Posted by:
wftright
at Wed Dec 16 14:24:32 2009 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by wftright ]
To some extent, I agree with snakes718's idea that we need to show some concern for the issues that the politicians are considering. I appreciate that Snakesitter is sincere in offering a direction, but I disagree completely with that direction at the federal level.
My first problem is that the whole register/license/microchip approach is going to put a burden on responsible snake owners without really affecting the irresponsible ones. With all of the other problems in this country, we shouldn't be sending people to jail for failure to register a snake. Fines will end up being made unfairly, and enforcement will be difficult. We'll have irresponsible people who keep snakes without a license because the chance of being caught will be low, and we'll have responsible keepers hassled by the bureaucracy and drained of money by fees because they are trying to follow the rules. Furthermore, any federal bureaucracy that we create to handle the registrations will end up costing so much that the registration fees will either keep people from owning these snakes or they will not cover the cost of the bureaucracy. If we allow a bureaucracy to manage the snake trade, the bureaucracy will become increasingly slower and less efficient. We may reach a point where an individual may be waiting nine months from the time he moves to a new state for a job to the time that the bureaucracy processes the paperwork and allows him to bring his snakes.
Many states already have some form of registration, and putting federal burdens on top of state burdens only makes matters worse for people in those states. State bureaucracies are bad, but they typically don't become as bloated as the federal ones. Furthermore, they are better able to adjust to the situations in the respective states. New Hampshire is never going to have a problem with feral pythons the way Florida does. Keeping the regulation at the state level means that situations can be dealt with differently in New Hampshire and Florida.
Another problem is that a licensing scheme to make people demonstrate ability before keeping a snake will become subject to all kinds of pressures and opinions. For instance, a typical argument in snake care is feeding live versus feeding f/t. If we confine that argument to our own community, we can fight all we want with no real consequences. If we involve the federal government in licensing snake owners, we may end up having that fight in some bureaucratic committee with the committee making a decision at the end and forcing all owners to follow that path. People who aren't familiar with how things work may say that this would never happen, but bureaucracies produce that kind of outcome all the time.
In terms of the public safety issue, we really shouldn't cede that anything needs to be done. Snakes are less dangerous than almost any other pet that people keep. Congressional action is never going to improve public safety regarding snakes, and we need to make them understand this fact. At most, we should make people receive a warning paper when they purchase certain kinds of snakes.
In terms of financial and environmental issues, I'd rather see a tariff system. For instance, what if we put an $100 per pound tariff on all incoming reptiles or reptile parts and a $150 per pound tariff on finished products made of reptile parts? A pound is 454 grams, and ball python hatchlings weigh just under 100 grams each typically. That means that the tariff on a baby ball python would be $20. Instead of that python having a $10 value at the dock in Miami, the ball python has a $30 value to cover the tariff. Because the tariff would cover live and dead reptiles, that cost goes up for hatchlings that don't survive the trip. If one in five dies, then the tariff is now $25 a snake. If conditions are bad enough that half the hatchlings die, then the tariff becomes $50 per snake.
If the value of a hatchling on the docks is now $30 instead of $10, the middle man who distributes the little snakes to pet stores must now charge $60 or $70 to make his profit instead of charging $20 or $30. The pet store then has to charge $100 or $120 to make the same profit.
This change puts some different incentives in the trade. Importers will have an incentive to see more hatchlings survive the trip to the United States. They may start to find more humane ways to transport wild-caught snakes and hatchlings. Pet stores that previously ignored the idea of buying from local dealers to stock their shelves may decide that buying captive bred snakes locally (or even nationally) is better business than buying imports. The market overall will drop a bit because fewer people will buy snakes on impulse, but many who do become interested and buy a snake will have better ownership experiences as the pet store market moves from wild-caught towards captive bred. This change won't affect the high end morph market at all. If you have "the next big thing" in ball pythons, paying a couple of hundred dollar tariff is nothing compared to what you will make selling the new morph.
The tariff probably wouldn't end snake import completely. Many breeders like the idea of replenishing the gene pool occasionally, so they'll continue to import some normals. Some pet stores and distributors will still prefer to get wild caught hatchlings in bulk rather than trying to find a domestic supply.
We already have tariffs on some goods from some countries. We won't need to create a new bureaucratic infrastructure to collect this tariff. Collection will have some costs, but unless the tariff kills the import business, the tariff will make some money. That money could go to Everglades restoration.
A nice thing about this approach is that we don't invite "Big Brother" into another part of our lives as a licensing plan would do.
Another nice thing about this approach is that most of the costs are born by the wild caught import market. That market is most likely the one causing most of the problems. While the idiot drug dealer who let his python kill that little girl had bought a captive bred albino burm, many people who buy something without knowing what they are doing are likely to be buying imports. A tariff on imports means that they are ultimately paying for the mistakes that their kind makes.
No approach is perfect, but this approach would bring the least pain to responsible owners and breeders. This approach could generate some revenue for Everglades restoration. The slight increase in prices in the market could keep a few of the idiots out of the hobby but would not be prohibitively expensive for good people of less means.
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.
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Different direction - wftright, Wed Dec 16 14:24:32 2009