Hello, Fellow herpers. I have a question about what can be done with individuals who haven’t put substantiated facts first in these exotic animal ordinance issues.
As you may well know, LaCrosse recently had a County Board Supervisor (Sharon Hampson) make an amendment to a local ordinance that would restrict captive bred snakes to six foot within the confines of the COUNTY (see other strings in this forum). The ordinance actually made it illegal to own, breed or sell a motley group of exotics ranging from ostriches to exotic house cats to degus (It’s the same ignorant ordinance that has been pushed by the Humane Society and their uneducated pawns all over the state). The newly formed Coulee Region Herpetological Society spent countless hours and resources fighting this ban. In fact, individual meetings were set up with any Board members that would listen to their constituents. (I say that “would listen” because I had Board members like Vikki Burke that never attended either open public forums that attendence is public record, never talked with the Coulee Region Herpetological Society via email, phone or in person even after several separate attempts and still voted for the ban) Ignorance is bliss! I think at last count we met (or communicated with) 29 of the 35 Board members. The ordinance came up for a vote and was voted down. I should be happy. Right?
Not exactly. I have been dealing with the LaCrosse Vector Control and Human Services Manager, Dave Geske. The man doesn’t seem to be a bad person, but quickly makes you realize that he has a personal agenda….that doesn’t involve personal rights. On the 11th hour before the ban came for a vote to the whole 35 members of the Board, he sent a letter. The letter consisted of blatant misinformation. He claimed that banning these exotic animals would help control diseases and protect our citizens. What diseases? He stated that the avian flu would be better controlled (even though no ducks or chickens were listed, and the only fowl were ostriches). He stated that exotics spread plaque (although the Bubonic plague exists today in at least three separate wild populations within the borders of the United States). It was warned that the ban of these exotic animals was necessary to control the spread of rabies (there are no wild vectors in LaCrosse County I guess). The reason I know what the letter said is because some of the Board members contacted me about it and asked if the statements are true. I forwarded the members to the USDA, CDC, and DNR websites for actual facts. How can a paid public employee have the audacity to write such outlandish things? Are there any repercussions for such fear mongering used to incite riotous acts in the guise of personal safety and public welfare?
Sorry this is so long, but I get a little agitated every time I think about the whole issue and I need to vent. Why was such a ban necessary in LaCrosse County? That’s what we wanted to know. We contacted the local Humane Society (the county hires out there animal control to them) to find out how many problems they have had with exotic animals. Two months, and a dozen messages later…..nothing. We had no issue to address. It wasn’t until Doug Mormann (Dave Geske’s boss) stated that there have been 13 phone calls in the last two years dealing with exotic reptiles. No bites, no attacks, simply phone calls. To put the statistic into the proper light, there were over 300 dog and cat bites in the same county for one year. After this amazing revelation, I attempted to contact Mr. Mormann to find out exactly what species were involved and what the situations were. I made several attempts to catch him via email. I received no response until I sent an open email to the entire Human Service Board asking if Doug Mormann’s email was working. He quickly responded that he would be willing to assist with anything I needed. I asked about the species involved, dates and people involved with the calls. I than I waited. And waited. I waited two weeks until the night of the second open public forum (which there was not one pro ban person present). Mr. Mormann said that he was busy and couldn’t get back to me. He did say that he had no data on the 13 phone calls, other than a highly publicized one that I had personal information about. I was told to contact local police departments to get the facts. How can someone literally say something that can’t be proven? Are there any repercussions for such hideous lack luster work? If it smells like BS, and it looks like BS, than it’s probably BS.
So, this leads me to what can I do? If I were to simply make up information or avoid addressing an issue because I was too busy, I wouldn’t be teaching very long. If I write a letter to Geske’s boss nothing will be accomplished because obviously their agendas coincide. How can we even think that we live in a free society where they continuously want to take our rights (any way they can)? If you can help me in a legitimate course of action, please let me know. Thanks for your time.
Michael D. Bechtel
Science instructor
Central High School
Chemistry instructor
Western Wisconsin Technical College
