and mine and everyone else's that's in this hobby/field/profession.



First off, let me say that I don't think this guy (or kid) is serious. It looks like someone just trolling (from his past posts) to see what kind of reaction he can get. Plus, it's hard for me to believe that anyone is that stupid and still survives to be old enough to use a computer.



Second, I'm NOT a big fan of restrictive legislation. My personal feeling, and I don't want to turn this into a political debate, is that the LESS government we have and the LESS intrusive government we have the better off we all are. We don't need someone telling us what is good for us. However, when we, in our infinite stupidity, find ways to endanger OTHER people with our activities, then restrictive legislation is sometimes necessary. The problem with restrictive legislation is that it is often a knee-jerk reaction to an isolated incident, and is usually a gross overreaction. No matter how we feel about them, mainsteam USA is absolutely terrified of venomous snakes. We can't change that, but if we want to keep our right (privelege?) to keep them, we damn well better learn to respect that.



With that out of the way, let me point out a couple of things:



Laws aren't passed until someone thinks there's a reason for it. In Alabama, some kid decided to let a couple of dangerously venomous animals go. That caused the state to go from really no laws regarding venomous snakes to some of the most restrictive in the country. One idiot with a venomous "pet" changes things for everybody. That's life. You may not like it, but that's the way things happen in this country. We DO NOT have the same voice as the non-snake-keeping public. There just aren't as many of us.



If this little nit-wit would ONLY endanger himself with his Mamba, I'd say let him go for it. Encourage him. Somebody give him a special price. If he buys a polylepis, a viridis, an angusticeps and a jamesoni, then throw in a nice N. nivea for free. Give him all the fast elapids he wants. It would only clean the gene pool out a little faster. We don't really want that mentality to reproduce anyway. If the snake would bite him, then politely put itself back in the cage and wait for someone to come get it, voluntarily go in the bag or box and be happy with only biting one person, that would be great.



The bottom line is that he doesn't only endanger himself. He endangers his family, friends, neighbors and whoever has to come catch the animal after his "accident". Then there's the inevitable bad press. That's the part that gets laws passed. That's the part that makes every one of us look bad. The laws are not there to protect you from yourself, they are there to protect other people from you (generically speaking, not YOU specifically).



By the way, there ARE people who are qualified to handle venomous snakes and people who aren't. Some people may not like having that pointed out, but that doesn't make it any less true. There are people who are qualified to fly airliners and people who aren't, people who are qualified to dispense prescriptions and people who aren't. Keeping venomous snakes is a highly dangerous occupation/avocation no matter how you slice it up. There are many, many safety guidelines, techniques and precautions, as well as a lot of special equipment designed specifically for the purpose of rendering the snake, for all intents and purposes, harmless. Yet accident still occasionally happen to the best. Just because someone WANTS to keep venomous snakes does not in any shape form or fashion indicate that they should, or should be allowed to. Florida has an excellent law for that in my opinion. There, you are required to have a permit to keep venomous snakes. In order to get that permit, you have to log 1,000 hours of handling venomous snakes with a qualified, licensed keeper, plus you have to have your cages and facilities inspected and qualified. This is not overly restrictive, and it goes a long way to making sure that the people who keep venomous snakes know what they are doing and know how to prevent escapes. If moere states would follow Florida's example, I think we would see a decline in accidents and escapes that are due to a lack of skill or knowledge on the part of the keeper.

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