Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are you doing your part to protect the right to keep herps?

This past year has been hard on our industry. From one battle to the next we're inundated with requests to speak out against proposed legislation. HR 669 wore us out, but the fight goes on – this week, we need to start another wave of grassroots action against a proposed ban.

On November 5 there will be a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Sub Committee for Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security on HR 2811. This bill amends the federal criminal code to add the constrictor snake of the species Python genera (later amended to limit only Burmese and African rock pythons) to the list of injurious species that are prohibited from being shipped or imported into the United States.

It doesn’t matter if you keep one corn snake or several hundred ball pythons. Legislation like this will have a major impact on our industry. Opening the door to banning one or two species of snakes completely can make it much easier to add more. We are a major part of the multi-billion pet industry and the loss of even a portion of the reptile community could damage the pet industry as a whole.

USARK's science experts have done a cursory analysis of the USGS report and characterize it as "loose with numerous mistakes and inaccuracies. It is an oversimplification of a very complicated topic." The bottom line is it is not the solid piece of science our opponents wanted to use as a tool to break the back of our community. However, that has not stopped it from being mischaracterized as just that.

What can you do?

***November 2,3 & 4

Call and fax the Subcommittee and voice your opposition to HR2811. Be polite and professional!

Script:

My name is____. I oppose HR2811. It is overly simplistic and politically driven. It is poorly thought out and sacrifices good science for political expediency. The negative economic impact for my family and business would be significant. Please oppose HR2811. Thank you for your consideration.

Also please feel free to share your experiences making these calls in our Herp Law and Cities forum at http://forums.kingsnake.com/forum.php?catid=13#1755768.

Names and numbers to call below...
Call List:
Sponsor:

Congressman Kendrick Meek (D-FL), Sponsor
Washington DC: phone 202-225-4506; fax 202-226-0777
Miami: phone 305-690-5905; fax 305-690-5951

Cosponsors:

Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-1313; fax 202-225-8398
Ft. Lauderdale: phone 954-733-2800

Congressman John Lewis (D-GA)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-3801; fax 202-225-0351
Atlanta: phone 404-659-0116

Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-3001; fax 202-225-5974
Boca Raton: phone 561-988-6302; fax 561-988-6423

Congresswoman Mazie Hirono (HI-2)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-4906; fax 202-225-4987
Honolulu: phone 808-541-1986

Congressman Tom Rooney (R-FL)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-5792; fax 202-225-3132
Punta Gorda: phone 941-575-9101; fax 941-575-9103

Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism & Homeland Security:

Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-8351; fax 202-225-8354
Richmond: phone 804-644-4845

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-3072; fax 202-225-3336
San Jose: phone 408-271-8700

Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee (D-TX)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-3816; fax 202-225-3317
Houston: phone 713-691-4882

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-2201; fax 202-225-7854
Los Angeles: phone 323-757-8900

Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-3265; fax 202-225-5663
Memphis: phone 901-544-4131

Congressman Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-2615; fax 202-225-2154
San Juan: phone 787-723-6333

Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-5431; fax 202-225-9681
Roanoke: phone 540-857-2672

Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-5716; fax 202-226-1298
Gold River: phone 916-859-9906

Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-3035; fax 202-226-1230
Tyler: phone 903-561-6349

Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-6565; fax 202-225-5547
Beaumont: phone 409-212-1997

Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-6365; fax 202-226-1170
Chesapeake: 757-382-0080; fax 757-382-0780

Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-5635
New York: phone 212-367-7350

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-7931; fax 202-226-2052
Pembroke Pines: phone 954-437-3936; fax 954-437-4776

Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-6616
Brooklyn: phone 718-743-0441

Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL)
Washington DC: phone 202-225-4061; fax 202-225-5603
Chicago: phone 773-267-5926; fax 773-267-6583
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
Email Cindy
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It's time to stop being nice and go after the people who are trying to shut down the reptile trade as we know it. When Texas was passing all their draconian laws I tried to tell all of you what was going to happen but most of you said I was way too harsh and that the people who were doing it would listen to reason. YEP THEY SURE AS HELL LISTENED DIDN’T THEY? Well it time we started taking care of business! We need to post the names and addresses of the dumb asses who wrote the USGS report. I’ve never read a bigger piece crap in my life. I’ve collected Burmese Pythons myself and I can tell you straight out that the guys who wrote this report are probably the stupidest people who have ever worked for the US government and should have been fired yesterday. As for the Humane Society of the United States, the names and addresses of every one of these terrorists needs to be public record so we can let them know what we think! Of course I’m not calling for anyone to do anything illegal but there has to be a price for telling out right lies and trying to destroying peoples lives just because you disagree with them. These people will never let the truth stand in the way of getting what they want and what they want to to ban all pets not just reptiles. I have press releases going back to the 70's issued by alot of these so called Wildlife betterment societys and everyone had better really understand who we are dealing with. This is not a fight for "nice guys".
Michael Luhrs

Better yet why not stop donating to these animal organizations to send the message that they also need the reptile comunity. Lets face it we not only have reptile but dogs,cats and more. How offten have you or a friend donated to theses organizations to make sure all animals are helped. I say lets send a message.

I have spent close to 40 years trying to tell people this and most don't listen. I have friends who have donated money to some of these groups because they thought it would help wildlife. These groups have chosen the name of their groups carefully to hide their real agenda. Go back and look at vol 1 #2 of National Association for Sound Wildlife Programs (1977) page 27 It talks about a symposium in 1974 by 14 of these organizations and how they were going to put a stop to the pet trade, it will open your eyes.

"...the guys who wrote this report are probably the stupidest people who have ever worked for the US government and should have been fired yesterday."

I absolutely agree with almost everything you said. "We the people" need to stop allowing ourselves to be controlled. However, I don't agree that the "scientists" working for certain gov't agencies are "stupid." IMO, they know exactly what they are doing. If they were simply stupid, things wouldn't be as bad as they are right now. But again, the root cause of all this is that "we the people" have become complacent, lazy and dependent. That one or two gov't employed "scientists" have so much power is frightening to me, and is exactly the type of thing the Founding Fathers of this country fought so hard to prevent. As bad as this issue is for reptile owners, it's about much, much more than reptiles. I only hope more people (non-reptile owners, non-giant constrictor owners, lizard owners, etc.) start to understand that.

Thanks,
Ed

I remember when the government went after the small animal people in the early 70's, everyone said well it's not us so lets not make waves so they will leave us alone. Then they did the Bird People now its us. It's been comming for a very long time!

I think Usark did their best but realistically the reptile trades position was like a guy on a mountain side trying to keep a bolder from rolling over him. Sooner or later his arms will tire and the rock will roll. That is Unless some big buddy's come and help. Will anyone big help the reptile trade?

The recent USGS Risk Assessment is more or less a hodgepodge conglomeration along the lines of L. Ron Hubbard meets TFH Publications, .....but it was produced by scientist working for a branch of the United States government. In addition its findings were heavily supported by organizations that have a lot of leverage. Its virtually impossible to debunk this type of junk science because of the ambiguous nature of the subject. Knowing its wrong and proving it wrong...... Its a kangaroo court from the word go....well,

..... these guys know this and how to use it. The purpose of this report was so that it could be used as a legislative propaganda piece. This is why the authors (Gordon Rodda / Robert Reed) released it as a non-peer reviewed piece. The peer reviewed process of publishing is what scientist love to use as the ultimate stamp of credibility regarding their work. Submitting this report to this process would have delayed the release by months and it would have missed the "due date." Its not that these guys have so much power themselves, its all the backers that have the juice. The USGS scientist are are just one piece of a "team" effort that has managed to use corruption, personal idealism's, massive financial profits and exploitation to put itself in a position to best achieve its self serving goals at our expense.

Ernie Eison
WESTWOOD ACRES REPTILE FARM INC.

Hi Ernie,

For one or two gov't employed scientists to be able to publish a non-peer reviewed piece of junk science (that a 16 year old snake hobbyist could debunk) means they have an enormous amount of power. It's bad enough they knowingly violate basic scientific standards, but they are also blatantly and directly violating public trust and abusing their positions as direct government employees. I agree they obviously are not the only link in the chain of the anti-reptile movement, but that's not really my point. Our system of government was originally set up to prevent this type of thing from happening (ie, powerful, rich private organizations from "buying" government employees.) There should be checks and balances at every level of government, and obviously in this case (and many other cases) there are not. This should scare the s*** out of every American citizen.

Thanks,
Ed

Well said. It scares the s#!t out of me. It is good though to see democracy in action here on Kingsnake.com. Republicans and Democrats in agreement about how good this hobby/industry is and fighting to preserve it. Wish more people would post, though.

The only way to show that the "report" is junk science is to take it apart one piece at a time. An example would be the Burmese found in Pakistan. While the snakes do occur there they live in the very low elevation river valleys. I’ll bet money that if you check their data, the temperatures were taken in cities close by but thousands of feet higher than where the snakes are found. Besides taking their report apart you need to destroy the credibly of the people who wrote it. They would do it to you in a heart beat you can be sure of that.

In this day and age, the only reason for a report like this is income for the writers. My daughter is doing PhD work at FIU. She told me this is the sole income for many of these people, and they can write it favoring whomever comes up with the bucks.

The way this is working is that the authors are working for USGS; the USGS has a contract with the government of Guam to work on the brown tree snake problem. As long as the authors are helping to bring this ban about, USGS continues to get contract extensions. The island of Guam gets the money for the program from the US Government. The USGS even though it is part of the US Government get most of it’s funding from doing outside contract work for other Government agencies by paying lower wages and using subsidies to out bid private companies Is everyone confused now?

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

lol

If you haven't already done so, please read this paper by one of our sponsors, David G. Barker and Tracy M. Barker, here:

http://vpi.com/sites/vpi.com/files/OnBurmese_Florida_compressed.pdf

This is great information on the Florida Everglades National Park Burmese Python "problem"!

Then visit this website:

http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/136

and watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTj1T31dOAM&feature=player_embedded

More great info... this time on HSUS!

Now you are prepared to fight for your right to keep reptiles.

Next, sign up with Google Alerts here:

http://www.google.com/alerts

for anything to do with exotic animal legislation, snake bans, etc. Google will deliver alerts to your email address auto-magically!

For any article that makes you want to respond, create an account and post on the article's "Comments Blog". Cite your references from above (or any new ones that you may come across). Post the article URL on this forum for others to respond to as well.

Here is a recent example:

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2009/11/0003-congress-weighs-ban-on-pythons.html (I am aceace88)

Join as many animal related groups on Facebook as you can and post on their blogs. If you find any really large groups, post a link to them here so others can join and post as well.

Complaining here will help you feel better, but the more people that read your posts, the more effective you will be. That's why we need to go to the mainstream media.

And I know I'm especially guilty of this, but try to remember, your goal is to educate, not to flame out.

Lastly, support USARK so they can support you! Show your support by urging others to join the USARK mailing list here:

http://usark.org/mailinglist.php

its free! Or, even better, become a member here:

http://usark.org/join.php

Let's get fighting for our rights before they're gone, because when they're gone, it will be too late! This is going to be a long fight, and just when you think it might be over, it will probably flare up again.

Please feel free to copy and post these suggestions wherever you like, and if you have other suggestions, please post them here for others to read.