Now, I only got to catch the last 20 minutes or so of this broadcast. However, even that wasn't looking good. Many of the proponents for the legislation came ready to rumble. The legislators all seemed to have their minds made up as well, and only a couple truly asked questions that might persuade their opinion on one side or the other.
Upon first logging on, I could quickly see that USARK's, Andrew Wyatt, and Dr. Elliott Jacobsen were a bit rattled. Andrew Wyatt was questioned in regards to safety, etc of these snakes and he attempted to bring about statements on how dogs have a higher rate of human mortality than large constrictors. Counteracting, the legislator made the statement regarding the large numbers difference between the two and how their are far more dogs within captivity than large constrictors. At that point, Andrew seemed to back down a bit, which to me, shows that he only came prepared to address reasons for his opposition, and not prepared to defend those reasons. That attitude taken by the legislator easily could have been challenged and in a respectful manner.

Ms. Jackson Lee (I could be wrong on the last name) seemed to already have her mind made up and attacked pretty harshly. Her responses to people keeping potentially deadly animals were simple...they shouldn't be. She felt that as citizens who are guarded and protected under the same laws as the rest of the state, that citizens should be controlled on their allowance of ownership of such animals. She even went as far as making comments about people possibly catching and keeping sharks in aquariums. While her comments were outlandish in many capacities, they apparently made an impact.

Dr. Elliott Jacobsen, while meaning very well, he seemed to talk a bit too much. He walked off the beaten path far too many times and slipped from actually responding to their queries. In the midst of that, he was trying to validate points that he was making, however, in doing so...he was admitting to additional keeper failures. This only provides more ammo. He openly stated that while he was in college in Missouri, a buddy had a Russell's Viper in the dorm room. It escaped and was never recovered.
This doesn't set well with legislators. He made a couple other comments that made me a little nervous as well as he was skimming hot water.

In the end, I don't feel that our representation was quite as well prepared as they might have thought. Granted, you're limited on how you can defend yourself against a large group of people who already have a negative mindset. But when you do, you MUST be prepared. When you look like your very own industry is less educated than you make yourself out to be, then you're only opening yourself up for more attacks. This is only the first of many to come now in my opinion, as I"m quite confident that this will pass into law.
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