Politics & Legislation



US Fish & Wildlife Service Rule Change- USFWS concluded the 2nd Public Comment period regarding the proposed Rule Change to add 9 constricting snakes to the Injurious Wildlife list of the Lacey Act (including Boa constrictor). If enacted it would create a new class of felon in the US. Never before has the Service contemplated listing animals so widely held by the American public in 49 states. As many as a million American citizens could be subject to felony prosecution for transporting one of the 9 constrictors across state lines. The case made by the service to list the animals has failed to meet the requirements for listing under federal regulations. The authors have so completely misrepresented the climate data that the Constrictor report is based on as to imply ineptitude or deception. Michael Cota from the Thailand Natural History Museum stated in his public comment after reviewing the climate data set, “With a 60% error rate for just one country (Thailand), how many imaginary datasets were used for these reports? Further the Service has failed in providing an accurate economic assessment of the industry. Georgetown Economic Services stated that “the IRFA and Draft Economic Analysis underestimate the scope of the reptile industry”.



Click here to read USARK addendum to public comment:



http://www.usark.org/uploads/USARK Addendum Public Comment f AW080210.pdf



Click here to read Michael Cota public comment:



http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/contentStreamer?objectId=0900006480b2653b&disposition=attachment&contentType=xml



Information Quality Act- USARK filed a 36 page 18 point Request for Correction regarding the USGS Constrictor Report with the USGS. Under these guidelines the government is held to a very high standard of quality of information provided to support regulation if the proposed regulation is controversial, precedent setting or will have significant economic impact. The Constrictor Report is being used to provide the sole basis for the proposed rule. It meets all 3 points of the criteria. The USGS responded to the IQA challenge. Gordon Rodda appears to have reviewed and written the response to criticisms of his own report. USARK thinks that is a conflict of interest. He wrote that on all 16 points “no correction necessary”. USARK is filing an appeal with the USGS to address this questionable response.



Freedom of Information Act- USARK filed comprehensive requests for documents regarding the USGS Constrictor Report with USGS and USFWS. USGS responded promptly with copious documents pursuant to the request. Documents uncovered by USARK appear to indicate that there was collusion between USFWS staff and the authors of the Constrictor Report to make sure the Report contained “evidence” to support a policy decision predetermined by USFWS. USFWS delayed beyond their deadline for response by more than 100 days. Documents that were delivered to USARK were scant, inconsequential and did not contain the most incriminating documents that had already been received by USARK from USGS. We believe that USFWS is withholding critical documents that will show a serious violation of proper protocol and in direct violation of FOIA disclosure requirements. USARK will be filing complaints with the Office of the Inspector General and USFWS. We will encourage a Congressional inquiry to impropriety at USFWS.



CALIFORNIA- USARK continues to engage the CA Dept of Fish & Game as well as the CA Fish & Game Commissioners in addressing concerns over the potential ban of Turtles and Frogs in CA. USARK representatives will attend the next FGC meeting on September 15 & 16 in Sacramento.



The issues regarding a reclassification of Heloderma under the 671 statute have come to a positive resolution thanks to the collaboration between USARK and attorney Patrick Ciocca. Mr Ciocca wrote a brilliant brief critical of problems within the proposed rule change. They were recognized by the CA Attorney General’s office as impediments to the rulemaking moving forward.



San Francisco-The proposed ban on pet sales will be reconsidered on 12 August 2010 at the San Francisco Animal Care & Control office. USARK representatives will attend. Please attend, email and call to oppose the pet sales ban.



Animal Care & Control

1200 15th Street

San Francisco, CA 94103

Tel (415) 554-6364

Fax (415) 557-9950

TDD (415) 554-9704

Email ACC@sfgov.org

Website http://www.sfgov.org/acc



OHIO- The Governor of the state of Ohio, in a deal brokered with the Humane Society of the United States and the Ohio Farm Bureau, in order to avoid an election year ballot initiative by issued an executive order that would ban the possession and sale of "wild and dangerous animals," including "big cats, bears, primates, large constricting and venomous snakes, and alligators and crocodiles." Existing owners of such animals would be allowed to keep them under a grandfather clause but could not breed them or obtain more. The order also addresses agricultural practices and dog breeding. USARK is collaborating with a coalition of agricultural and entertainment interests to address this unwarranted politically motivated action. USARK and its allies have found out that the process will likely take 90 days from the first proposal of a rule to final enactment and will involve public comment and hearings. But they are no where near beginning the process and would like to reach out to stakeholders beforehand to get a sense of what might work best. USARK will continue to be intimately engaged in this process and provide updates as they are available.

If you live in Ohio please encourage as many as possible to get on the USARK mailing list so that when the time is right we have a powerful grass roots army to carry our opposition to this unfair proposal. Spread the word. This is a priority for USARK.



Click here to read Ohio Executive Order:



http://www.usark.org/uploads/2010-06-30_HSUS_Ohio_agreement.pdf





Fundraising



Daytona NRBE Auction- This year the National Reptile Breeders Expo (NRBE) Auction at Daytona on Saturday August 21st will benefit the United States Association of Reptile Keepers. The money raised will go toward two very important USARK projects; 1) Challenging USFWS proposed Rule Change adding 9 constrictor snakes (including Boa constrictor) to the Injurious Wildlife list of the Lacey Act 2) The first comprehensive Economic Assessment of the Herp Industry ever done. Please donate to the auction and help make this fundraising effort an unqualified success! You do not have to be a vendor or even in attendance to donate. Please donate generously!



How to Donate



For all donations please include your name, company name, item description (genetics & sex if live animal) and retail value. Business cards work great.



Live Animal Donations- If you are attending the show please drop off at USARK Booth. If you are not attending the show please ship for Thursday August 19th delivery to:



USARK

c/o Wayne Hill

Ocean Center

101 N. Atlantic Ave

Daytona Bch, Fl 32118



Non Live Animal Donations- Please include name, description and value. Donations do not have to be Herp related. They can be anything of interest; books, art, antiques, jewelry, collectables… anything. You can drop at USARK Booth or ship to:



USARK

c/o Wayne Hill

621 Avenue M, SW

Winterhaven, FL 33880



***Don’t forget the Annual Corn Snake Dinner with USARK Raffle! Contact Kathy Love at Kathy@cornutopia.com for details.



>>>We need a few more Volunteers to help with the Auction. 9am till close of Auction. Food & USARK Gift packs are included.



Reptile Radio Online Auction- Reptile Radio and Bush-League Breeders Club 3rd Annual Auction to benefit the United States Association of Reptile Keepers aka USARK. Reptile Radio will start accepting bids on August 8th 2010 at 12:01AM (EST) and the auction will close on August 21st 2010 at 11:59pm (EST). All bids need to be submitted to reptileradio@inbox.com. Bids will be taken via email and the current bids will be updated as bids come in so check back often. The "starting bid" is the opening minimum bid to beat. Once an item has been bid on, next to the price will read "bid to beat". Do not bid unless you are committed. Keep in mind all proceeds will be matched dollar for dollar by ZooMed, so a $1 commitment means $2 for USARK. Together we can make this the most successful auction to date.

All winning bids will need to be paid in full by August 28th 2010 to USARK as to not keep the generous people donating waiting any longer than necessary. If you would like to donate to the auction please contact Larry or BT at reptileradio@inbox.com or contact one of the auction committee members on the BLBC Forum.



Click here to view Auction Items:



http://www.reptileradio.com/

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• USARK Updates and Fundraising - EricWI, Sun Aug 15 21:31:19 2010