USARK HAS DECLARED WAR ON ME
THE BOTTOM LINE IS ANDREW WYATT IS USARKS MAIN PROBLEM. BUT EVEN IF ANDREW WYATT WAS TAKEN OUT OF THE PICTURE, USARK IS STILL BROKEN. IT STILL NEEDS TO CHANGE ITS IDEOLOGY. AND IT NEEDS TO REPRESENT THE WHOLE REPTILE INDUSTRY EQUALLY AND FAIRLY. AFTER FINDING OUT AT THE HAMBURG SHOW YESTERDAY THAT USARK IS STARTING PA ARK TO GET BACK AT ME FOR TRYING TO DEAL WITH THE ISSUES IN MY STATE, I CAN SEE NO OTHER OPTION BUT A FULL OUT WAR WITH USARK. IF I DONT HEAR FROM USARK WITHIN A WEEK TO RECONCILE THIS BLATANT ACT OF HOSTILITY TOWARDS ME AND WILLINGNESS TO TRY AND PROTECT MY RIGHTS IN MY STATE, I WILL GIVE USARK THEIR WAR
first off my main concern when it comes to usark is andrew wyatt. i think that is most peoples first concern when it comes to usark. but with that said usark has many other issues that needs dealt with. usarks current ideology is probably as much of a threat to the reptile industry as is wyatts arrogance and stupidity. usarks bmp's do not fairly represent the reptile industry as a whole. usark claims that their bmp's are to make sure reptiles are properly cared for, but their bmp's only apply to the scary reptiles i.e. large constrictors, venomous, and crocodilians. these animals, with the exception of boas, are not regularly sold in pet stores. keep in mind usark is a trade organization that pushes the agenda of its backers, and its backers are mostly pet store people. zoo med is its largest contributor. also zoo meds owner gary bagnall is the head chair on usarks board. its been reported gary bagnall has made comments like " large constrictors are a pariah in the industry ". if this is true and gary is only looking to protect his own interest then he is just as much a part of the problem as andrew wyatt. i recently talked to a guy named harry burroughs from the HNR. hes in a subcommittee of hnr and that subcommittee will be the one that looks at hr511 if there order gos through, to have the bill sent to them. harry was a very nice guy. he seems to be on our side. the funny thing is i never even heard of this guy, yet he told me they have been hearing a lot from the boa people. yet none of the other big snake people even know who this guy is. enter jeff ronne. jeff is on usarks board and as you all know is a big boa guy. this would also corroborate my claim that usark is only pushing the agenda of its backs, and their backers are on usarks board to make sure they are protected. if you watch the 45 min video of the hearing on hr511, you will see a rep from utah proposes an amendment to have boas and only boas removed from the list of large constrictors that hr511 would ban. the amendment was voted down but now there is a push from the boa keepers for hnr to make sure boas dont get listed. i believe this was the real agenda with the python ban. if you look at the 4 snakes that got listed and look at usgs listing of the 9 species and their risk potential for being an invasive species, boas were listed as a high risk, but they were not added. yet south african rocks were listed. python natalensis are almost non existent in the US and on top of that they are not exported out of africa. so we cant even get them if we wanted to. but boas were considered a high risk, and have been living in FL for 30 or 40 years, and were not listed. im not saying i wish boas were listed over something else. i didnt want any of them listed, but to me this is an obvious example of how usark protects this backers i.e. the pet store side of the reptile industry, while claiming to be representing us all equally, when clearly they are not.
now for usarks model legislation that wyatts been pushing for, behind everyones back. it is so flawed that for me to take the time to pick about every issues would take a few days. it is written so vaguely and ambiguously that it is left open to such a broad range of interpretation, that in one state could enforce it as a ban and another state could enforce it with little to no effect on the reptile community. heres a few issues with it. it says it shall be illegal to mishandle any of the reptiles listed in the article, also talks about unsafe contact. but it dosnt specifically describe what qualifies as mishandling and unsafe contact. keep in mind most people think any contact with reptiles is unsafe contact, and most legislators and lawmakers and law enforcers share that opinion. having the law written that way will allow for the state to come in any case where anybody was injured by any reptile regulated under this legislation, and take legal action against the owner of the reptile. even if the third party that was injured dosnt wish to take legal action themselves.
usark's model legislation would also authorize law enforcement agencies to seize any reptile regulated under there legislation, if the agency has probable cause that a law within the legislation has being broken. and the animals are to be taken to someone that can identify what species they are so they know if a law was actually broken. im not making this up its written right in usarks model legislation. right in it, it acknowledges that the people enforcing these new laws cant even identify the reptiles they are regulating. and probable cause could be a neighbor seeing you and a friend handling a snake in your back yard so the call the police. and since the police dont know anything about snakes, but now with usarks model legislation probable cause clause, the police can seize your snake (your private property) becasue you might have broken the unsafe handling law, depending on what species the snakes, and more importantly, depending on how law enforcement interprets the unsafe exposure clause of usarks model legislation. these are just two examples of how poorly written usarks model legislation is and how easily it could be used against the reptile industry and how private individuals could have their fourth amendment rights violated.
the flat out truth is, andrew wyatt needs anti reptile legislation to continually be proposed to stay in business. i understand that and dont have a problem with it, if the legislation is being proposed separately with no encouragement from usark or wyatt. but if usark and or wyatt is purposely pushing for regulations so legislation is propose so they can come out and fight it, and at the same time try to instate their model legislation in peoples states without the people of those states being aware, then thats a serious issue. and someone needs sued. so lets look at some legislation that was proposed this year. you might remember some emails from usark last year that said PA and 6 or 7 other state were going to have some anti reptile legislation in 2012. but not to worry becasue wyatt had his model legislation to give to everyones state reps to use. that email is what officially started my fight with usark. when i confronted wyatt about him over stepping his bounds, by pushing his model legislation in other peoples states without first at lest discussing the idea with the reptile breeders and keepers in those states, he responded with his usual arrogance and then block me from his facebook page and so on. that was at lest a year ago and i still have wyatts cronies following me around the internet trying to discredit every thing i do and say. i spend a lot of my time trying to keep up on PA legislation and trying to keep people as informed as possible. and wyatts little friends do nothing but try to destroy my hard work that i do for free, since gary bagnall isnt sending me $100,000 like he give wyatt. the funny thing about that email from usark,about the upcoming legislation is, that it was right. and nobody stopped to think how did wyatt know what was coming. well he knew becasue that year he had been pushing his model legislation and told state governments that he was representing the reptile industry. if anybody doubts this. look into it. look at that email from usark and call the reps in those states and you will find out that wyatt had been talking to reps in those states prior to the start of the new senate and house sessions. a good example is the SC bill that we saw this year. its a good example for two reason. one it shows that wyatt is pushing for regulations behind our back. and 2 it also shows how hes very willing to try and separate the reptile industry from the rest of the exotic pet industry. which dose nothing but weakening us. plus it shows how willing wyatt is to separate the reptile industry by pushing only to regulate the reptiles that his backers arnt concerned with. i.e. large constrictors ( with the exception of boas ), venomous, and crocs. if you look at that bill the reptile part is almost identical to usark model legislation, and keep in mind wyatt told us that SC would have some anti reptile legislation coming out the following year. so do the math. wyatt knew SC was going to try and regulate reptiles and SC just happened you have legislation just like the legislation usark pushes. now PA had 3 bills this year to ban and or regulate reptiles. alloways sb1407 which would have ban alligators. carols hb2063 which would have really done nothing and was so stupid that they couldnt even bring it up for a vote. it was intended to ban crocs, and amend title 30 which is the title that deals with reptiles and amphibians. which title 30 is something ill be bring back up in a few. well house rep carol didnt even know that crocs are reptiles and they dont live in PA. so that bill went know where. and we have haluska's hr2233 which would require anybody that wants to buy any non indigenous reptile or amphibian to first buy a $25 permit and have a home inspection before you could purchase any non indigenous reptile or amphibian. it also would have granted authority to a director enforcing the new law, to confiscate any reptile or amphibian that they felt wasnt being cared for properly and dispose ( kill ) of said animal. it was only after proposing the bill did house rep haluska find out that there are 250,000 plus, keeping non indigenous reptiles and amphibians in PA. so that bill went nowhere. i did do a public records request and got a hold of the co sponsorship memo haluska used to get support for his bill. the whole thing was a lie. saying reptile keepers are all irresponsible and we are a threat to society and the environment. i talked to haluska on the phone and the reason he proposed the bill was because someone he knows has an apartment complex and one of the tenets owned an iguana, and it got out and into a neighbors apartment. the funny thing is pijac posted on the reptile report that hb2233 was a bill that was being pushed by hsus like groups and all this other stuff. and they made it all up. hsus had nothing to do with hb2233. so none of these bills want anywhere this year. and i made sure everyone in PA knew that, so usark cant act like there stopping them and then ask for more money. kinda like wyatt did in 2011. wyatt claimed to have stop legislation in PA that year. he claimed to have stopped senator alloway from proposing some legislation. alloways office read me the letter wyatt sent them in 2011 when wyatt found out alloway was thinking about doing an alligator ban and maybe some snakes too. well the letter wyatt sent them said, that wyatt heard they were going to maybe add some snakes to their gator ban and he didnt think that was necessary and he would be more then happy to come to PA and help them write some good legislation.
keep in mind wyatt, at that time, usark was telling everyone that they only offered up their model legislation when a ban was eminent, and here is wyatt pushing his regulation in PA when legislation wasnt even written. well alloway couldnt find anyone in the PA reptile industry to support his ban so he didnt propose it. but wyatt claimed he talked alloway out of proposing a ban. you can read that in the same email where wyatt claims that alloway also would not be proposing any bans in the future, and if he did move forward with proposing any regulations, usark would be involved. well that was all a lie. what alloways office actually told wyatt is the same thing they tell everyone. they thank him for his input and would keep him informed in the future. plus alloway did propose a ban this year to ban gators its sb1407. and he proposed it becasue he got forgotten friends reptile sanctuary, here in PA to support it . but i got that bill killed real quick. the reason wyatt lies about stopping bills and so on, is so it looks like hes being successful when hes really having little to no impact on the actual outcome of these issues. here is another good example of how wyatt tried to make it look like he did something when he did nothing, only i made sure everyone in PA new what was going on. plus what wyatt was asking for they could do anyways becasue it was considered unconstitutional. this year PA also saw stabacks hb1398. which was a bill to end the permit system for keeping large carnivores. we have a very strick set of rules for keeping lions and stuff like that in PA and only around 34 people in the whole permit system to begin with. but since we had that issue in ohio, they wanted to ban the permit system. and that why people like terry wilkins is so against regulations and permits systems and so am i. once you have a permit system in place, they just have to stop giving out permits and you have a ban without any judicial process. look into the permit system that got put in place in ohio and look into how they are not giving the permits out like they said they would. usark and more so pijac are to blame for the reptile people loosing their rights in ohio. anyways PA is the last state to have a separation of regulation of animals by two agencies. mammals are under title 34 and regulated by the game commission. reptiles, amphibians, and fish are under title 30 and regulated by the fish and boat commission. the department of agriculture is in charge of issuing breeder and dealer licenses for the production and sell of non indigenous reptiles and amphibians. ok thats just the facts about PA. so back in april at the hamburg show, usark had some people there with some papers talking about hb1398. keep in mind hb1398 was to amend title 34 which dosnt deal with reptiles and it cant in any way. but usark was handing out papers saying that it could and was asking people to sign a petition to send to senator alloway to amend hb1398 to say it wont affect reptiles and they will be exempt if the bill passes. usark also had a big 5 gallon empty water jug that said donations, for people to put cash in. so usark was getting people to sign a petition to have a bill amended to not affect reptiles when it already couldnt, and then took peoples money in the process. which it all made the reptile industry look like a bunch of idiots in the process. hb1398 had already passed our of the house and was in the senate. so any amendment to the bill would have sent it the whole way back to the start again. and the amendment wyatt wanted was completely unnecessary. but think about if wyatt would have got what he wanted and they had amended the bill. it would have made usark look like they did something when they did nothing and wyatt could have claimed another false victory. kind of like the false victory usark claimed when we lost the right to sell buy and trade 4 large constrictors. i even got the guy that wrote the bill steven micmullen to put it in writing that hb1398 cant affect reptiles and usark still said it could. mostly that new idiot VP erica was the one saying it. i got into with her on the facebook page retic nation about this issue. i posted proof that hb1398 couldnt affect reptiles and she still lied and said it could. and in the process brain potter just kept calling me names and i also got into it with the kevin mccurley about it. and how dare i argue with nerd about the laws in my own state. becasue clearly kevin mccurley knows much more then i do about PA laws. so after the others on the page saw what brain potter was saying about me. and kevin informed everyone i was making him mad, i was ban from the page to appease kevin and so usark could keep lying about PA legislation and taking donations under false pretenses.
there are many other issues with how usark is spending its money or better put how wyatt is spending usarks money. usarks total lack of transparency and so on. please people educate yourselves before you donate.
