Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Don't know if you have been paying attention but animal rights groups are working with state and local lawmakers all over our country to limit or ban ownership of "exotic" animals. They are working at a frightening pace. Here is a long overdue update on our situation in North Carolina.

Some of you may recall previous discussions about Senate Bill #1032. SB 1032 was a piece of legislation introduced to the North Carolina Senate in March 2005. The bill was introduced by a Senator whose district experienced a child death as a result of a tiger mauling. Animals rights groups identified him as a potential ally and provided the language for the bill. The bill banned ownership of many species of animals including constrictors that attain sizes of 6' and above. I won't go into all the details here but the most positive development was that a group of herp keepers from around the state began to organize on-line. In May 2005, we held our first meeting and in the early hours of the following morning, a plan was hatched to create a non-profit organization that would seek to protect our ownership rights, build a strong network of like minded people, as well as play a strong role in outreach and education. I'm happy to announce that after a year of efforts, the North Carolina Association of Reptile Keepers (NCARK) is alive and well. We have our leadership in place, a lawyer, a lobbyist, and many professional advisors from around the world. We have invested a lot of time and money. We are expecting to receive our non-profit status by this fall. We recently set up a booth at the reptile show in Raleigh and began accepting members and collecting petition signatures.

We seemed to have turn the tide for the time being in NC, however, we plan to continue forward with our mission. We plan to build a strong presence that will ensure that reptiles can thrive in NC. We know that many other states are under attack by similar efforts. We hope that our efforts can serve as template for action in these other areas. We would really appreciate support from the greater herp community so that we can do this right and make a statement about the strength of our community. Please use the link below to learn more.

North Carolina Association of Reptile Keepers

Nice job Gray. It is so important that people take notice of what is happening with restrictive laws concerning reptiles that are not well thought out. There is a huge prejudice against reptiles with most law makers. In reality if they looked at injuries by horses and cattle it would be MANY times greater then the occasional injury or death by an exotic. It's not practical for lawmakers to go after horse owners, so they go after something easy like reptiles. The lawmakers get some publicity and their name on a bill, so they love it.
Don't be easy folks!

John Manser

For keeping the post this time.
Thank you,
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Joel Pretz

Keep up the good work. I am glad to see that atleast in some areas people are able to group together to protect their rights.
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Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.

How many times do you see the 21 year old kid with a burm wrapped around his neck walking down the block or someone who "simply must" take his/her ball python with them everywhere they go. Or bearded dragon or leopard gecko or blah blah blah. You get the point. What we have to realize is many people are afraid of snakes(whether we like it or not)and many people just plain hate them. Most politicians dont know anything about anything. The minute they feel they can stir up a few votes and some positive press, they will wreck whatever they feel necassary without really doing much research on the topic. In New York, as of 2005 it is now illegal to own burms, retics,african rocks, anacondas(green and yellow),whitelips,pure indian pythons as well as several lizard species. COLUBRIDS AND BOAS ARE NOT FAR AWAY MY FRIENDS. Exotics in general have been banned in the confines of NYC for years now. I have been a Detective in NYC for many years and if I had a dime for every dumb kid that walks around with a snake around his neck IN APRIL MIND YOU, LOL, I'd be a rich man. Irresponsible behavior like that is one of the many reasons they will continue to make our hobby appear shameful. Prior to me owning this small collection of boas(about 14) I owned probably close to 200 adult colubrids. When I purchased my new house, I moved them in under the cover of darkness at midnight! Its perfectly legal here but simply because what I have in my house is no ones business and I know that all it takes is one ignorant neighbor to start making a stink and calling up the local politicians who probably think its illegal(yes thats right, they probably dont even know). Anyway my point is, be responsible and respectfull of the fact that people dont like snakes. Keep your snakes out of the public eye and chances are you will be able to enjoy them in the privacy of your own home. If WE continue to give the public AMMO, they will make us all criminals. Best of luck down there. PS. Here is photo of the LAW in NY. I hope you can read it. My scanner was down. Also, sorry for the long post but I am very passionate about this topic with all of the wrongs I have seen with these poor snakes over the years. Thanks so much.

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honesty is my only policy

That is some great info.
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Joel Pretz

lets see...keeping your snakes hidden away in the house so no one can see them?...sneaking around after dark smuggling your own pets into your own house...if i did that my neighbors would call the cops (thy are very nosy lol)...there is a time and a place to take your pets out...its also our responsibility to show people that snakes arent vicious ugly monsters,by hiding them away you just reinforce that image like "oh whats he hiding ,ibet its something dangerous"...my snakes are my pets...they are family,just as much as anyonelses dog or cat yes i do take my snakes out in public but i do it tastefully and descritly...i dont just jump out at people and say here look at my pet i usally stand to one side away from people and 9 times out of 10 everyone eventually walks up and pets my snakes,and take their pictures,,some even get over their fear and actually pet a snake for the first time...never would have happened, if i had stayed hidden those people probably would have been lifetime snakehaters if not for meeting my many boas and ratsnakes which i carry with me to petstores...dont hide...it just paints a bad picture...

ok, continue to take your snakes out in public. The one time your snake nips one of your neighbors kids you'll have a problem on your hands. And thats all it takes is one time. If you really know your "pets" I'm sure you'll admit that you can never really predict what they will do. This goes for cats dogs and especially reptiles. I agree with you as far as it being a shame to hide our animals and keep them in the house but the bottom line is, they are on the border of becoming ILLEGAL. To me its simply a good decision to keep it as private as possible. Again, you seem to consider your Boa a pet and thats fine. If I had one snake, I may have that take on it as well. But when I said I had to move 150 adult snakes into my house, think about what that would look like to people I havent met yet. It's just smart. Law makers are on RECORD as saying these snakes(yes, your snake) are dangerous and shouldnt be in public. They are turning up loose in the public all over NY. I am being considerate and wise by not having people know I have snakes in my house. I can enjoy them in the privacy of my own house or back yard just as much without having to show the world what a cool "pet" I have. Protecting the hobby is what I am doing you could say. What are you doing?
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honesty is my only policy

i will continue to take my snakes out as i have done for over 20 years...as for your 150 snakes, my dad was a herpatologist with the university of miami and a breeder of several different snake species from albino cornsnakes to boas even retics and burms...we had over 500 at one time so go ahead...keep your snakes hidden away...youll probably lose them if they do pass a law anyway...and they probably will (sad thought huh?...no more snake pets?)...and i only take my snakes to petstores that invite me to bring them..so no i will not hide my pet away...i was attacked by a dog when i was very young...by the neighbors "family pet"...several people every year as a matter of a fact)that dosent make stop people from paradeing them in front of me...but i do see your point,and on some things completely agree with you...but i will not hide my pets away...if they are going to take them anyway im going to enjoy my pets for as long as i can...

... this is a great organisation ....and this is everyones fight ..even if you don't live anywhere near NC ... we all need to join up and fight back the forces who think pet reptiles are a problem ...most of them are simply uninformed , however the folks at NCARK are doing an outstanding job ... they are a good example of what should be done in EVERY state to keep our rights to enjoy our herps as pets or even as our choosen line of business. If you haven't joined them, do so right away !!
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John Berry Reptiles LLC

www.johnberryreptiles.com
www.investmentmorphs.com

is a group of people erroneously called Animal Protection Institue or API. Their policy and goal is to ban all exotic animals period, among many other goals. This is the organization who writes these new proposed restricted laws, which are numerous right now. This group has a great prejudice against owner of exotic animals, labeling them all abusers. I am not making this up, please look at this and see for yourself:
http://www.api4animals.org/
especially read the 2 paragraphs 9on this page that start with the word Reptiles (paragraphs 5 & 6):
http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=438&more=1cat=285
This is full of untruths and sweeping generalities about reptiles that play on the ignorance and fears of the general public and polititions alike. Just read it!

Now is the time to ban together before our rights to own boas is gone.

Caden

It is good to see that a group of reptile keepers have come up with a sensible and workable plan to promote their right to own herps.

With the animal rights groups very active in the arena of State and National politics, we owe it to ourselves to speak with a unified voice through organizations like NCARK.

Best of luck to you Gray, you can count on our support!
Keep up the good work.

Denny & Kathy Rimes