Hearing from you that SOMEONE "SAID" that 1000 snakes were illegally caught is NOT the burden of proof that would be needed in a court of law. I am NOT saying this may or may not be true.

The issue isn't whether we as hobbyists can prove it is or isn't true but that we stand against the practice.
Show me the records indicating that all the mexican rosyboa localities were derived from legal stocks. Go through the list of localities of the Rosyboa websites. Find records that show those locality snake were brought into the US legally. We all know they weren't. Just because I can't prove it doesn't make it false.

I am NOT saying that a very small percentage of people have taken them and or been caught taking them. Just saying that IT IS a small percentage.

And if a small number of people are caught, how many are successful in smuggling. We all know that the border is unenforceable when it comes to smuggling (both directions).

I have crossed the Mexico/US border in vehicles dozens of times over the last 25 years. I probably have only been search 10-15% of the time and every one of those times I was searched I could have hidden bags and bags of herps because that wasn't what they were looking for.

We in America SHOULD know what happens when something is PROHIBITED

Murder, Rape, Incest, etc.....What happens?

2. This would cut down on the illegal take once they are in the breeding community which would make it cheaper for someone to BUY a CB than to drive down to Mexico and risk MULTIPLE issues like getting busted with illegal reptiles, caught in drug war areas, spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of gas, Etc.

But there are already thousands of animals in this country and many of those have ancestries that are "questionable". With all the huge number of rosies produced in this country every year, why would we need to have people go down and collect more?

And would you be OK if I got a permit instead of you? Would you be happy just buying CB babies from me and being denied the opportunity to go down and collect your own? (BTW - finding your own Rosies in Baja is legal, you just can't molest them or bring them back).

I live near alterna country. It costs 10x as much to find an alterna as buy a CB one and finding them by traditional means is currently illegal. There are enough captive alterna around that I know people who feed picky babies to coralsnakes, etc., rather that make the effort to get them on pinkies. There are too many produced, IMHO. Yet this last May and June there were dozens of aspiring herpers down here in Texas trying to beat the odds.

If it didn't work for alterna (or Cornsnakes or Calkings) why would it work for Rosies?
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

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