Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well we've needed one for the past 40 years. How would we go about creating a national association of herpetology? We all need to put our differences aside so we can give herpetology the future it deserves and not let the law makers kill our hobby, WE NEED TO BECOME THE LAW MAKERS and regulate that laws. Our freedoms are being taken away, we need to get them back. The agencies we have now do little if anything to keep this hobby alive.
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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." -Charles Darwin

"I am turned into a sort of machine for observing facts & grinding out conclusions"-Charles Darwin

"Man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system- with all these exalted powers- Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin." -Charles Darwin

"A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affections, -- a mere heart of stone" -Charles Darwin

"The fact of evolution is the backbone of biology, and biology is thus in the peculiar position of being a science founded on an improved theory, is it then a science or faith?" -Charles Darwin

then we can cash the checks the NRA folks send us by mistake

NRA = National Rifle Association

A national reptile hobbiests...
or national herpetocultural socitey.

There are some national herpetology scoieties now...
but...

They are not going to be motivated to protect the rights of hobbiests.

But I agree. Numbers talk.
The herp hobbiest commuinity needs to get proactive...

"If they outlaw snakes, only outlaws will have snakes"

...all we have to do is look at the blueprint they laid out for us to start defending our rights as herpetoculturists.

The NRA (National Rifle association) is one of the most powerful independent political organzations in the country.If it was not for them we would have lost our constituion that our forfather laid out long ago. You do away with one you can do away with the rest. Thats how govt works and thats hoiw they will chop away at our rights as herpetculturists as well.

We need money to accomplish this..$$$$$$$ maybe there is someone who is reading this can start such an association and travel to all the herps shows asking permission for a free table spot from the promoters. Then get people to sign up for a small fee and in return can send out a reveiw every month. The collections can also start by persuading influential people like Jeff Barringer and Wayne Hill to allow resources for starting such an organization.

It takes money to run an origanization like this and any ideas or thought on HOW it can be accomplished and HOW it can benefit ALL of herpetoculturists (perhaps a mission statement) should be what we could focus on instead of our differences on breeding ethics for a time being.

All thoughts (pro and con) are welcome!

We could get Charlton Heston to be our spoksperson. We would get a lot of support from people who like to shoot things.

As much as I like the idea of using the NRA's resources to further our activities, we need a unique acronym. We need also to avoid the word "hobby" as hobbies are not likely to be taken seriously by state and national legislatures. In addition, we need to get out from under the governance of state wildlife agencies, if at all possible. I suggest we organize the American Domestic Reptiles Association (with amphibians being included much like cavies are included in the American Rabbit Breeders Association).

The ADRA would have two functions. One would be to influence the drafting, changing and repealing laws concerning the keeping of domesticated snakes so that the negative effect on snake owners is minimized while reasonable laws regulate such things as safety, humane treatment and the taking of foundation stock from the wild. The other function of ADRA would involve registration of breeding stock so that purists can keep their lines "pure" (whatever they decide that means) and the hybridizers can be free to develop new breeds. I have not taken the time to find out who runs Kingsnake.com and how they can afford to run these forums but Kingsnake.com is obvously the vehicle for setting up and managing ADRA. And we need to get started on it yesterday.

Doc

As much as I like your idea I have one small problem with including a registry for "so called" pure animals. There would be no way to prove what is pure to include in the registry. For instance the Hondurans we all thought to be pure actually may have some polyzona, abnorma and other things the east germans brwed into them. The Germans are the ones we got the amel hondos from and they did not keep accurate records to the snakes origins.
There are many snakes thought to be "pure" but they are in fact not. That would take up a lot of time and judgment calls and not something that would be feasable. We should stay focused and keep it simple. Protect your rights to keep and then we can discuss whats pure and what is not.