Reptile & Amphibian Forums

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A346-2003Jul29.html

Heidi Prescott:, national director of the Fund for Animals, headquartered in Silver Spring. "We certainly would like to see a total ban of exotic pets nationwide,"

Melissa Kaplan:"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."

One of those is a wonderful quote from a person I believe to be a moderator at kingsnake. Let the truth come out.

Melissa Kaplan, an environmental educator in Northern California and co-author of "Iguanas for Dummies," says outbreaks like monkeypox tend to be too limited to spur broad action on the exotics trade. Imports of all East African rodents have been banned, as were sales of pet turtles under four inches in the late '70s after it was determined that 14 percent of the 2 million salmonella cases each year were due to the cute creatures. "That's 280,000 people, mostly children, sick every year," she says. But, "unfortunately, I think the monkeypox scare is just going to be a brief blip on the screen."

Look at the bold.
Read between the lines.

let me tell you what the first bold says TO ME
Darn. Darn Double Darn. This monkey pox thing is not big enough to try and ban the ownership of ALL exotics.

Let me tell you what the second bold says to me.
I wish this monkey pox thing would kill a couple people....that way it can become big enough to spur some ban legislation on ownership of animals.

but that is what it says to me. What does it say to you?

it seems like that qoute is out of context, as everything else in the article seems to be supporting a ban on importation and describing the legitimate need for people to know how to care for the animals they purchase, not so much supporting a ban on exotic pets period.
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proud mama to:
1.0.0 ball python
0.0.1 albino florida kingsnake
1.0.0 leopard gecko
0.1.0 colombian rainbow boa
0.1.0 bearded dragon
1.1.0 colombian redtailed boas (on the way!)

The context is right there in the article. I'm not sure what else could have been meant. Of course I also don't see what the hell monkeypox has to do with reptiles. Next they'll be banning them because of West Nile. And there IS no good context for the first quote.

(grumble 'snakes aren't real pets' grumble grumble ruin my morning)

cruel, selfish and unecessary for animals to be either legally or illegaly poached from the wild plus they are the ones that carry disease. I'm all for captive breeding animals though, I hope they don't ban that. Cheers.

We wouldn't have any boa constrictors in the country if no one imported. We'd have to keep all native herps, and the government isn't too happy about letting us do that either. We'd all be keeping treefrogs and watching over our shoulders.

It is a common stance for people to say we would not have the species we have now if importation was not allowed. I would just argue that Australia has never been open to exportation of its herps and even claims ownership of all cb offspring produced by individuals or institutions that have acquired animals with permits, yet you can still buy many Australian species today. Even without legal importation, the herps still manage to pop up in the pet trade. I don't know about a total ban on imports but I certainly would like to see it a lot tighter than it is right now.

>>We wouldn't have any boa constrictors in the country if no one imported. We'd have to keep all native herps, and the government isn't too happy about letting us do that either. We'd all be keeping treefrogs and watching over our shoulders.
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Rick Staub
R&R Reptiles

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.

Fair enough.
You have your opinion about her and I have mine.
I may have violated TOS in the past. But I do not intend to do so ever again.

What I posted was not libel. What I posted was a quote from Washington post.

But I do not see how the words "I would like to see a total ban" be taken out of context.

Melissa Kaplan, an environmental educator in Northern California and co-author of "Iguanas for Dummies," says outbreaks like monkeypox tend to be too limited to spur broad action on the exotics trade. Imports of all East African rodents have been banned, as were sales of pet turtles under four inches in the late '70s after it was determined that 14 percent of the 2 million salmonella cases each year were due to the cute creatures. "That's 280,000 people, mostly children, sick every year," she says. But, "unfortunately, I think the monkeypox scare is just going to be a brief blip on the screen."

To me those words in bold says that she wishes this monkey pox scare was big enough to spur broad action on the exotic trade.
But then again maybe it means something to people whose first language is english.... I mean I could be interpreting it wrong. After all english IS my second language.

Can someone who speaks better english than me please help me out with the words in bold? Thanks

Even assuming the quote is accurate, it may mean she simply wishes the _reaction_ to the monkeypox was larger, not that the outbreak itself was more severe.

a large enough reaction to get exotics banned?

I really do hope she explains herself.