Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Don't forget that the MD Department of Natural Resources will be at MARS. Usually those persons directly responsible for creating and enforcing the reptile regulations man the DNR table. This is a perfect time to let DNR officials know what you want from them, and what you (politely) think of DNR policy. The more that DNR hears from the public, the more educated they will be! Even if you live in another state, your voice can still make a difference - stop by and talk to the DNR reps.

As some of you might know, it is technically illegal to breed turtles in MD, even eastern box turtles! DNR is in the process of rewriting the 11-yr-old regulations, and CAN now rewrite those regs to include a breeders permit, thanks to a law that was passed two years ago. Please let your opinion be heard! Stop by and talk to a DNR official at MARS - they won't ask for your name or personal information while they are at MARS, so even though you are face to face with DNR, your comments are technically "annonymous". DNR really needs to here polite, educated, public comments. One person attempting to obtain a permit this year was told by a permits coordinator that box turtles are "difficult" to breed in captivity!

You can see the current MD regulaitons here:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/captive.html

Katrina

Katrina, I just sent an email to the head of the permits dept. at Texas Parks and Wildlife. I'm a permitted rehabber with a couple of displaced Texas Tortoises (Gopherus berlandieri) that showed up here is the Houston area. They are native to So. TX and No. Mexico. They are listed as threatened on a state level only. I was kinda griping to this gal that the state of TX does not want them release back into the wild (I understand that) but yet does not allow the public to get a permit to have one of these tortoises. It is nearly impossible to find a preserve or study group that has permits for them. I've listed these torts at the IWRC website to see if a zoo wants them and have had no responses. I've had offers from people with no permits to take them but I'm not going to break the law and do that. Do you have any other suggestions on who to contact to get the state of TX to do something about this problem? The climate here is very humid and I'm just hoping I can place these torts before they get sick. Thanks for any help.

You might want to contact your district representative(s) and Senator in Austin. It might take a legislator putting pressure on DNR to get something changed. If DNR won't budge, then you can ask your legislators about writing a bill that would require DNR to create a permit system for these animals.

Katrina