Hey Tom,



I don't have any vested interest in this becoming law or not. I'm currently working in the tropical fish industry (hence my concern about HR669). At some point I'd like to get back into the hobby, so I'm very interested in having a viable reptile industry in place.



Like I mentioned before, this first came about when the Amblyomma tick issues arose, I think around 2003. The initial response of the Cattleman's Association at that time was that if reptiles come in with ticks than we need to quit importing reptiles. This document was created at that time, and it alleviated a lot of their concerns. I believe it's been posted on the PIJAC website for at least three years, maybe longer. This was intended to be a voluntary program. There were quite a few conference calls with many folks in the industry. At that time I was employed in the industry which is how I became involved. I don't recall anything in the actual document that was opposed to shows or internet sales. I believe there hasn't been more publicity for this because we haven't had further tick issues, but I can't say for sure as I'm a PIJAC member but not otherwise involved with PIJAC.



I think the NRIP document is far from perfect, but I think it was crafted in a manner that would allow anyone, even small operations, to come into compliance if they chose to do so. If you do a close reading, most of the hoops to jump through involve animals in quarantine, and the animals are free to leave quarantine (for NRIP purposes) once they are determined to be visually clear of ectoparasites.



I'm pretty far out of the loop on this at this point, but I'll help out in any way that I can. Let me know if there's anything else I can address.



Thanks,



Joe

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