BB,



Actually I feel quite "picked on by the government." I live in Ohio, and although I was not "busted" in the "sting" (I don't keep native Ohio herps and don't often attend the Columbus show), I feel a ruling that covers albinos and hybrids is just plain wrong. I think having to PIT tag reptiles with oversize tags, potentially killing them, is not conservation. I am not interested in having state and/or federal wildlife "authorites," - most who can't tell a black racer from an indigo snake - come over my house to do "inspections."



Yes, baby snakes grow, but most breeders sell them - that's the whole idea. If you do not have an outlet for baby snakes, then you shouldn't be breeding them (it's called "responsibility".



So much time, money and resources were spent spying on, videotaping, audiotaping and phone tapping Ohio breeders of color morphs of black rat snakes to achieve last year's "bust," it is quite evident that little time and resources were being spent stopping people in the field from catching native reptiles and sending them over to a state (or country) where they are legal; such people are the true "criminals."



Ohio's ruling takes any incentives whatsoever out of a casual hobbyists desire to keep and breed native herps. It is completely out of line with what other states are doing as well as being out of touch with the ODNR's alledged mission “...to protect and conserve native reptiles and amphibians while maintaining the educational and economic benefits derived from them.”



You bet I'm feeling "picked on by the government."



Tim

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