Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this is from the N.Y herpetological society...

"Human Health Hazards All reptiles carry Salmonella bacteria. The bacteria, shed in the feces, can contaminate the animal's skin, enclosure, and virtually any surface with which it comes into contact. The National Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a 1999 report stating that reptile-related salmonellosis posed a significant threat to human health."

Cmon, sallmonella from reptiles is less trhan 7% of all sallmonella cases...

"Smuggling of rare reptiles: Endangered and threatened reptiles are valued because of their scarcity, driving a thriving illegal trade, decimating wild populations and threatening extinction in some species."

Dont they now that with banned reptiles a "black market" is going to form? MORE ilegall reptiles are going to pop out!

"Moreover, reptiles can be dangerous. The upsurge in reptile ownership since the 1980s has meant an increase in the ownership of large and potentially dangerous snakes, particularly pythons and boas. There have been many near-fatal and several fatal incidents in recent years involving constrictors. In August, an eight-year-old Pennsylvania girl, Amber Mountain, was killed by the family's pet Burmese python."

This is just the worst... Pigs are more dangerous... ONE case...How about dogs...thousands of cases in the emergency rooms are all because of dogs...Reptiles dont target and kill children, dogs do...Statistics show that a 5 to 9 year olds are alot more likely to be attacked...It just pisses me of...They are irrational...

Oh, god... I bet if someome made a chart that showed the number of deaths / injuries caused my reptiles compared with other causes... it would show exactly how absurd that is.

So, motorcycles aren't dangerous? Cars aren't dangerous? Dogs aren't dangerous? Mosquitos aren't dangerous? SIMPLY WALKING THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH isn't dangerous? C'mon... if people are so worried about anything that is slightly dangerous, we'd all live in sealed rooms and never leave them.

-Howie

this is the typical situation when dealing with power in the hands of the ignorant. they think you can solve a problem by directly applying laws to the people. It just ends up hurting the law abiding citizens. the only people I know that have had problems with their reptiles(annoying neighbors, escapee problems, bit by venomous snakes,etc. obtained much if not all of their animals illegally. Laws banning them outright never work.
If you want to see how to fight such legislature, look to gun owners. People are afraind of guns, so they try to ban them, and banning certain ones doesn't help crime, it just hurts law abiders. You "need" a chameleon as much as, if not less than anyone "needs" an AR-15, but who the heck has the right to tell you to not have one if you're responsible?
The problem with "dangerous" reptiles is usually the people who let kids play with their caimen, or their 7 foot nile moniter, or 18 foot python--they ruin it for the rest of us. Just like those idiots at columbine have caused people to want to ban gun shows. The percentage of actual owners is SO small, and the percentage of people that don't KNOW anything about reptiles is so big, that when a law is passed, most people, out of ignorance, will think there's nothing wrong with banning reptiles. Politicians will usually do anything to get re-elected, and if they can make 51% of the people think they are a tiny bit safer, they'll ban lizards over a foot. I hate politically motivated feel good laws...all of them...NJ was horrible..needed a permit for EVERY lizard, but nobody had permits. It was a meaningless law.