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TIMES-PICAYUNE (New Orleans, Louisiana) 11 May 10 Iguana retailer bill dies in House committee (Robert Travis Scott)
Baton Rouge: A bill requiring pet retailers to provide caretaking information to customers buying iguanas was defeated in the House Commerce Committee this morning, ending an effort this session by a Bossier City woman to combat abuse of the reptiles and their frequent release into the wild.
The bill had passed the Senate but was defeated by the House panel 8-3 on a motion to kill it.
Senate Bill 368 was brought by Sen. Buddy Shaw, R-Shreveport, on behalf of Sara and Chris Gwerder who operate Raptor Rescue, a nonprofit organization modeled after dog rescue groups to provide a temporary abode and locate new homes for rejected or abandoned iguanas.
The bill said iguana sellers must inform purchasers about the proper care and characteristics of the lizard, including that the animals require special diets, habitats and lighting and may carry salmonella. Customers would also be notified that iguanas can grow to 6 feet and become aggressive.
"It's more like a science to own a reptile like this," Sara Gwerder told the committee. "It shouldn't be an impulse decision."
Committee Chairman Jeff Arnold, D-Algiers, criticized the measure for applying to only to one type of lizard rather than to the various kinds of pets that might deserve special warnings to potential buyers. No one testified against the bill.
Sara Gwerder said Raptor Rescue is the only facility in the state accepting rejected or lost iguanas and that she has to turn away nine out of 10 requests for her to take iguanas because she does not have enough space.
Iguana retailer bill dies in House committee

Most of the bills proposed about reptiles are garbage, but this one I think had some merit. The whole salmonella thing is overplayed, but the other parts about the iguana growing large and potentially aggressive are fair. Unfortunately most pet store people don't know anything about what they are selling (I heard an employee at a local store the other day explaining to a customer that tortoises eat mice) and the animal and buyer and, ultimately, the industry end up suffering.
Has USARK ever thought of publishing care sheets for popular reptiles that lots of chain pet stores sell? Trying to get a bill passed where they have to have accurate caresheets might be a positive step in combating the smear campaign against us.

I think the days of poeple saying thy did not know are over. There are tons of care sheets out there and millions of books about every pet and the internet tons of info and the only people who don't know don't want to know. adoption places for iguanas or any other large animal should sell them to ethnic restaurants for food!!
We should be selling all our euthized dogs and cats to china for food. It is an insult to nature to kill an animal and then use fosil fuel to cremate it or dump it into a land fill while china breeds them for food. Every day ship go back to china empty so it would cost nothing to send them there and even at $.50 a lb we would make millions a day creating jobs exporting something to china and reducing chinas need to breed them just to be eaten.
I think no kill shalters are a horible idea it give people a guilt free ability to get rid of there dog or cat that they no longer want. If we killed more dogs and cats and sent them to china to be eaten maby people would think twice about getting a pet that they may not be ready for. Instead they burden a no kill shelter and then they need help from donors, tax exempt status and sometimes other goveronment help. It should suck to get rid of your pet and should be painful otherwise you should not have gotten it!! In the long run this would solve many of the problems we just always want do things the easy way and pass laws and restrict freedom.
Rob

I have heard the "The pet shop didn't tell me that" excuse a million times, and it just doesn't hold water anymore.

I can't tell you how many of the people have said that to me have one of those fancy whatchamacallit phones (I have never had, and still refuse to acquire a cell phone, myself) that connects them right to the internet all the time. Back in the day we had to use such obscure things as books & even places like *insert spooky noise* the library to research these animals & care - But now, outside of some very unusual species, the information is literally right there at these peoples fingertips, in many cases, nearly all the time.

Yes, there is definitely a plethora of caresheets and books out there, but it would look good if there were official caresheets in pet stores wish a nice big "USARK" logo on them

Herpeculturists know more about taking care of reptiles and amphibians than anyone in the world, so why not showcase our knowledge and help out some animals in the process. I am tired of going to Petco and seeing crested geckos in 8" tall tanks...yet another reason why I shouldn't be giving that place my money.

I have been an advocate for self control for many years. We are moving in that direction.
It is so much better an alternative than Big Brother, who knows nothing and is continually triping over his own feet.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

I think USARK has a "best practices" policy.
Individual care sheets may come along.
There are plenty of care sheets out there, on every subject freely available on the Internet.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer