Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is S373 part of your future?

The response and participation of the masses has been woefully short. So far the numbers are absolutely pathetic. Where are you? What have you personally done? Do you think YOU are not in very real danger? You are an endangered species. If you have done nothing, you are like a sheep going to slaughter and those who are wide awake and fighting, need your help. YOU need your help!

We managed to send a loud and clear message to the US House of Representatives last year to stop HR669. The senate has yet to hear from the masses who will be harmed by S373 if it passes, and we all need to make our voices heard. The battle is not even close to over. The Bill can be amended still in the Senate. Unfortunately many assumed that amendments only occur in at the committee level. That is untrue. The Senate Bill S373 has at least three more steps to go through before it can no longer be amended. In the Senate, at the House level, and in the conference committee, changes can be made to create a bill that they believe will pass. Nobody has dodged a bullet in this fight. Nobody! Everyone is still fully in the crosshairs of the HSUS. The HSUS is working overtime to get this done with as MANY species on the bill as possible. When the Senators who may have an opportunity to vote on this bill do so, will your Senator have heard from you loud and clear? Will your Senator fear voting to bankrupt you and your business? Did you do everything you could to stop this bill from passing in any form!?

For the HSUS, this is NOT about a list of 9 snakes. They are in this for the long haul. If they see that the reptile nation has fallen asleep and believes they can have someone offer an amendment that includes all Pythons, that is what they want, they will do it! They want all of us to go down. It will be a sweet victory for them if they do just that, because most of us were asleep thinking they were no longer shooting at us. If you are not in this fight with both feet, you are a deer in the headlights waiting for the animal rights wacko tractor trailer to take you out.

This is NOT over! You are NOT safe. Your letters do count and are needed RIGHT NOW!

Watch this video I did, rough though it is, to describe this is greater detail.

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Video:
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Jeff Ronne Sr
The Boaphile
Director USARK

Originator of Boaphile Plastics
The Boaphile Boa Site

I am in fact doing the best that I possibly can given the rather short two week time frame that USARK apparently decided to allocate for gathering signatures and mailing letters. USARK can't really expect another 50,000 letters in only a week and a half to two week time frame can they? My advice- try extending the deadline if possible.
Furthermore there are circumstances that currently prevent me from easily and effectively gather AT LEAST another 20-30 letters from a local group that I know of, so please do not assume we are all apathetic. I am trying the best that I can with the circumstances and time I have.

"I am in fact doing the best that I possibly can given the rather short two week time frame that USARK apparently decided to allocate for gathering signatures and mailing letters. USARK can't really expect another 50,000 letters in only a week and a half to two week time frame can they? My advice- try extending the deadline if possible.
Furthermore there are circumstances that currently prevent me from easily and effectively gather AT LEAST another 20-30 letters from a local group that I know of, so please do not assume we are all apathetic. I am trying the best that I can with the circumstances and time I have."

You are genuinely doing the best you can, the problem is in this respect you represent a small minority of pleople keeping these animals, most of which take the right to keep these animals for granted. Further, a herpetodemocratic community cannot realistically produce 50.000 letters every time HSUS decides to throw another monkeywrench in the exonomy of responsible herpetoculture, granted there may be many idiots who keep snakes throughout the herpetocultural society.
What about higher reason then? the government, even when democratic of nature should ideally listen to sound reason, if only the reptile nation is able to elaborate on it in depth.
As we have come to discover thus far with respect to S373 good reason is not alway easy to elaborate on in depth and even though asmall group of python and reptile enthusiats are tearing their ass off, results of positive development are slow to show with respect to S373.
I am intuitively sceptical towards this ban but I have hesitated on elaborating on my opinion in this respect due to the fact I have limited knowledge of constrictors, seen that I have only kept frogs, gex and other lizards but I must admit this law is of great interest to me as it gives a cutting edge insight to our advancement in technology with respect to animal welfare legalization in the scope of "invasive" and "potentially dangerous" species.
In my experiance pythons are not so dangerous they need to be banned, but I respect the better judgement of the american government, likewise if pythons are labeled invasive I am curious with regard to how things will progress from there.
Mmmz..
In conclusion, python people will only have right to keep pythons if they can defend their pythons rights to live in their proper vivarium belonging to the python enthisiast which takes measures to promote responsible python husbandry.

sorry bout rant, sorry sorry.
kindest regards
oby

"In my experiance pythons are not so dangerous they need to be banned, but I respect the better judgement of the american government, likewise if pythons are labeled invasive I am curious with regard to how things will progress from there."
Oby - you disappoint me.
Mmmz..
"In conclusion, python people will only have right to keep pythons if they can defend their pythons rights to live in their proper vivarium belonging to the python enthisiast which takes measures to promote responsible python husbandry."
Wrong again. What you consider "their proper vivarium..." (Underscored by the photo) is a matter of herpetoculture segment/genre/niche preference, divisive, and the "Only I know what's best for them" mentality. In other words, you judge your definition of 'proper husbandry' solely on your prejudicial opinion that what is esthetically pleasing and naturalistic to you is likewise best for the animal(s) in confinement. Not proven.
jsc

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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

From what I remember, Oby is not in the US.

Wow, Oby, how's the hand? You've been away a LOOOONG time!
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Todd Hughes

To everyone who has sat back watching this unfold, and have done nothing. This is directed at you.

The HSUS is SCARED OF US! This is a point I made the other night on my reptile radio appearance.

The HSUS received 87 million dollars in donations in 2008.

The reptile industry is a 3 billion dollar per year industry.

That means that the reptile industry is 29 times larger (dollar for dollar) than The HSUS.

Can you imagine taking on something 29 times larger than you? That would be the equivalent of The HSUS trying to beat an NFL football team by itself! Offense, defense, and some special teams!

The HSUS can't do that! And they know it! They found out first hand when they lost the HR669 battle. 50,000 letters vs their contributions to the pockets of our Congressmen - it was a no brainer in favor of us.

If you like analogies, here's another. Go watch "A Bug's Life". It's a perfect illustration of what can happen when people band together to fight, rather than segmenting into smaller groups who are scared out of their minds. In the movie, a large ant colony defeated a terrorist group of grasshoppers because the ant's stuck together, and fought together. WE CAN DO THAT! (Yes, I DID just compare us to ants, lol - but I also called the grasshoppers, "terrorists"!)

What they're currently doing is trying to segment our industry by proposing mini versions of HR669. And that's EXACTLY what HR2811 and S373 are. These bills have the EXACT SAME LANGUAGE as HR669, they just focus on a smaller set of animals.

HR669 encompassed almost 2,500 animals. These bills currently focus on between 2 and 40 (depending on what stage you examine of the bills life).

They'd LOVE to get it back to almost 2,500. But for now, they'll be happy with the handful or two that they get out of HR2811 and S373 because we're the most outspoken segment of the pet industry at the moment. We're the ones fighting. They figure if they can knock us off, the rest will be easy pickings! They won't have to face an NFL football team anymore, they'll just have a series of one-on-one games. And they'll win those. Every time.

So if you don't fight S373 and HR2811, and these bills pass, you can kiss the entire industry goodbye. Once their done with non-native animals, they'll move on to the native animals, then cats and dogs. Trust me.

Get off your butt and DO SOMETHING! WRITE YOUR LETTERS or YOU'LL be to blame for this passing.

jb
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What's written above is purely my opinion. In fact, MOST of what you read on the internet is someone's opinion. Don't take it too seriously

Jonathan Brady
DeviantConstrictors.com
Deviant Constrictors picturetrail

I sent my letters and emailed my senators. I thought it was pathetic, perhaps prophetic, how few emails were generated from California. 2000 or something. I know there are many more reptile enthusiasts here, than that.

^ PA was even worse, The email letter counter said only 51 people!!!

COME ON PEOPLE!

I was only the 2nd in WA state to send any e.mails...

I sent hand-written letters to Tom, but I don't know if they will make it in time...
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Innocent as a dove you will harm no one, but wise as a serpent no one will harm you. - Haug

I don't think the HSUS is scared of us at all. I think they may be annoyed that we're stronger than they thought we were, but that's about it. They're too well connected politically to really care about us. That said, we do have the ability to change public opinion about snakes.

Many of the people in my life have never understood my fascination with these animals but most have been very excited to learn from my fascination with these animals. That is the point. A worthwhile and engaging hobby/past time which is good for everyone except those who seek power and control over it. They (HSUS) must fail.

You make some good points. BUT comparing the HSUS budget to the entire herp industry's sales is a straw man argument. We do not have a budget of that size to fight theirs. We could never use 100% of sales from 100% of the industry to fight them.

Likely their budget is far more than 29X the size of our cash available to fight them. Add in PETA and BORNFREE to compare with the "reptile nation's" legislative budget and we have a serious shorfall on our side.

I use your numbers to derive the following: If EVERY member of the reptile nation gave 3% of their total budget then we could match theirs. Think that will happen?

We ARE and SHOULD be scared of what they are doing.

>>To everyone who has sat back watching this unfold, and have done nothing. This is directed at you.
>>
>>The HSUS is SCARED OF US! This is a point I made the other night on my reptile radio appearance.
>>
>>The HSUS received 87 million dollars in donations in 2008.
>>
>>The reptile industry is a 3 billion dollar per year industry.
>>
>>That means that the reptile industry is 29 times larger (dollar for dollar) than The HSUS.
>>
>>Can you imagine taking on something 29 times larger than you? That would be the equivalent of The HSUS trying to beat an NFL football team by itself! Offense, defense, and some special teams!
>>
>>The HSUS can't do that! And they know it! They found out first hand when they lost the HR669 battle. 50,000 letters vs their contributions to the pockets of our Congressmen - it was a no brainer in favor of us.
>>
>>If you like analogies, here's another. Go watch "A Bug's Life". It's a perfect illustration of what can happen when people band together to fight, rather than segmenting into smaller groups who are scared out of their minds. In the movie, a large ant colony defeated a terrorist group of grasshoppers because the ant's stuck together, and fought together. WE CAN DO THAT! (Yes, I DID just compare us to ants, lol - but I also called the grasshoppers, "terrorists"!)
>>
>>What they're currently doing is trying to segment our industry by proposing mini versions of HR669. And that's EXACTLY what HR2811 and S373 are. These bills have the EXACT SAME LANGUAGE as HR669, they just focus on a smaller set of animals.
>>
>>HR669 encompassed almost 2,500 animals. These bills currently focus on between 2 and 40 (depending on what stage you examine of the bills life).
>>
>>They'd LOVE to get it back to almost 2,500. But for now, they'll be happy with the handful or two that they get out of HR2811 and S373 because we're the most outspoken segment of the pet industry at the moment. We're the ones fighting. They figure if they can knock us off, the rest will be easy pickings! They won't have to face an NFL football team anymore, they'll just have a series of one-on-one games. And they'll win those. Every time.
>>
>>So if you don't fight S373 and HR2811, and these bills pass, you can kiss the entire industry goodbye. Once their done with non-native animals, they'll move on to the native animals, then cats and dogs. Trust me.
>>
>>Get off your butt and DO SOMETHING! WRITE YOUR LETTERS or YOU'LL be to blame for this passing.
>>
>>jb
>>-----
>>What's written above is purely my opinion. In fact, MOST of what you read on the internet is someone's opinion. Don't take it too seriously
>>
>>Jonathan Brady
>>DeviantConstrictors.com
>>Deviant Constrictors picturetrail
>>
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AMAZON REPTILE CENTER

Today I am putting in 4 hours at petco trying to rally signatures. I have contacted folks in WI who are herpers telling them I am a drop off point. I will then head to 24 hour post office and overnight them.

Remember those numbers just show the people who used that site. I emailed my guys directly.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
Email Cindy
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