Posted by:
Jonathan_Brady
at Tue Jan 17 09:46:51 2012 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Jonathan_Brady ]
I hope that people come to the realization sooner, rather than later, what's going on here. We've already seen this play out at the Congressional level - except FWS has actually had success with this.
Originally, HR6311 (in 2008) and HR669 (same exact bill but reintroduced in 2009) sought to ban ALL non-native animals in the US. ALL OF THEM. Literally, the only things that were safe were cats, dogs, goldfish, and livestock. That's it.
HR6311/HR669 failed MISERABLY due to the overreaching scope of the bill and the MASSIVE cohesive nature of the owners of these animals coming together to fight it (mainly the Reptile Nation, honestly - but others were there). This bill was backed by a radical animal rights organization known as the "Defenders of Wildlife" who used a report entitled "broken screens" to justify their efforts. They probably knew it would fail, but why not try, just in case it works?
So what happened after that? What would YOU do if you tried to eat an ENTIRE pizza in one mouthful and failed? Well, you'd probably decide that eating this HUGE pizza is easier if broken up into pizza slices. It's easier to eat an entire pizza, slice by slice than it is all at once. And hey, even if you don't eat the ENTIRE pizza, at least you got most of it. And with most of it gone, the rest won't be difficult to eat at a later date because it's not a whole pizza anymore (or in the case of HR6311/HR669 - it's not the ENTIRE COUNTRY'S animal owners banded together).
This is when HR2811 and S373 were introduced. They just focused on 40 species of python originally. S373 was later amended to focus on the "big 9" by Senator Nelson (one of the names you should recognize from today's announcement). These two bills have since died in Congress. Thanks again, to the OVERWHELMING opposition of the Reptile Nation.
This is when the organizations involved began to realize they'd need another avenue to achieve their goals. So, we found ourselves in the current predicament. We were in jeopardy of losing the big 9. But, the opposition put up was VERY strong and again, this PIZZA SLICE was just a little too big. So, what'd they do to make it more palatable? They trimmed it down some. Now, the other 5 are left standing, probably without the help of the owners of the 4 we lost today. So, our collective voice is becoming smaller and smaller as the government eats away at our rights.
So don't think for a MINUTE that "the big 9" is the end goal. NO NO NO NO NO! HR6311 and HR669 ARE THE REAL END GOAL!!! Because USFWS isn't the organization who's REALLY pushing this. It's the radical animal rights groups. And the USFWS, ENP, NPS, USGS and DOI are simply pawns in their game.
MAKE NO MISTAKE - the ability to keep pets of ANY KIND are under attack in this country. And not just "everything but cats, dogs and goldfish" - those three are under attack too by HSUS/PETA.
So, when I say that we can NOT celebrate today as a victory, I mean it. We lost a battle today - but the greater war wages on. Will you stand beside me and fight it?
jb
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What's written above is purely my opinion. In fact, MOST of what you read on the internet is someone's opinion. Don't take it too seriously 
Jonathan Brady
DeviantConstrictors.com Site received a complete makeover! Check it out!
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 No reason to celebrate "saving" boas - Jonathan_Brady, Tue Jan 17 09:46:51 2012
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