PEORIA JOURNAL STAR (Illinois) 27 October 05 Shell shocked - Authorities keep close eye on sales at reptile expo
In the law of the reptile world, there's not much wiggle room for baby turtles.
Poison dart frogs, panther chameleons, bearded dragons, leopard geckos, even boa constrictors are, in general, legal game for vendors to sell as pets to amateur herpetologists - or just plain lizard lovers - at so-called swap fairs.
But several decades ago, the federal government passed a law designed to stop young children from putting turtles into their mouths. Too many kids contracted salmonella poisoning as a result.
Jason Johnson of Peoria said Wednesday he knows the law well. State officials and a local herpetology society president countered that if he does, he shouldn't have been surprised by the visit state agents paid him Sunday.
It came in the form of a raid on the Midwest Reptile Expo at the East Peoria Convention Center at The Oaks, a privatefacility that Johnson has rented since June for the event he promotes once a month.
"Basically, it's where people can get all kinds of exotic animals that most pet shops don't carry," Johnson, 30, said.
About 50 vendors take part in the event each fourth Sunday, and Convention Center co-owner Rollie Campbell said it keeps growing in popularity.
"It's such a nice family event," he said. For the Halloween season, "Vendors dressed in costumes and kids were going trick-or-treating to each table" - until, he said, they were "traumatized."
That's when three uniformed agents from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources arrived, strongly advised Johnson and Campbell not to try to block their entry and joined with seven undercover agents already inside to halt the proceedings for an hour.
Since its inception, the expo has been "the subject of an extensive investigation for the unlawful sale of threatened or endangered species and violations of the federal Lacey Act and (of) the federal Food and Drug Administration," said DNR spokeswoman Melany Arnold.
Several layers of state and federal laws regulate exotic animal sales. Johnson acknowledged that, in July, a vendor from Chicago illegally sold a 4-foot-long alligator - unknowingly to an undercover agent - after Johnson allowed him to bring the animal in from the heat of his parked car.
"I said, 'Bring it in, put it in a box under the table and don't you dare sell it!'" Johnson said. "The agent heard me and offered (the vendor) some ungodly amount of money, and he sold it."
That vendor has not yet been cited for the alleged violation. Alligators and other federally designated endangered species and venomous reptiles are barred from sale in Illinois, said DNR biologist/herpetologist Scott Ballard. Poison dart snakes, once removed from the food they eat in the wild, are not poisonous.
The raid Sunday has produced only one citation so far. An Iowa-based vendor did not have the state license required to sell a gray rat snake, protected by law because it's native to Illinois. The expo's dealings, however, "remain under investigation," Arnold said.
As for Johnson, "I'd say he's not clear of any charges yet," said Jason Juchim, president of the Central Illinois Herpetological Society. That's because he and Ballard said they told Johnson that vendors are breaking the law if they sell turtles with top shells, or carapaces, less than four inches long.
Johnson, who's owned "tons" of reptiles since he caught a dime-sized turtle as a boy and raised it over a decade, said he believes the law allows small turtles to be sold in the course of a hobby or for educational purposes, though not in the course of a business.
"I told him no," the law carries no such loopholes, Ballard said. "But he said, 'We're hobbyists.' " That doesn't matter, Ballard said.
Johnson said whether his vendors turn a profit at his shows "is their personal business. I honestly don't know." After overhead expenses, he makes less than $300 each show and uses that to promote his next one.
"If the show keeps growing, I might make a profit someday," he said. But for now, he'll watch to see if the Sunday raid has scared many vendors from his next expo planned for Nov. 27.
Shell shocked - Authorities keep close eye on sales at reptile expo

[ Show Entire Thread ]