Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does Melissa Kaplan advocate a total ban on private ownership of exotic pets? Or was she misquoted here:

"We certainly would like to see a total ban of exotic pets nationwide," says [Heidi] Prescott, [described as the national director of the Fund for Animals] who counts as victories local laws like the one Palmer Township in Pennsylvania passed early in July prohibiting the keeping, breeding and selling of exotic animals.

[Melissa] Kaplan says: "I'd like to see a total ban, but I know that is unlikely. It isn't easy to fight a billion-dollar industry. As long as there are people to buy, exotic animal dealers will cheerfully sell, no matter what the impact is on wild populations or on the animals -- or humans.

---“Born to Be Wild: Exotic Pets Are Big Business. And Sometimes Bad News”
Washington Post, July 30, 2003
link to article

That is why we need to get organized.

>>Does Melissa Kaplan advocate a total ban on private ownership of exotic pets? Or was she misquoted here:>>

I just got off the phone with Melissa, and she said that while she was not misquoted, she was quoted out of context. She was talking about issues like habitat destruction and deforestation, resulting in the discovery of previously unknown species, and the importation on an international level of those species, about which there is no known care information, and no history of keeping these species in captivity. This is the issue she was addressing, which does seem clear from the second part of her quote, but definitely the way it was led into was very misleading.

She was in no way referring to the keeping of, or breeding of, pets in this country. She said, in these exact words, "If I supported a ban on reptiles, I wouldn't have the website I have; my
website would be about banning reptiles, instead. I wouldn't have written
Iguanas for Dummies, I wouldn't spend time posting on websites, I wouldn't
have the animals I have, I wouldn't spend all this time and energy helping
people make the decision on what kind of reptile is right for them, if a
reptile is right for them in the first place, and how to care for their
reptile properly. I believe that when animals are cared for correctly, they
greatly enrich our lives."

She also indicated she will be posting a statement to this effect on her own website, www.anapsid.org.

I hope this has clarified this issue.

-----
Christie Keith
Director of Community Services
PetHobbyist.com

.

With all due respect, that is just a completely unbelievable excuse. There is no way she could be taken out of context when she states that she would go on to support a "Total Ban" and then continues to say that it would be hard to go up against a billion dollar industry (which she is a part of).
Since when is habitat destruction and deforestation done in order to find new species of herps? Is she trying to say that the rain forests are being destroyed so we can find new snakes to keep as pets?
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Why won't she just admit that she's an animal rights extremist? Making statements like that and criticizing the very industry that she earns her paychecks from makes her seem like one hell of a hypocrite.
Just my opinion,
Chris

What makes this "out of context" excuse even more unbelievable is the fact that she has made similar statements publicly in the past.
I know you're just telling her side of the story as it was reported to you but I'm pretty sure that very few of us are buying it.
Chris

After searching all of Melissa's web site and articles I have yet to find one place on the internet or in any literature that
Melissa Kaplan has written where she advocated a total or partial ban on reptiles or exotic pets.

All I can find are comments made by others attributed to Melissa
Kaplan, but never in my 7 years of knowing Melissa have I ever heard or seen her advocate such a ban, support such a ban, or recommend such a ban. Just because someone said she said something or she is "quoted" by others does not make it a fact.

Melissa is a volunteer at this site. This business survives because of the trade in reptiles and exotic animals. If Melissa was the animal rights activist others claim then how can her
volunteering here be explained?

Melissas comments, as were many others quoted in the article, were in fact taken out of context, and were used specifically to meet the reporters agenda. Had any of you been
there to be quoted in the same article, you too would have
been cast as either an animal rights activist or a slack jawed
yokel reptile owner.

I don't expect to change your mind, nor do I care too, I know the truth, and I know that people will continue to believe what they want, but I will point out that making libelous or slanderous comments about others on this web site is a violation of our terms of service, as are personal attacks, and neither will be tolerated.

Jeff ,

I will have to agree with you . I have been a member of Turtle Homes list on Yahoo Groups for some time now . I think if Malissa had made any such statement now or in the past Lori and the TH Board of Directors would have told us by now .

Kevin
NAROA

The moment I saw the article (before even starting to read it) I noticed immediately on the front page that the WashPost couldn't even note of the correct identification of the snake the gentleman was holding. That immediately tuned me into the fact that everything about the article from that point on should be taken with a huge grain of salt as a decent size chunk of it would either be slanted to make people look bad or badly written to make reptile folks look utterly stupid...the journalist did a damn fine job of that. I'd pay a lot of money for a 'ball python' the size of the one they apparently photographed (it is much too obvious that it is a burmese python).

The washpost appears to want to start another media frenzy against exotic ownership (remember the poor prairie dogs/gambian rats paranoia the media incited) by quoting people out of context/incorrectly and writing what is obviously incorrect information or information that goes out of its way to make people look stupid/ignorant.

I am a long time reader of the washpost and I do notice that the wash post is notorious for writing bad articles when it comes to 'animals'. Very rarely do I ever see articles of that nature where the information provided was correct and/or well done by the journalist. The journalists just want a 'sensationalist' angle to those articles to boost their ego or reputation...that is all they care about...not accuracy.

One notable example of the inaccurate nature of the article:

The article states that while Virginia allows venomous snakes, Maryland (& the District) ban them. Maryland does NOT ban the possession of venomous snakes. Copperheads or any non-native venomous snake may be possessed, but not sold or imported as pets. The one main exception is Timber Rattlesnakes which are listed as a native endangered species in the state and requires a scientific collection permit or an endangered species permit (which they do not issue to the general hobbyist only to bona fide educational facilities such as zoos). For the most part people keeping copperheads are not likely to be harassed for having them (COMAR 08.03.11.05 C clearly states that copperheads are legal). It's people keeping the non-native species that run into problems if they are deemed to be keeping hydrophidae, elapidae, ciperidae or crotloidae as a 'household pet' as noted in the maryland code 10-621 (re: import, offer, or transfer of dangerous animal).

DP