Before I joined, the TSHS was already the oldest reptile society in the Greater Pittsburgh area. I had joined about 2 years ago (I think). The society has been though some financial troubles and member issues in those 2 years, and has quietly fizzled in to nothing. We used to organize the Western PA Reptile Show and Sale in Trios in Moon Township (to solve the financial troubles), but could not keep it going. The society pretty much disappeared when we stopped having the shows.

Since then, the society has just been a bank account waiting to be started back up as a physical entity again.

The website is under organizations on Kingsnake......it's severely outdated though.

This brings me to my questions that were asked. What exactly would you want to see in a reptile club? What are your interests.

What do you think that a societies main priority should be?

1. Conservation?
2. Owners Rights?
3. Educating the Public?
4. Sponsoring a Reptile show?
5. Field Collecting?
6. Adoption of unwanted animals?
7. Self Policing owners in the area?

Here are my arguments for all of these. Not saying that all of them are not important and should be implemented in some way.
1. F&G already does this don't they?
2. VERY expansive, VERY political, VERY succeptible to arguments
3. Who will do it? How much to charge? How much do we pay the person that does it. and once again.....VERY succeptible to arguments.
4. VERY unstable, we've proven this, VERY hard work.
5. Why? This was (to my knowledge what the original TSHS was formed for. Things have changed. There is no need to go on collecting trips anymore.
6. Who keeps them? How much do they get paid? How do we get rid of them? Who collects them?
7. Who does it? How difficult would this be? Who organizes it? Will we be looked down upon for doing it?

This is what I believe should be done before the club ever takes on one member. First off, is getting the not-for-profit status, followed by some sort of mission statement and specific goals.

Thanks
Todd

P.S. The ohio incident was teh Columbus Show of June. Several vendors, some local to Pittsburgh, were busted for violating Ohio DNR regulations as well as the Lacey act (in some cases) It was the result of a "2 year sting operation," involving some undercover federal agents. The laws were not made public prior to the bust, and citations were handed out, animals seized, etc. It was a sad day, mainly because we here in Pittsburgh are not far away, and some of our own were affected. It lead to speculation as to the nature of reptile shows here in PA, and more detailed observance of our own local laws. There might still be a threat in the future of similar laws being enacted here as well. There's nothing to say that it won't happen, but also no evidence that it will.

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