Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone thought of a letter campaign to a TV show such as 60 Minutes or Frontline to maybe incite their interest in taking a closer look at HSUS? It seems that the fraud committed by HSUS would be right up their alley and I am a big fan of shows such as this and think they do a great job of reporting. HSUS name is so close to the National Humane Society (which actually does many good things) that I think MANY people think they are donating to the NHS and not HSUS (my wife included until I pointed this out). Therefore, donations are being siphoned from a good group to a group that has a strong unstated agenda. I am sure that the National Humane Society is concerned about this, but have never said anything in public about it as far as I know. Many people are aware of this, such as area shelters and rescue groups (evidence the you tube video recently posted), but apparently our lawmakers are not. The idea that HSUS is given a seat at a House hearing on Pythons is absurd and almost criminal.
Our representatives think this is fine now, but wait till any of these represetives that are not vegetarians, or they like to fish or hunt and they find themselves in HSUS sights, and it will not be fine then!

Open to thoughts on this.

John Manser

Sounds like an idea worth investigating. We must be careful not
to shed a bad light on ourselves or the subject at hand (ENP -Python issue)
Last thing we need is 60 mins turning it around on us.

It would be wonderful to have 60 mins on our side in a fight
to dethrone HSUS

. . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

I totally agree. I don't see any reason to bring up pythons or our thoughts on pythons. Just a good investigative story on a group of people,(HSUS) that is not what it seems and actively defrauds donors. The funny thing is a good investigative reporter could have a field day as HSUS has been very blatant in this. They have been given enough rope to hang themselves, so to speak.

John Manser

If HSUS was discredited enough, then it could be pretty embarrassing for our government to have given them any voice in meetings held so far and this goes all the way back to the lady representative from Guam that sponsored the first wave of hearings. I would love to know the inside story on how her proposed bill came to be written and the implications of that!

John

Its all very curious isn't it John.

Have you read this report Dave & Tracy wrote

It's comprehensive and addresses alot including what
many have to gain from this Issue of Pythons
in South Florida etc..

. . . Lar M
On Burmese Pythons in the Everglades

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Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

it seems all parties are heavily compromised for gain of one kind or another. Whether it be funding from the government they are after, or just sensationalized media attention. It's all just hype.
The sad thing is that if they actually want to take down numbers of Burmese pythons all they have to do is put a bounty on them. It's worked very well through history (too well in fact). They don't want to do that because it is cheap and takes the potential for power/glory out of their hands. The truth is they are really not concerned about the environment; if they were they would be going after wild pigs, or they would not have screwed up the Everglades in the first place. Pigs are a non native species. They were brought to this county by the Spaniards for food. Anyone that has been to an area with a decent population of pigs can see the destruction (the Palo Duro Canyon in Texas is one).
It's all smoke and mirrors at our potential expense.
John

Agreed this is all about power and money, not about the environment. However, I don't agree a bounty hunt would do anything but possibly hurt the ecosystem. Pythons are just not that easy to find. The media makes it sound like you can see them all over the place. Did you follow the recent "python hunt" that went on a couple months ago? Experienced python hunters found about 15 or so pythons over a two month period, and I believe most of those were found road hunting at night. It was a joke. I've also heard that even pythons rigged with telemetry transmitters are hard to find in thick vegetation. Also, the more humans that are allowed to hunt pythons, the more likely other snakes (indigenous ones) will be killed, since most people don't know a python from a corn snake from a hole in the ground. IMO, the real invasive species here is Homo sapiens. We should just leave the pythons alone and accept them as part of the ecosystem. At least until there is some scientific evidence to support the hype and bs!

Thanks,
Ed

>>I totally agree. I don't see any reason to bring up pythons or our thoughts on pythons.

While I do agree an expose on HSUS would be terrific, I thought a story about our plight of the reptiles would be just as good. Do you think they would try to skew it too far out of our favor by pressure from other interest groups (HSUS themselves, P eta, etc)? Just curious why you both don't feel that the snake issues should be the focus of the story? With the recent media (the lil girl that died) and all the sensationalism, it would make for a good story and if we could get it done logically and without bias against us, I think it would strengthen our view.

Very open to your (and everyone's) thoughts/opinions on this.

I've actually been considering writing to two of my favorite 'news' programs, Daily Show and Colbert Report, to try to get a story done for the snakes. Maybe I should not do this?

-April

60 minutes contact page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08/60minutes/main13503.shtml?tag=hdr;cnav
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'There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."' -Rainshadow

In my opinion its a dangerous road to go down. Its so easy for
news organization to go the sensationalized route and skew the
facts against our best interest in order to gain those needed
ratings to sell commercials and make money.

If there were a way to be certain it was reported factually
which would be in our favor, that would be great.

Its a scary idea to trust news outlets
in these times

It could really back fire.

As always just my opinion

. . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

I agree. In attempting something like this, you want to be singular in your message.

If the goal is to expose the HSUS for what it is, you don't want to confuse anyone with anything else. If you introduce pythons, you risk it becoming a python issue, and not a HSUS issue. In that event, you give the public two things to think about, and you are less likely to build focused emotion for/against either. You will run up against people that believe pythons should be banned for a sundry of reasons, and they will focus on that instead of the misinformation and public deception that is the foundation of the HSUS. That's the message you want, and nothing else.

Just my opinion.

Mark
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uncommonboa.com

NP

>>If the goal is to expose the HSUS for what it is, you don't want to confuse anyone with anything else. If you introduce pythons, you risk it becoming a python issue, and not a HSUS issue.

I guess what I meant was presenting a story only on the pythons, not necessarily trying to tie the two together.

I do see your point.

I also realize how it could be completely skewed against us pretty easily. Just watched a cbsnews show about the 'pot industry' in CA and they spent 1/4 of the show with 1 family that was moving from Mendocino because of all the' crazy pot gardens' next to them... had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story but really shined a bad light on the whole thing all because of one family. Get one family on the story that had a bad snake scare and down the tubes all our good propoganda goes. :/

I still think something needs to get out in the media about the 'python issue' from 'our' side... all the stories are against us and very one-sided.

I also think an expose on HSUS abuse of their tax exempt status would be good, but not directly helping the immediate 'python issue', maybe I am just not looking deep enough at that?

Thanks for the feedback guys!
-April