Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i got this e-mail today

this email is to inform you of a bill in NY that if passed will have detrimental effects on reptile breeders, commercial supply businesses and hobbyists alike. This bill has passed the assembly and the senate within New York and is currently setting on the Governors desk awaiting his signature to become law. He may sign off on it this week or may wait several months to make his decision it is imperative that we act NOW! If this bill passes they way it is currently written, it will be an all out ban on boas, pythons, monitors, crocodilians and venomous species of reptiles. There is a clause that says the state may grant permission for a permit to keep and maintain any animals listed within this bill as pets only, if you owned them prior to this bill which will take effect January of 2005 if we don’t stop it. In other words if you own any animals listed within this bill and apply for a permit to keep them, IF they grant you this permit you may never breed them, you are allowed to maintain them as pets only. I live outside of the state of NY and am trying to rally everyone outside and within I can but I need you to do the same. The governor and his office will put more priority on the concerns of their residents then they will on people such as myself. Perhaps you know someone in New York who is not aware of this threat, and your help is needed to contact them about this.

I urge each and everyone of you to please get as active as you can. Post fliers within pets stores, get your friends to write in, call your local representatives, contact any kind of business within the state of NY that sells reptiles or supplies. These businesses have detailed mailing list, ask them to ad a flier next time their mailer goes out. Anything you can think of to spread the word. Also please tell everyone to keep their letters professional and polite we don’t want to sound like a bunch of thugs. Below are three methods to contact the Governor and oppose this bill. If you have the time I urge you to use all three methods.

This law if passed will snowball through other states. A couple years ago NYC passed a law that banned many species of animals(reptile, mammals etc.). Last year Chicago copied and tried to pass that very same law as well. They literally copied it, Chicago deleted references to NYC and replaced them with Chicago, in a couple of spots the forgot to remove the references to NYC. SO this ordinance they were trying to pass in Chicago had references to both cities within it. For the time being we stopped them there but that’s just an example of how one state or city does something and the rest follow.

Here’s a link to the Bill
http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A02684&sh=t

Here’s a link to email your opposition to the Governor
http://161.11.3.75/
Snail Mail address
Governor George E. Pataki
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Use the below phone number, tell them you are calling in reference to bill A02684. You’ll then be asked for you zip code, once given the person will log your vote into a computer.
518-474-8390
Below I have copied and pasted the text concerning reptiles please see the link above for the full version.

“5) ALL REPTILES THAT ARE VENOMOUS BY NATURE, PURSUANT TO DEPARTMENT
22 REGULATION, AND THE FOLLOWING SPECIES AND FAMILIES: BOIDAE FAMILY,
23 ASIATIC (WATER) MONITOR (V. SALVATOR), NILE MONITOR (V. NILOCITUS),
24 WHITE THROAT MONITOR (V. ALBIGULARUS), BLACK THROAT MONITOR (V. ALBIGU-
25 LARUS IONIDES) AND CROCODILE MONITOR (V. SALVADORI) AND ANY HYBRID THER-
26 EOF,
27 (6) CROCODILIA.”

Thank you for your time!
Sincerely,
Jason Sweigart
Illinois Resident pulling for the New Yorkers.

If anyone would like to see it to get some ideas for your own letter, I'd be happy to email it to you. This is scary stuff!
Amanda Burke

I too drafted and sent my letter...People can also call and vote against the bill. People that want to # can email me!

Thanks,

Russ Lockenwitz
RL Reptiles
http://www.visioncages.com
Vision Cages

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Russ Lockenwitz
RL Reptiles
http://www.visioncages.com

It'd be great if you could send me a copy of the letter, I just can't seem get one started. Thank you much!

Spo0kyKidz@aol.com

why is this so very new to everyone when it was first posted no one cared now that it is on the door step you all care

people when the warnings come that is the time to take action not a last second effort to stop it, i sent an email in and i hope the bill doesnt get passed but its time the people in this hobby start opening there eyes and standing up and being counted

n.p.

Hi.

I've noticed several of your posts calling for the establishment of a national herp society. I could not agree more. My question is, even though I'm a medical student and will be incredibly busy with training for years to come, I would like to put what time I have toward this effort. Do you have any ideas about how we could go about this? The internet and the network of state and regional herp societies seem like good starting points to me. We would need to contact as many people as possible.

Perhaps the first aim would be to just send out a simple newsletter after people pay in about $10/year in dues, much like a state society would. The more people on a mailing list, the more powerful our lobby can become. Of course, to do all that, I assume we would have to establish ourselves as a national non-profit group.

Ideas?

-Dana

Maybe contact the president of each states herp society, and try and set something up that way.

Maybe in the start each president of each states herp society would become a "senator" soo to speak in the national society. From there they could nominate and name a president on the national level.

Problem is, what would a national society acomplish?
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Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles
http://thelizardkingreptiles.com
402-614-6641

"I am the Lizard King, I can do anything" - Jim Morrison

It would accomplish this,...

ONE VOICE!!!Power!!!The voices of many, combined is much louder than the voices of a few, or of many who are disorganized.

And it could raise funds for,...political action, herp education, herp conservation, and teaching people to be responsible, and safe herpers. It could teach the public about us, and about herps. It could heilp our cause in so many ways if we just start to think,...then do.
Tony.

As thesnakeman has said, the power of a national voice is the primary goal of any such organization.

The American Herpetological Society could first consist of a bi-monthly, or even quarterly, newsletter, much like the ones any state herp society send out. A few propagation or species-specific behvior articles, some news about proposed laws that aim to ban the keeping of reptiles, a classified section...the typical stuff. Maybe we could convince people like Jeff Ronne, Bob Applegate, or Bob Clark to write articles that draw from their considerable expertise. Then that newsletter gets sent to everyone who has paid a $10-15/year membership fee. Email-based newsletters could also be sent, if a member prefers that option. Membership money could be put toward the printing and mailing of the newsletter, and other such operational costs.

In the end, just having a database of concerned herpers that can be notified, on a national level, about laws like New York Bill A02684, could change the scope of our cause dramatically. Imagine if the big breeders, cage makers, rodent suppliers, and dry goods suppliers got involved? Finally we'd have a little organized clout.

Eventually, if the society got large enough, the American Herpetological Society could be the organization promoting an event like the Daytona expo. Wouldn't that be exciting?

Exactly,...It would behoov the folks at Big Apple, and LLL and all the rest to get involved. Then maybe we coulld start asking for funds to do all this great stuff!!!
Tony.

What we need to do is get updated contact info for all the herp society, get all the big companies in line that have the huge mailing lists and use the already established chains of communication that are out there. I spoke to Jeff B and a bunch of other last year about this during the Chicago ordeal. They had a natioal herp society they tried to get going but nobody wanted to get involved and it didnt work out. The best thing we can do is get the flow of communication opened up. have laisons in each state(preferablly a member of a herp society) that when something happens can rapidly contact all the societys within their state, get the info to the societies so it can passed throughout the members. We can also use pet store that carry reptiles and supply dealers such as LLL that are willing to get involved. When I called some of the big dealer the other day I had one that pretty much told me to go get screwed they got better things to do. We need to make people realize that with an attitude like that were all going to be out of buis.

Anyway I tried this last year and only a couple people wanted to help but lets give it a run again. Ill need a few people who can contact the herp societies, pet stores etc. I am going to talk to the chicago herp tomorrow for some more ideas but we need to get one volenteer from a herp society for each state. If we can get one person from each state that would be willing to donate time as a liason that would get this up and going and we could build it from there. So anyone who is willing to help drop me an email, I have a boat load of work thats been put off all week so I wont be able to get back to ya till sunday but sunday well get the ball rolling.
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Jason & Danica
Well, I'm off my rocker, I fell out of my tree, I've been standin' on shaky ground, There's no helping me, yeah, I can't remember my number, I can't remember your name
I can't remember all the trouble I'm in, child....... Well, I'm insane(Ratt, Im Insane)
Classic Dums frozen feeders

I just e-mailed Big Apple Herp, and LLL. We are onto something here!
Tony.

And yes again!!! It's about time!!! I agree on all points. I'm just not sure how to do it. What we need is some people with some experience as a board members, or presidents of one of the herp societies to step up to the plate. I know you are out there. Speak up and tell us how to set this up. I have looked at the list of herp societies and I have tried to contact each president by e-mail. But NONE of you replied. In order for this to work, we will need to get all the herp societies together. Under one flag. I take that back. I think somebody did write back, but they wre not all that interested.

As for me,...I have a realatively small collection, and I am an
Artist, and Disabled Veteran. So I find myself with some amount of time, and way too much ambition! LoL. If the right people will come together, and offer some guidence, I will do whatever I can to help. We can chat here, and you are welcome to contact me at e-mail. I am not a politician, I am a worker, and a grunt, I am not stupid, but I ain't no rocket Scientist either. One things for sure though, I never surrender! We can do this people. We just need to start.
Tony.