Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in NY state, and I am a dog owner, cat owner, reptile owner and breeder, Father of 4 children and husband of one wife. I say this to share some info. I am also a licensed animal trapper. Over the past 20 years I have had way too many dealings with animal activists...the sad thing is most of them are people just like you and I but are totally unaware of what they are doing, or saying. I understand most people get their emotional feelings involved when they think of the death of an animal, however animals are to be managed by humans and used as a renuable resource. When a fox dies from mange or rabies, or starvation, it is not a pretty sight. Most of these diseases are the cause of over-population. Mother nature does not hold back from cruelty by any means. They die a horible death...but we humans never see it happen and so that makes it ok. Trappers cull off the over-population, there-by creating a more vibrant healthy animal due to a population that the habitat can support. Food becomes more plentiful for the animals...and healthy breeding takes place to cause substantial increases in litter size! A father and son team I know personally in Maryland, trap 1000 plus red fox every year, within several hundred miles of their farm year after year...the healthy population keeps growing as long as it is managed.
Why am I saying all this??
The animal rights agenda is not only to stop you from eating chicken, beef whatever.
Wearing leather, fur,or feathers....but their agenda is to take your dogs, cats, reptiles, any animal you could name! They do not even want you to own a bearded dragon...imagine that!
They do not want us feeding mice or rats or bunnies to our snakes, and absolutely no guinea pigs!....maybe they should eat carrots??
Education is the key here. Keep your feelings out of it...ask yourself what is really best? Then follow through. Hope you all understand my intent here. Andy Federico

What I want to know is when can we start having trappers to "cull" the over population of people? To me, 1000 foxes in one area isn't too many. If there are 1000 foxes not clever enough to stay away from a trap, then obviously that habitat is plentiful enough to support that many. It's just the people that are inconvenienced and feel the pressure. If it's too many, then they will eventually die off and the numbers will decline naturally. We should all be so lucky to live in an area that would support that many animals of just ONE species. Sounds like pristine habitat, suitable for many animals and one that, IMO, people should stay out of b/c that's the only animal that can OVER populate it's own environment and manage to stay alive.
I don't agree that peoples rights should be limited in any way and I'd be pretty pissed if a group tried to limit my freedoms like they have in NY. But using your examples probably aren't the best way to get a group of people who obviously are fascinated by wildlife (so much so that we want to have it in our homes) to see your side of things.
Obviously just MY thoughts and they are thoughts that will be deleted shortly I'm sure b/c this thread is controversial and lord knows we can't have that here...
jb
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Jonathan Brady
"Sarcasm is angers ugly cousin" -Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in "Anger Management".

I have to agree that animal rights are trampled everywhere BUT... That doesn’t mean that i feel that people shouldn’t have the right to care for, breed, adopt, and rescue animals when they are in need. I run into a lot of "classmates" who feel that animals should have equal rights as humans and that no human should be able to take the life or freedom of another animal. And while i agree that animals should be treated with respect and if an individual takes the responsibility to have a pet/animal in their home they are responsible for the welfare of that animal at all costs. The animals in my house eat before Steve and I. If we only have enough money for one of us to eat... Hands down its the animals every time, BUT that’s because they don’t have anywhere to go and get food. In the wild there is a different situation. Animal populations are controlled by disease, hunting, natural limitation on populations and yes by people. I feel that as long as the populations of the animals recover each year the human controls are not only needed but without them the population of animals will grow unchecked and will become destructive to the populations health and the other animals in the ecosystem.. I think this is a great topic... Animals and humans will always interact.. As cognitive people we need to have the forethought to watch out for the welfare of the POPULATIONS of animals and stop looking at each individual animal as a plight... Great topic im glad that other people look at populations instead of individuals...

Sincerely,
Rose Hipskind
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www.srsnakes.com

I am very open minded, and appreciate your comments very much. I have taken alot of abuse over the years for my approach, your right this may not be the correct approach, but people must look at this as a whole and not pick and choose what suits them...These activists have a stonghold, and it needs to be hit hard from all the angles. Thanks Andy

I am very upset at the way NY can limit the peoples rights
to bear arms or what pets they may keep or where they may smoke or what to do with the income they earn.
The rights they deny to the unborn.
I believe they are allowed to "CULL" waaay too many little babies. If they were restrained to "only" 1000, it would still be too many.
At least humans don't do as the animals do & move into a new
"pristine habitat" & kill off every single offspring that wasn't fathered by the new member.
I'm glad this little baby wasn't culled by the abortionist.
HAPPY FRIDAY HUMANS, Jeff

Culling of the human population?

If the whole worlds human population stood arm to arm we couldnt even fill Jacksonville, Florida.

Global Warming? A volcanic eruption causes more harm to the environment than humans have between 1900 and 2000. Global warming has been debunked from every angle. In fact now they are saying that there is global cooling (One of many examples: http://www.intellicast.com/DrDewpoint/Library/1395/GlobalWarmingArticle.pdf )...

Sadly, population reduction is what the environmentalists are pushing for.

“A total world population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels, would be ideal."
Ted Turner, in an interview with Audubon magazine.

“In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation."
Prince Philip Reported by Deutsche Press Agentur (DPA), August, 1988.

“I must confess that I am tempted to ask for reincarnation as a particularly deadly virus."
Prince Philip, in his Foreward to If I Were an Animal; United Kingdom, Robin Clark Ltd., 1986.

“I don't claim to have any special interest in natural history, but as a boy I was made aware of the annual fluctuations in the number of game animals and the need to adjust the 'cull' to the size of the surplus population."
Preface to Down to Earth by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 1988, p.8.

A few of numerous disturbing quotes.

Very close to my thoughts, too, Jonathan (and notice that the thread didn't disappear once I'd read it.)

I am a science geek, biologist at heart, geologist by education, herper by choice. While I understand that animals in some areas become "overpopulated", it makes me wonder how that is possible. I tend to think in terms of that same group of animals being "under-habitated."

I have no problem with hunting for food. I have a big problem with hunting for trophies. If an area can support 1000 foxes, then there was no need to cull. If you were hunting only the sickly ones, fine. But something tells me that sickly fox pelts don't make good fur coats for women with more money than brains.

(BTW, I'm not an AR person, and absolutely don't support the AR movement in any way. But I know where my brain sets limits, and this is one place where I cannot accept the facts as given.)

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Bonnie Keller
VA Reptile Rescue
www.vareptilerescue.org

Good post Andy.. Would your friend who traps have any statistical information regarding the population balance? It may be helpful down the road just to have it stored for future use..

Later
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

Ron and Pete leggett are personal friends of mine. Here is a link to their website, but a google search can bring up more about them too. Pete passed away several years back, he is greatly missed by many people. They were pioneers in the fight against animal Rights. Thanks Andy
Link

Sorry he passed away last year... Andy