So your proposing that incompetence rather than conspiracy is the issue.
While that may be true, it is my understanding that it's the letter of the law that matters, rather than the intent, and currently based on the letter this document outlaws the sales of Cornsnakes. Whether that was TP&W's intent or not remains to be seen.
I would hope that the people that proposed this rule change would have done the due diligence and gotten the proper approvals through the appropriate channels before submitting the change to the Texas Register for publication. That said an error of this magnitude should have been stopped way before publication.
I sent emails to 3 officials at TP & W today, Matt Wagner, Program Director, Wildlife Diversity, being the only one to reply. His response was "this was a mistake that needs to be corrected". I do not know what his role in this was, nor do I know if/what steps have been taken to correct it.
I received no response at all to my inquiry to Duane A. Schlitter, Ph.D., Program Leader, Nongame and Rare and Endangered Species Program, who according to my records should have a primary role in this.
I also received no response whatsoever from TP & W's News Editor, Aaron Reed, though some of our readers that contacted him today after I did have received multiple responses, none of which answered the question, though one quote forwarded to me was interesting.
The whole blacklist/whitelist sets a dangerous precedent. It does not appear that any of the animals included were included due to any scientific data, and seems to comprise of lists of animals currently in the trade (white list) and animals not currently in the trade, excluding Cornsnakes, (black list). I am not certain that any of the animals on the black list would ever become commercialized. It appears that TP & W is merely shutting the door on all these species because there is currently no trade
and this would effectively preclude them from ever being commercialized in any form in Texas, at least by the private sector. And also because they can because there is no one to stand up for their interests.
It concerns me that somewhere a hobbyist or commercial business may right now possess an animal and the ability to reproduce that animal in captivity, and that animal may hold the key to treatments of cancer, Parkinsons, or MDA, but they will be unable to pursue it in the future because of the law.
I will be at the TP&W meeting on November 7th in Austin. I am planning on filming testimony and public comments on the HB12 implementation. It appears that on November 8th these new rules will go into effect.
I would encourage anyone with an interest in reptiles, especially anyone that has been/will be impacted by HB12 (Constrictors/Venomous/Road Collecting), to attend.
