Andrew,



1. Has USARK tried to contact the 20-30 monthly herp show organizers in order to possibly solicit a petition signed by attendees as they walk through the turnstiles? Worded in a non-scare language, huge numbers of names could be added to some kind of unified petition. Herp show organizers surely know that the writing is on the wall for them if a bill like 669 passed.



2. A fair amount of dollars are generated and given away (to mainly herp conservation) by some of the larger herp venues every year. Have these venues been contributors to USARK?



3. There are a fair amount of academics that got their start as hobbyists. Some still dabble in exotics like Neil Ford at UT Tyler. I'm not sure if others still maintain herps (like Dante Fenelio), but some significant studies have involved exotic herps obtained through the pet trade (W. Cooper in his chemosensory studies for instance). Have herp friendly academics been contacted for position statements? (like ARAV veterinarians did with their position letter)



4. It was nice to see the New England Aquarium (I believe that was the institution) come out with a position statement, but what about other AZA affiliated institutions? The zoo that I worked at probably received 70-80% of their exotic herps through the pet trade. With the fairly high attrition rate (yes, many zoos lose fair numbers of herps) that zoo experience, the total erradication of the animal trade would severly restrict and limit many zoo herp departments.



5. I, like everyone else, think that while the response to HR669 was great, the reality is that only the tip of the iceberg actually responded and wrote letters or called.



swiss



(I tried to send this on the 30th but it apparently got lost in cyberspace??)

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