Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all. Well, it doesn't look good for the show happening again any time soon. A lot of vendors were sited, many wrongly, and I doubt many out of state vendors will be rerurning. Apparently, no reptiles can be brought into Ohio to sell without veterninary paperwork on each animal. If the animals are protected in neighboring states and aren't native to Ohio, you have to have paper work proving they are captive bred and they have to be microchiped. Any species that is native to Ohio is basically the same thing, they have to have paperwork and must be microchiped. Many vendors were sited for having animals that were misidentified by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. I know of vendors sited for Maxican Black Kings, identified as Black Racers, corn snakes, Id'd as eastern Milks, and Texas rats, not sure what they were calling them! A few vendors were sited for having albino black rats and leucistic hognose. As far as I know, mutations are not covered under Ohio's laws, so they were also wrongly sited.

Supposedly the intent was to bust a ring that was collecting in the wild and not documenting these animals. In 2000, a law was passed in Ohio that outlawed the taking of species from the wild. You can take up to 4 native herps, but you have to register them within 10 days of capture, at ten bucks each animal. If they are in your possesion more than 30 days, they can not be released back to the wild and you must have them microchipped by the state. You have to renew the registration every year, at ten bucks each, and any offspring have to be microchipped and the info sent to ODNR. Most of the states surrounding Ohio have pretty similar laws. Some people were getting around the laws by taking animals across state lines to sell or to keep. The only problem there is that the Lacy Act was being broken, so federal charges could be brought, and have been. From the way the ODNR and feds handeled the raid, it was pretty obvious that the real intent was to close this show down, possibly for ever.

The thing that really sucks is that since 2000, they had been staking out the show, and actually had undercover guys posing as vendors at the show for a pretty long time. They had pictures, phone taps, and emails.

I know that a lot of you are thinking, "So what, that's Ohio, I'm in(insert state here), how is that going to affect me?" What you should be thinking is, "When will it happen here?" Every year we lose more and more of our freedoms to keep and collect herps. I know we always say, "This is too far, we need to stand up and be heard!" Well, the time is now. Any one who lives in Ohio, or any other state with ridiculous laws applied to herps, we need to write as many people as we need, we need to get the media to look at our side of things and publicize that. Call your local news stations, write the appropriate people, do anything, just make a difference for the good! Have the media point out all of the errors that were made by supposed "experts" that can't even properly identify native species in the state they work for! The major amount of money, I honestly wouldn't at all doubt if they spent more than $1,000,000 all told, to bust a handful of people and to confiscate $50,000 in animals. Is this really a victory over evil poachers, or a HUGE waste of tax money, my money, your money?

Any way, please don't take this lying down, the time is now. If we don't fight for our rights no one will!

Thanks,
Rick S.

I am afraid we are fighting an uphill,losing battle though.I really think I will see the day when all reptile shows and internet trade is a thing of the past.The sad thing a percentage of it is based upon nothing more than ignorance.(I have no problem with someone who is breaking the law at these shows being busted,)but I have always had the feeling that in the long run the determining factor is that this industry is hard to regulate which means that Uncle Sam has a hard time getting a piece of the pie.

Impossible shipping regulations,laws in states that essentially outlaw corn snakes because they have the potential to exceed 6 feet..it is really sad and will probably get nothing but worse.Might come the day where we would be tickled pink to have the opportunity to passionately debate an issue on a public snake forum.

front page and they talked about the officers raiding homes of sevral of the ring leaders.This talks about closing down the Ohio show.if what I read on the links is true,I have to back off my original statement.What the heck actually happened.

I remember a raid on the Indy show where vendors(legite) had to stand out in the hot sun with their animals for hours while an investigation took place. There were some people who dealt in imported animals that got busted and righfully so,for having endangered animals,but everyone wound up suffering and some animals were harmed by the long time in the heat.What actually happened here?

Just a short rundown of what happened, got to head to work. Before the show was to start, the feds and ODNR showed up and closed the show to any entry. If you were in there, you had to stay until you were cleared by ODNR and the feds. At the same time this was happening, some vendors houses and businesses were also raided and warrants served. The stated intent was to bust a ring of "poachers" trading in native species that weren't registered. As the event progressed it was more and more obvious that the real intent was to shut down the show here. Citations were handed out for various things, no vet at the show to give health certificates, native species with no paperwortk etc. A lot of the vendors hadn't even gottten all of their animalsa into the show when it was closed. Many animals were stuck in vehicles until 1 o'clock or so because no one was allowed to leave to check their vehicles.

take care,
Rick S.

At the OH show people are allowed to bring animals in to trade, and those people were standing outside in 85-90 degree sun with their burms and alligators. If any animals were left in cars, they would have been fried.

Where do you live and where did you hear this from? -sTEVE

In Columbus, I attend the show regularly and have also had a table at the show in the past, no native species though. I didn't go to this show. I had planned to, but my buddy called me early Saturday morning to let me know not to bother going as it was shut down by the raid. He was one of the unlucky ones that was let in before the show opened and he got stuck inside while the raid was going on. I spoke with him, some vendors, and some other people who got stuck inside also. They all had the same story: lots of misidentification and lack of knowledge of native species by the ODNR.

Rick S.