Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I say if legislation keeps going against us, we start going after other peoples pets/hobbies. Hear me out.
1. How hard would it be to turn against the public cat owners as they have turned against us? The AR people have the bogus USGS report and public hysteria on their side. There isnt a single credible scientist out there that can dispute the damage that feral cats have done to the environment. They are everywhere. They reproduce at a high rate. They eat protected migratory birds and eat endangered/threatened species. Does it matter that the cats were released by accident or on purpose? Fact is they do a tremendous amount of damage to the environment. PERIOD.
The answer is introduce legislation (whether it is effective or not does not matter, it will get the cat lovers attention) that because of feral cats, all cat owners must license their animals. They must microchip their animals. They must allow local shelter personnel to show up at their homes to inspect the animals and living conditions. Might even be a good idea to prohibit interstate transport of cats.
2. How hard would it be to turn against large breed dog owners as they have turned against us? Everyone thinks of dogs as mans best friend. Do those same people know that mans best friend kills on average of 30 people per year and injure/maim hundreds more? Again, it would be very simple to produce a scientific and peer reviewed paper stating that dogs are a danger to humans. They deserve the same laws applied against them that large constrictor owners have against them. Imagine Rotts, Dobies, Shepherds and Chows being added to the "Injurious list"?
Again introduce legislation that prohibit ownership of the "big 4". Smaller but still dangerous to elderly or children breeds must be registered and often visited by animal control to make sure that caging requirements and general husbandry conditions are satisfactory.
Do I honestly want dogs and cats to be regulated? Hell no. But fair is fair and I think the biggest problem we face is the apathy of the public. A public that does not understand our passion and enjoyment we get from the animals we keep. A public that hold our entire hobby accountable for a few incidents. If we can get them to understand this, to understand that their liberties could be just as easily infringed upon, I think the AR's group support fizzles. We know their whole argument is based on lies and hysteria. Does the general public?
Thats my rant
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1.0 Albino American alligator, "Smoke"
1.1 American alligator,"Al Bite Ya & Molly"
1.1 Purple Albino Reticulated Pythons, "Gumbo & Abita"
0.1 Eastern Gaboon Viper, "Gabbie" Recently passed away at 24 years old
Help me find this snake!

In addition to being a reptile keeper........I ALSO KEEP LARGE BREED DOGS.....SO SOD OFF (as my english boss would say.). Not only is your rant childish it makes no sense on many different levels to go after dog and cat owners just because someone has gone after you.
Not to mention that the fwc in Fl. initially went after feral cats here and failed miserably in the public relations area with that move. Oddly enough the burms and a population of niles monitors that had been here for over 20yrs. became a problem go figure.

So I see that my "childish" rant got under your skin.
The whole point of my post was that if the tables were turned, cat and dog lovers would not be getting their a@#es kicked all over the legislative process. Like the herp community gets daily. We have to fight and claw to keep our snakes but cat and dog owners get a pass for the damage they cause. Its hypocritical.
My post was not meant to have dog and cat lovers insult me. As I said, I would never want anyones right to keep a pet be infringed upon. But if your right to keep a large breed dog was being attacked, the public outcry would be deafening. Even though the truth is that dogs have killed exponentially more people than snakes ever have.
That was the point.
We are supposed to be on the same side.
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1.0 Albino American alligator, "Smoke"
1.1 American alligator,"Al Bite Ya & Molly"
1.1 Purple Albino Reticulated Pythons, "Gumbo & Abita"
0.1 Eastern Gaboon Viper, "Gabbie" Recently passed away at 24 years old
Help me find this snake!

I took it as a tongue-in-cheek sarcastic rant...not to be taken literally.

I agree that there is a double-standard in favor of dog and cat owners, but I don't see what would be accomplished by attacking them, other than making the AR nuts really happy.
We are all angry that we are being attacked and discriminated against, but the best thing we can do is keep calm and pool all our resources together to fight these bills. Trust me, I know how you feel. I find myself gritting my teeth in anger more than is healthy over all these laws and these AR nuts.

Well it was 90% satire 10% WTF. I dont grit my teeth, my grandmomma spent too much on my braces.
If all pet owners were on the same page, the AR people would essentially be out of the legislative business and back to doing the job they are supposed to be doing which is going after animal cruelty cases.
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1.0 Albino American alligator, "Smoke"
1.1 American alligator,"Al Bite Ya & Molly"
1.1 Purple Albino Reticulated Pythons, "Gumbo & Abita"
0.1 Eastern Gaboon Viper, "Gabbie" Recently passed away at 24 years old
Help me find this snake!

Yes. What we need to do is convince the Dog and Cat owners we're all in this together. We are their allies. We face a common enemy. Most of them just don't know it yet.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

I believe our best ally, at this point, is Agribusiness. Please see Dealing with the Humaniacs: Why It Matters and What You Can Do, by David Martosko.

"What we need to do is convince the Dog and Cat owners we're all in this together. We are their allies. We face a common enemy. Most of them just don't know it yet."

Its been hard enough to try to convince herp people that is the case...the big cat folks/large exotic folks have been trying to get people involved for years...Its only now that a significant number of herp people are even involved, and that's because they are trying to take our snakes...

Bird people are largely the same way...many of them see "no reason for a person to keep a tiger or a python" - despite this ignorance, they can be thankful they have the AFA fighting for them.

I'd like to think we will have allies, but I fear we are much to fragmented.

I think it should be a matter of policy to identify viable like minded organizations, representing various segments of the economy, and to reach out to seek cooperation in areas of common concern.

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

I occasionally visit frog forums and I fear we will have to "educate" the frog people as they're next on the AR agenda. They think the issue is the spread of Chytrid Fungus and the next Proposed USFWS Rule Change will totally destroy the amphibian hobby.

First off I have a Great Dane and a couple of house cats.
And I was not offended by this post.
Maybe I'm wrong but I think the idea here is not to seriously go after these people but just to make them think.
If they think for one split second there is a possibility of losing their pet maybe then they will realize what bs it is that we could lose ours.
We would not alienate these pet owners but instead strengthen our numbers.
It is that old saying that I'm sorry I don't know verbatum;
When they came and took so and so I said nothing. Then they came and took so and so and I still said nothing. When they came to take me there was noone left to speak.
Same concept.
Very bold of AR groups to go after big snake people first. As a croc guy I always thought my animals would be first or a close second to venemous snakes but if you think about it it wa a brillant move on AR part.
In fact I'm going to make this a new thread. D.C.