat destruction, it is this trade, which is directly responsible for the decline in many of the theraphosid colonies that we have monitored in the Far East. Even more alarming, our field researchers have observed large numbers of South American species being set in display boxes in Malaysia, which would indicate that this ghastly trade reaches out much further than the Cameron Highlands. At this point, I should point out that for many decades the boxed butterflies have been captive bred in both Malaysia and Costa Rica – but that is not the case for spiders. They have been pillaged from their habitat sites, killed by spiking or by placing them in plastic bags in the sun and then shipped by the thousand to companies in the Far East, who relax, set and box them for sale in tourist outlets. So, the next time that you are told, you and the pet trade are responsible for the decline in tarantula numbers in the wild – spit in their eye. It is these buggers who have done irreparable damage to a number of tarantula colonies and it is we who have been blamed. In our discussion document – An Agenda For Change, this is one of the many areas that we wish to profile and throw into the arena for debate. If dried spiders are to be boxed, as part of an economic programme that aids local workers in the third world, then those spiders should be the product of an indigenous captive breeding programme – not wild caught.

If you are a tarantula enthusiast and are not a member of the BTS, then join us in our work to protect and develop our understanding of these wonderful spiders. We are the most professional of all of the hobbyist organisations and for your membership fee you will receive a quarterly, full colour Journal, access to the BTS Exhibition and the opportunity to attend the BTS February lectures – which are the key social event for many enthusiasts and where you can meet up for a weekend of lectures, good food, beer and bonhomie. The event is now so popular that members fly in from all over Europe and the United States to attend. We are also beginning to draw up discussion plans for an additional weekend of taxonomy workshops and further bonhomie in 2008 – all of which makes the BTS a society that is well worth joining.

We are a society that encourages healthy debate - that respects the view of others - and listens to and champions the views of its members. Many of you will have also noticed on the Internet that we have an active policy of discouraging discord and destructive flame wars. We also have a transparent financial and administrative system (an AGM and published accounts)) and a large committee that meets, face-to-face, three times a year. We strive to empower the hobbyists and arachnoculturist’s who join us, with access to the cutting edge of husbandry and captive breeding literature – written by many of the leading names in both arachnoculture and the larger world of theraphosid research. As the chairman of this society, I would say to all of you - by all means support, cherish and work for your local national societies - but if you want to make a difference, then join the BTS. Tarantula spiders are global - as are the problems that they face - and only the BTS has the resources and the infrastructure to reach out, over the next decade, mobilise its international membership and endeavour to champion noble causes. We also have a strict policy of supporting and treating with all other tarantula societies, websites and independent journals on an equal footing – based on respect and co-operation. We do not do destructive schism – we intend to do unity and noble causes.

And if we don’t – then others will champion them in our stead, and those others may not look kindly upon arachnoculture and take the opportunity to sweep us away with those who would abuse and exploit them. At present most wildlife and conservation bodies, view hobbyist’s organisations, such as ours with grave suspicion. If we are to work together then it is going to have to be one of mutual respect - and respect has to be earned.

Andrew M Smith - Chairman