Hi Kathy,



I absolutely agree, the wackos want death to our hobby.

And they will succeed, imo, if we don't fight back and fight

back hard. Fighting back includes PROACTIVELY educating the

public. Every herp owner should commit to two or three educational seminars at a local school. Every herp owner should

rebut any newspaper article that claims Burmese pythons can live in southern New Jersey. Of course it won't be easy, but nothing

will be easy. People from other forums are calling their local

news stations about this, and some have had positive stories done on them. People in India live with cobras, so it's not

impossible for people to learn not to fear snakes. I've done

presentations at my kids' schools, and most kids are not fearful,

but curious. That's why it's important for as many of us to do

educational events and presentations as possible.



As far as corrupt government scientists, I don't understand how we can ignore this. Why do these guys get a free pass to say whatever they want, no matter how ridiculous? If that's the case, we will never win. And forget our hobby, our whole country will go down the toilet.



Thanks,

Ed



>>have input from some reptile breeders. There were even public meetings for herper input, and a lot of discussion. They did finally come up with something that everyone could live with, although I think the $100 annual fee will drive some underground. But it was legislation that wasn't a total ban, and accomplished the goals of stopping impulse buys and marking larger specimens with implants. But that won't make any humaniacs happy - they want total death of the hobby, and won't stop until they get it. It seems incredible that practically as soon as this legislation went into effect, a Florida legislator introduced a proposal for a total ban by the Feds, as if the Florida law means absolutely nothing!

>>

>>I am not saying not to be proactive, just saying not to expect that it will really stem the tide too much. Unless you are talking to Libertarians, it is really difficult to explain to the non-herping public why we need to have a freedom to do something they don't care about, or actively dislike. Most people seem to care about preserving their own rights, whether guns, smoking, animal keeping, or whatever. But they don't seem too interested in preserving the rights of others. Few seem to see the advantage of defending each others' rights so they will help you when you need it.

>>

>>I agree that you won't be able to mount a huge letter writing campaign forever. That is why I said to rest up now, and get ready for the next one.

>>

>>I am not sure what other proactive measures could be taken. As mentioned earlier, you have to be really careful about media attention. They always like sensationalized news - sells better. They can often take whatever story you give them, and turn it into a "scary" reptile story. They edit out the parts you would like to see them keep.

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