Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been corresponding with the originators of the bill and it seems that the opposition that they are receiving is causing them to reconsider a good portion of their thinking. Keep sending in your opinions.....they are working!! This is your hobby and it should not be up to missinformed government know-it-alls to decide whether or not you should have the freedom to keep your animals so inform them!!
Keep up the good work!

This is why we are always under scrupulous by governing officials, In Florida within 5 milkes of my house , where we all pretty much have an acre or more of land, lives Tarzan, well the actor who played him in the 60's-70's. Well he has 10 acres of land and about 10 lion and tigers.He is under all current regulations and licensing with the State, County and Florida Wildlife. This was just an unfortunate circumstance.
Tuesday night one of his pet Tigers was let out of his double fenced cage and leaped over a 12' high perimeter fence, the neighbors were in histarics, this is a 400 lb tiger that has in the past(2yrs ago) bitten a geust in the head causing severe lacerations, the Tiger was aloud to live being that it was a geust of his and she did not want to press any charges.

Today the Florida Fresh water commission shot and killed "Bobo" the officer that shot the Tiger 5 times ,7 fired, was an idiot, instead of sticking to the plan, which was to contact Tarzan and the officers with the tranquilizer darts, Tarzan was to lure the "cat" and chain him up and happy ending.this doofus decides to get out of his truck while he is alone and approach the cat where he lay in the shade under a tree, being that bobo did not know this officer he got in a deffensive ears down hiss gnarl look at the officer and so the officewr felt threatened and instead of retreating to his truck and calling the tranquilizer team he felt it necesary to shoot and kill Bobo.
I personally think the doofus wanted to go and pet the tiger and did not realize how wild he really is especially after being free from home over 48hrs.
The cat was in the neighbors woods. This is a shame. but as exotic pet owners it is up to US to manage and keep the public safe from harm wether we have venomous snakes or pet alligators or just really big snakes that can kill someones dog. we are NOT the NORM of the populous, thats why when things like this happen we all suffer and are always doomed to be up for banning our hobbies,businesses, pets, and friends.
Just thaoght I would share some news from Florida, I wonder if they showed this on the news accross the country, do let me know because it would just ad another blow to our industry for exotic pets.

Nick Gancarz
Boa's Ark c.b.r.

Yes, this story has been all over the news. Dateline, the national news show hosted by Tom Brokow, just covered the story tonight and 'pondered the question of exotics as pets'. They showed which states currently have regulations against owning exotic cats, as well as told how the Bush Administration is pushing for new legislation. Our rights as boa constrictor owners are in jeopardy. Hopefully, we can all maintain our snakes in a responsible manor to prevent this from mappening and the stories from reaching the media.
- E

I knew it would be national news, it just scares me when we get so much negative publicity, what the hell can we do for possative PR? Even though Tarzan was doing a good deed by raising the BIG CATS responsably accidents still happen and as a father I would FREEEEEAAAAAAAAAK if that Tiger had attacked my daughter I live under 5 miles from him and what if?
I am all for people haveing what ever they want as long as they are responsable and educated enough.
You know in this state it is "REQUIRED" to have 1000hrs of training in the feild of exotic animals you desire to posses, but the fact of the matter it is all BULL S%$# I know for a fact so many pet store that have Gators simply because they are a business and know someone who already has a license to sign off saying that the person completed thier 1000 hr training, This is where I think the State should get involved and seriously regulate these hrs of training through VOLUNTEERING those hours at a ZOO, because if you do the math a 1000hrs is a part time job(20hrs per week) for almost a year, some people get the license in months.
These are the inexperienced people who screw things up for us experienced people.

We all need to rally up some HUGE national TV show showing the importance and responsable exotic pet keeping because we don't get ANY good deeds or triumphs publicized always the NEGATIVE HARMFUL NEWS< and we all know how the MEDIA blows things way way out of porportion.
Keep on herpin the safe way people, its our freedom rights at stake, could you imagine not even being able to own a ball python? And to ALL those IDIOTS out there who release these exotics into the wild STOP you make it worse.
The everglades in Miami is being over run by a breeding population of BURMESE pythons to make things worse there are also Wild populations of NILE monitors breeding among neighborhoods in Ft. Lauderdale,Have you ever seen a wild NILE monitor they will bite the crap out of you and kill your cat, not to mention all of the native species that don't have a chance against a pest like that. this is the kind of stuff that will ban us from owning REPTILES in general. so if you know someone who has released an animal into the wild, smack them in the head for me.

Sorry for going on but all this troubles me makes me nervous as we all should be, we need to stop giving the legislative people incharge of our rights so much AMO.

Good night,
Nick

I have a question I would like to ask you off the board. I tried to email you, but it said you do not accept emails from this forum.

My email is

sales@thelizardkingreptiles.com

Look forward to hearing from you
-----
Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles
http://thelizardkingreptiles.com
402-614-6641

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

I have been a herp hobyis for many years now and I do, in many respects, HATE to see any animal in the hands of someone that has little responsibility for keeping it. It realy bothers me to se Burmese pythons and Boa constrictors whored out by vendors at herp shows across the country. Most of these animals end up either being mistreated or abused. When I see an 8 year old kid walking around with a rock python, Burmese poython and boa constrictor and coming up to ask me if they eat crickets I start to fume over the fact that some ass sold these poor animals without any sense of accountability. Only to make money????
This is a major reason why we are in the state that we are in. WE need to be accountable for our own actions and how we handle the sale and exchange of these animals. Perhaps there should be more regulations for ownership and sale of these fine beasts. There is no easy solution obviously but it has to start with the mindless selling of these animals by pet shops, dealers and breeders. It seems that no one ever speaks out about this. Well, someone has to do it so the gov't is stepping in!