Brad and All,



A response to your three things:



1. The president of HCU and several other members have voiced their support for the turtle regulations and the White and Black List on many forums but most notably The Field Herp Forum. Look back over Gerald Merker’s end of the year Lampropeltis post. I am not implying anything. I am stating the fact that HCU supports these regulations after the fact. If what you say is true then what is HCU doing to get them rescinded?



2. The mixing of ambiguous words and positions. Can’t you make it simple? Do you support the right to sell wild caught or not? Well the answer is sometimes, if our members want to do it. Like when vice president Troy H. had wild caught herps for sale on Kingsnake.com. So you admit you SUPPORT collecting by non-commercial folks but at the same time you do not OPPOSE reasonable take by commercial folks? Your Constitution states that you do not support the sale of wild caught herps for the purposes of sale. That, basically says you do not support the right to sell wild caught. What you are trying to do is walk a thin line and be ambiguous. Also who polices your organization? How do you know if members are not buying and selling wild caught? As long as they don’t admit they are commercial they are okay, right? It is confusing and ambiguous at best and it allows for folks to cheat. Imagine this, I go collecting and I catch some stuff that I think I want to work with or at least I convince myself in my mind I do. Then I get home and I decide, well, maybe, I don’t want to work with this species after all. And that trip cost me a lot of money so I will just sell that stuff I DIDN’T PURPOSELY CATCH TO SELL. I am clear right? My purpose was to keep it but I changed my mind.



Please show me how using drift fences and funnel traps over-harvests herps? What paper does that come from? What are the over-harvest amounts for each species? I can see the ecological damage of gassing dens and possibly seining ponds (disturbing and damaging the bottom) but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be allowed to collect and sell herps in a sustainable manner.



3. What you continually fail to realize is I am not a commercial collector in the historical use of the words. I collect for breeding stock just like you guys. I just try to offset costs by catching additional herps, in a sustainable manner, to help other hobbyists, researchers and etc., acquire animals. There is nothing wrong with that. I am not depleting populations. I paid for my right to do that when I purchased my Nongame Commercial Dealer’s license. If you guys would just be clear it would be an open and shut case but your not.



Mike Welker

El Paso, TX

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