Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Consevation has a brochure on Herpetofauna Regulatory Guidelines to assist wildlife management agencies in creating or modifying their regulations concerning reptiles. It is available from the Arizona Dept of Game & Fish. Contact Luke Fedewa at lfedewa@gf.state.az.us or call him at 602-789-3374. This is an excellent piece of work that can be used by city and state legislators as a templet or guide. If you are concerned about legislative activity in your city or state, then you need to get a couple of brochures to pass around. I am covering state and parish government with several copies in Louisiana. ~Bill~
Link

This information is available online at the following link.

http://www.parcplace.org/documents/WhitePapers/PARC-ModelStateRegsPolicy.pdf

Personally I think these regulations are overly restrictive and do not support them. I feel that the reptile community needs to take a position that there should be no regulation of native taxa unless it can be demonstrated that the particular species is threatened by collection for "pet" industry. I think that given the regulatory power that these guidelines advocate agencies will eventually outlaw the keeping and breeding of native taxa entirely. It is a slippery slope. It is reasonable to insist that agencies provide scientific evidence showing the necessity for regulations. We need to err on the side of less regulation if we want to wind up with something reasonable. Ohio is a perfect example, many in the hobby/industry supported the implementation of protection for native species. ODNR then surrepticiously removed the color morph exemption from the regs when they were adopted.

They also advocate pit tagging. I believe that is unecessarily expensive and dangerous to the animals. It assumes that we would all break the law without permanent identification of native specimens. Decent record keeping and photographs are sufficient to identify animals. Law abiding folks will pitt tag. The unscrupulous will continue doing what their doing. The good folks get hurt and the bad guys don't care.

Fred

I first want to make it clear that the PARC guidelines are not a hard set of rules but a framework that can be adapted to state, local, and species-specific circumstances. The PARC guidelines are a guide that enables stakeholders to deal with regulatory issues across the country.

In addition, I do not believe that taking action only when a species becomes imperiled is a defensible position. If we are taking animals, it is reasonable to have some sort of measure to see what is an acceptable level of take to ensure that herpetofaunal populations do not decline. Science-based decisions should drive the management of herpetofauna as it does other faunal groups (deer, elk, and turkeys) to ensure sustainable harvests and populations.

Therefore, PARC seeks solutions that are neither overly restrictive or exclusively T/E focused by initiating dialogue based on regional, statewide, and local concerns.

I believe that all concerned herpetophiles should voice their opinions and describe their reasoning at local PARC meetings and to state and local agency officials. PARC appreciates all viewpoints and attempts to find balanced, pragmatic solutions that benefit hobbyist, regulator, and, last but not least, our native herpetofauna.

Bill thanks for the thread and Fred Bruckman for the comment.

Cheers,
Luke Fedewa
PARC States' Coordinator

Hi Luke. Is there a PARC group centered in Calif as there is in Arizona? Thanks.
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Rick Staub
R&R Reptiles