Reptile & Amphibian Forums

With the way the economy is here in the US right now and with as many that are out of jobs...do you really not care about people in your own state and around the country? You are one of the people that we voted for and had trust in to do the right thing for our state and it's residents. You will personally be responsible for making more people loose their jobs, homes, automobiles, and go bankrupt in an ailing economy...just so you can please HSUS...an already corrupt group of people.

We know there are Burmese pythons in the Everglades...they've been there since the 80's. Do you think that by banning 40 species of pythons and boas it will make the Burmese disappear from the Glades? They will still be there but you will be driving 1000's of families into a financial situation that will cause them great harm...and you know this. Do you not care about the lives you will destroy?

Anyone with a little common sense can see that this isn't happening because of the Burmese in the Everglades...it's happening because a group of people that donates millions of dollars every year to 'Friends' is pushing for it to happen. If all it takes is money and political 'favors' to make one of our trusted leaders push for something they know they shouldn't, who can I send my money to so they can actually do something they should? I don't have much but I will give it all away to have one of my Congressmen make the right decision to save the lives of people who put their trust in him to make their lives worthwhile in these hard times.

Is it so much to ask for a sensible decision to be made without being bought? Have you honestly thought about how many people will benefit from the ban compared to how many people will be harmed by it? I still can't think of anyone it will benefit aside from the people associated with HSUS and PETA that are pushing for it. But they are the ones with the millions to give away now aren't they...

Please help your people...don't hurt them.
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Matt Lerer
Ghi Reptiles

That is great Matt. I just printed it out signed it and faxed it off to him.
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Albey Scholl
Albeys Too Cool Reptiles
Email Me

It's 'lose' not 'loose' people lose their jobs, not loose their jobs. If people are going to print this out and sign it, please correct the spelling errors. It'll have a better impact.

And for anybody wondering why there really aren't that many Burmese Pythons in the Everglades...the attached photo should should bring some light to the subject. There's no way that the absurd number of 130,000 has any truth to it.

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Matt Lerer
Ghi Reptiles

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I think we need ro remember this come the next election. It's too late this year, but we need to campaign against these politicians who are pushing these agendas, and vote them out of office. We are making all of these phone calls and sending all of these faxes every few weeks, when they figure out a new way to push for a ban. A message needs to be sent that our tax dollars will not be wasted this way, by "firing" these politicians who are suppose to be working for us. Like you mentioned the economy is a much bigger issue. If there really is a problem with the burmese pythons in the everglades, which I donalt believe, then it should be Florida's problem to deal with, more specifically Florida's wildlife protection agency and whatever agency governs their pet trade. In the long run we need to set strict term limits on these politicians, so these special interest groups can't buy their loyalty.

Sorry for the political rant.
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Tri State Pythons

If you think that your Congressman or Senator really cares about the real issues...think again. There have been 30 deaths this year because of dog attacks...some of them wild and some strays too. There have been tens of thousands of people permanently disfigured by dogs this year, and hundreds of thousands bitten...so lets look at this by numbers. 1 single death has been attributed by a python or boa this year. Those of us that know about snakes know that it was questionable at best...as tragic as it was. All of the media hype and political pressure on our hobby/industry really kicked in because of that questionable death. Why no pressure on the dogs? Is it because they bring in too much money to the economy?

- If it were a dog that killed that 2 year old girl in Orlando does anyone think that the dog industry would be in jeopardy? It would be back paged in a second and things would go on as usual. Does anyone even remember a few months back the family dog that took the infant from it's crib, carried it into the woods, and started to eat it?

- If it were a cat that killed that 2 year old girl does anyone think that the felines would be in jeopardy? Not a chance.

They are going after the reptile industry because that's what HSUS and PETA wants.

In my local paper today there is an article stating that they are going after all boas and python because if they stop the importation of Burmese people will switch gears to other species. What happens if they ban all boas and pythons? Will they then go after the corn snakes when breeders switch to those? After all they do grow much larger than the Anthill python they want to ban. If they ban all snakes what's next...bearded dragons and chameleons?

If HSUS has it their way and they exterminate all reptiles in the US does anyone think they will stop there??? Whatever they have a personal dislike for...that's what they will go after, all in order to make it a better world in the eyes of HSUS. Whatever they like...stays no matter now deadly it is.

Didn't Hitler have the same train of thought?
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Matt Lerer
Ghi Reptiles

HSUS and Peta would love to ban dog and cat ownership. They don't even want us to eat fish, they have feelings too. They just have to try to keep these agendas a little quiet or their donations would dry up. Both of these organizations are so much different than they portray themselves, if the public really knew the true complete agenda there would be very little support for them.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091203/BREAKINGNEWS/91203005/1086/Python hunting becomes a year-round event