Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The latest festering sewage from Animal Planet:

www.postonpolitics.com/2011/06/man-eating-super-snakes-and-rep-tom-rooney-on-animal-planet/

Someone needs to inform them that Bob Clark, among others, has been breeding sebae/bivitattus hybrids for decades, and so far I have not seen or heard anything remarkable about them.

And here I thought you were writing about some Man, who was Eating Super Snakes.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

.......the party of more freedom and less government. Yeah what a load of crap that is. People like this Axeclown rooney are exactly why this person from a very long line of conservative republicans (not only supporters of the party. but several family members who held local offices as republicans) divorced this joke party and became a libertarian. You have no idea how that decision angered some of my family members. I am now the family kook who believes in legalizing drugs.
they just don't get the fact that I think the government should protect our borders, coin money maintain roads, and prosecute actual dangerous criminals. The government does none of these things well and seems only interested in involving themselves further in our lives.
Both of the corporate parties are to blame for this and until people wake up and vote them BOTH out of office nothing will change it will only get worse.

Very good points... those are precisely the reasons I have also become a libertarian, with a lower case "L". I also come from a long line of Republicans. Rooney is playing politics in Florida and thinks this will win him votes for re-election or possibly higher office. His brother-in-law works for SFWMD, which if y'all remember is where all of this began... The Nature Conservancy pushing SFWMD to petition FWS to list Burmese pythons on the Injurious Wildlife list of the Lacey Act in 2007. Please remember where Tom Rooney stands when election time comes. And please boycott Animal Planet as they no longer have credible educational programing... it is now dominated by sensationalized Animal Rights programming paid for by HSUS and the ASPCA. Both organizations are intellectually dishonest raising money with depictions of abused animals and leading folks to donate money thinking that they are somehow linked to their local Humane Society or SPCA... They are not! Most of their money goes to anti-animal legislation and litigation. They are animal rights lobbyists engaging in the worst kind of moral misrepresentations...
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USARK

Animal Planet should change their motto to Animal Planet-Surprisingly Stupid...

Have USARK though about talking to "Stussell" sp? on Fox. He's very good on taking on the crap laws from eather party. I think he would do it. On a side note they just inacted a law in Florida that requires reptile permit holders to have the "birthdays" of every reptile we own and the name and address of who we got them from WITH their permit number.Wayne Hill was here in St.Aug.Fl. to address them on it and the fact that they required HIM to put this requirement into the vindors package for 2011 Daytona Expo. He.s also calling them on "salective" inforcement at his shows and none of the other Fl.shows. The Daytona Expo last year was over run with the Duck Police and standing around vendor tables surching venders containers that were not on display but under tables. I'm a vendor their and plan to go back but some have not renewed because of their presents. Looks like a Police State as they are ALL ARMED. Wayne is supporting USARK again at this years auction to help us. In the past he used the money,over 100.000 total for Conservation. So you see the effects of their actions are negative when it comes to Wildlife. They are useless and over reaching on our rights to make a living and creat jobs. VM....pic BACK OFF DUCKMEN

Fascinating that tax paid public employees support certain industries, prop them up even, with public funds, promoting them as ecologically sensitive and environmental stewards..... Other tax paid, public employees use public funds to destroy an industry and generate a lot of funds for "pet" projects. This scenario can only make sense to a federal government that is not accountable. Remove the income generating potential of citizens and then tax them to get money for a few government employees. It costs twice as much. Who wants to pay twice as much for something? Only in America. Little wonder national pride has declined.

Nice to see all the misinformation he was spreading as part of the USGS papers. I feel sorry for Wayne Hill. This will kill the expo for most dealers. Think there was enforcement last year? You ain't seen nothing yet. I'm going to Myrtle Beach in July this year....and I loved Daytona Beach. No Florida Regs. in SC. Florida even wants to know how many animals you sold BEFORE you got to Florida! None of their business.

Wayne's not going down without a fight. He told the Fl.W.C.C that when he goes to court when sited he's going to tell the Judge that I'm here wasting your court time because F W C wants to know the "birthdays" of all my turtles.(800-900),and its a law they can not prove the owners date is incorrect. We are going to get everyone to put April 1st. as the "birthday" for every turtle. They do not require this with ANY other wild life, which is selective law inforcement or "profileing" pet owners. Yes it is a huge pile of you know what and his show is an example of petty laws distroying not just the show owners income but the vendors too. ITS A INDUSTRY/JOB/MONEY/TAX KILLER. VM

I was so pissed after watching that show, I emailed Mr Reed and politely, yet critically, gave him my feedback. Instead of paraphrasing, i'll just copy his reply here (his permission granted) and you can form your own opinion.

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Hi Chris;
Thanks for your email. I completely agree that the Animal Planet show was sensationalized, and I've already strongly expressed my disappointment to the company that produced the show for Animal Planet. We were originally told that the show would be a documentary on Python sebae in Florida and its native range, and so I agreed to be interviewed. The questions that I was asked were on the subjects of basic python ecology and the history of research on invasive herps. At the time I was interviewed I had no idea that the show would be so strongly skewed towards over-emphasizing the risks to humans, and I didn't learn the title of the show until it was announced the week before the show aired. I think you're absolutely correct that they're only interested in ratings and income, and that a balanced presentation of the available evidence wasn't a priority. After talking to colleagues who were also featured on the show and who were appalled by the content of what actually aired, I think Animal Planet has effectively burned their bridges with most of the folks conducting research on exotic herps in Florida.

Re: bans on snakes and regulatory agendas, I can only say that it's dangerous to assume a motivation for someone based on limited knowledge of the person in question. Starting in 1987, I've kept multiple species of giant constrictors. I have never publicly offered any opinion, pro or con, on any of the proposals to limit trade in these species. In fact, as a USGS employee I'm prohibited from making recommendations on any proposed policy, since our agency is supposed to stick to science.

Feel free to pass my reply to other folks if you think it would be helpful. I've been smeared repeatedly by some in the pet industry, with a level of sensationalism and dishonesty that is at least equal to what you saw in the Animal Planet show. I'm frankly tired of the rhetoric at both extremes, and it's been so polarizing that we're left with few productive discussions.

Regards,
Bob
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Link

" In fact, as a USGS employee I'm prohibited from making recommendations on any proposed policy, since our agency is supposed to stick to science."

ROTFLMAO