Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sorry for one of the recent threads to have appeared then disappeared within 30 minutes. I'm working on a longer response that I will post shortly that will explain this further, but I wanted to assure everyone now that it wasn't part of some right or left wing conspiracy!

travis
austin, tx

Some of you may know me, though you rarely hear from me on these forums. In light of these unusual circumstances, I’ve decided to crawl out from under my rock to say a few words where I can. I shall retreat to the darkness after this post, where I will continue to lurk, but due to political reasons, I likely will not be able to add much on the issue at hand in the future.

Let me first apologize for the premature posting of the Texas Herpetological Society position letter. The letter, in its entirety, will be reposted to the forum once it has been sent to the legislature. Unfortunately, due to a delicate political situation that I’m unable to discuss, I must clear such communications through the legal department at my company. Thus, the letter must remain out the public forum for now.

I am heartened by the level of enthusiasm I have seen in discussions about impending legislation currently in the Texas House of Representatives on this and other forums. I have never been bored with the posts I read on the gray-banded forum! In fact I’ve been reading the forum for over 10 yrs since its days on the Alterna Page. I continue to read the forum despite having ever only found one single alterna (Boy Scout Rd, August 2000) – this sad fact probably has a lot to do with the fact that I was road cruising with ChrisH most of the time!

I’ve now spent several hours drafting this post, adding multiple paragraphs, but I finally realized that this was more of an exercise for me to refine my thoughts rather than a way for me to subject you to my inner wanderings. So, I’ve deleted most of my post, instead focusing on a couple of points.

I believe one path towards solving this impasse on the legislation is to remove our selfish desires about losing rights and privileges from the equation and instead focus attention back on the animals themselves. How will the animals lose if this legislation passes? For me, it becomes personal: I won’t be able to do my job. I’m concerned that this legislation will prevent me from being a good steward of the land, that this legislation will prevent me from documenting the distribution of reptiles and amphibians in this state, that this legislation will prevent me from adding information to our knowledge of wildlife in this state so that we can better manage the wildlife within our borders. I guess deep down I am truly selfish. I love my job. I’m one of the luckiest people I know: my hobby is my job. So I get to do what I love – work with herps. I won’t delve too deep in my personal philosophy, but one question I ask myself is how do repay the herps in return for them being responsible for job satisfaction? Again, I’m lucky in that one portion of my job involves public education, working with people aged 4 to 80. It’s my hope that each day I’ll be able educate one more person about reptiles and amphibians, maybe keeping someone from grabbing a hoe the next time they encounter a snake in their yard, or perhaps encouraging someone that the box turtle they find in an east Texas pasture belongs in the pasture rather than in their suburban backyard. Don’t get me wrong, I am truly selfish: I love catching snakes. Road cruising while a teenager cemented my passion in herpetology. Being able to catch and observe a snake was a spectacular experience as a kid and still is a thrill as an adult. But now, I’m much more conscious about the actions I take when road hunting. I collect all salvageable road-killed herps and deposit them into a natural history museum collection. Any animals brought out of the wild and maintained live must earn their keep as exemplars of their species in educational programs. I maintain a small live collection of native herps (mainly snakes) for educational programs, research programs, as well as mostly failed breeding programs. Animals collected and deposited into natural history museum collections as specimens are collected with specific protocols in mind – contrary to what some people think, not everything I see ends up in a jar. I collect with a purpose, knowing that the specimens I collect are of scientific value now and will be invaluable in the future. I may not realize the full value of these collections in my lifetime, but someone in the future will reap benefits from these collections, just as I have reaped benefits from collections made over the past 120 years. My contributions to herpetology may be markedly different from whatever your contributions are to wildlife, but they are both contributions. We must never lose sight of the animals and always think about our contributions back to the animals themselves.

Get involved with herpetological societies, either at a regional or national level. Talking and corresponding with like-minded individuals in a society can help solidify efforts and support for important pieces of legislation. Participating in society meetings enables you to share your knowledge with others and for you to learn from the experiences of others.

I apologize for my long-winded diatribe (it was originally 3x longer!) – I’m as passionate about herps as you all are and I am truly concerned for their future in this state. Please consider your actions carefully and thoughtfully as we collectively attempt to deal with this issue.

travis
austin, tx

Hi Travis,

The change was from game animals to wild animals. Don't know if there's a distinction between wild animals and wildlife, but I believe the term wildlife was used in your letter (the brief time I was able to read it). Anyway, you might still get to perform the job you love. According the statement issued by TPWA, "a person hunting nongame on a public road or rights of way would be clearly in violation if they do not have a Texas Parks and Wildlife PERMIT AUTHORIZING COLLECTION on a public road or rights of way." I don't know what kind of permit TPW is referring to, but it sounds like it may be your kind of permit.

Robert

I continue to read the forum despite having ever only found one single alterna (Boy Scout Rd, August 2000) – this sad fact probably has a lot to do with the fact that I was road cruising with ChrisH most of the time!

Girl!

Let's be honest, the other guy in your truck spotted the alterna, so that still leaves you 0 for 10,245.
As for me being bad luck, I've found alterna (although I did have to have CG show my first and Herr Dr. G. show me numbers 3 and 4).

Besides, without hunting with me, you would have missed out on...
- the House of Tang
- **** jobs, $15
- Kent, the Jal High School valedictorian
- flying trucks
- the benefits of steel tires
- watching my tent roll across the road in front of us while we were roadhunting at 2:00am
- fresh shrimp, I mean really fresh,....like not cooked
- the splendors of Juno road with its secret underwear graveyard

And who else will spend half a day laying around a fleabag hotel room in Sonora watching Control?

B

BTW - who scheduled the THS thing for the first weekend in May? Couldn't you have done the second weekend so those of us east of the Pecos could make the drive and not have to quit our jobs?
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

But, then again, I probably worried you once or twice myself.

Lance

Chris, I'm just taking Friday off . . .

Troy

>>Chris, I'm just taking Friday off . . .
>>
>>Troy

Yeah,

I'm thinking along the same lines. I don't have classes Friday anyway, so I just might skip the tutoring and office hours I have scheduled (the week before finals).
I just don't relish the thought of the drive out Thursday night/Friday morning and the drive back Sunday. When you factor in gas getting close to $3 (and higher out there, I suspect), its a tough choice.

You'll probably see me there.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

$2.89 Del Rio, $3.19 Marathon as of Sunday afternoon, sheesh!
Todd Hughes