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.

thanks for posting an example zip code, very helpful. live in oregon, lol.

yeah, we heard about this the other day and some real internet junkies probably earlier.

thanks, andrew

I thank you and everyone else for your support. There is a significant amount of people here that are doing their best to pursuade and prevent this legislation from being passed. The future of our hobby is riding on this bill, as you have said, it will jump to other states, and will act just serve as something to make ammendments and additions to further on down the line...

While some of the animals on the list are in dire need of being banned from private ownership, I do not feel that the said reptilian species should be acknowledged... I think that one of the major reasons why this bill has come into writing here in NY, was because of that case of that a-hole who was keeping a 400lb bengal tiger and a 6' alligator in his 1 bedroom apartment in a highrise apartment project in Harlem, NY... there have been other raids, and occurrences, but none have sparked so much debate about the exotic pet trade... It is morons like that, who jeopardize everybody else's rights to responsibly partake in a hobby that is loved by millions. The same thing goes for the dumbasses who go around feeding their burmese pythons with their 11month old infants in the rooms, or feeding their 22ft reticulated pythons chickens, while nobody else is around to supervise....

It is unfortunate that the media and politicians see one such incident concerning reptiles, and are quick to announce that legislation must be enacted to prevent this from everhappening again... But at the same time, look at how many people/children are killed/injured by dog attacks each year, particularly Pit Bulls... The number of pitbull attacks greatly outnumbers these cases of reptile attacks/deaths... Herpetological societies nationwide have been trying to get the message out to the government and public to dispell any myths about reptiles for many years now, however, despite all the hard work these societies put in, it seems the people sitting down at the capital just aren't getting it.... What else is there to do??

It's frustrating, but I had a feelign that such an action was due to occur sooner or later, due primarily to most people's ignorance and unwillingness to believe the truth about reptiles.

well, just my .02, thanks again, let's hope this doesn't take effect...