Randal, Fl fish and Game is NOT regulated by the legislature unless a specific law is passed as was attempted a while back. They promulgate their own laws and enforce them. This sounds bad but in fact works very well because they don't react to hysteria and the animal right nuts. The reason they can do this even though other enforcement agencies can not is because of how Fish and Game were created in the first place. It all has to do with the wording on the charter, act of legislature, or whatever name is placed on the creation document of the agency. Fortunately for us Fish and Game have omnipotency over exotic and native wildlife which supercedes ANY AND ALL local laws. If Texas Parks and Wildlife have the same "charter" it would work if you had a permit and inspection procedure in place. In fact the permit is a good idea because it would weed out idiots keeping venomous snakes under unsafe conditions. At the same time if there was an incident involving permitted or unpermitted people there would be LESS bad p.r. as the state could step in and take appropriate measures depending on circumstances and more importantly put the public and poloticians at ease because it is regulated. The fact is it works here! Our inspectors are fair, educated, and reasonable folks to work with. Our local inspector Mr. Skip Truby just retired and is breeding tortoises in his retirement. He was truely a knowlegable nice guy and he will be missed. Pat Reynolds an inspector often seen on Miami Animal Cops on Animal Planet is knowlegable and a great guy as well. Barry Cook was our first one and he had a rocky road being the first. He endured and is still well respected in the herp community even though he retired several years ago. The point being is I believe regulation is better than an all out ban. I think without regulations in place all out bans are likely. Sorry for the rant....TC

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