Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Below is a questions asked in one of the forums, I just wanted to try and clear a few things up.

why would anyone be so enraged at an attempt to protect those who can't speak for themselves?

On this surface that may seem as though this is what its about but it is not by any means. First it is easier for them to rewrite a law then it is to make a new one. In every state in the US there are already animal cruelty laws on the books. So why not fix those? second you must understand the language. Under this law if you transfer one single animal in the state of IL you must be inspected and permitted prior to tranferring that animal. If you pick up a stray dog and give it to a friend under this you must be permitted. Your looking out for the benifit of that stray animal and you will get to give some of your hard earned money to the state and have state officals wondering around your house. Also understand this portion

Animal caretaker Pet shop operator" means any person who sells, offers to sell or , exchange, or offers for adoption with or without charge or donation dogs, cats, birds, fish, reptiles, or other animals customarily [QUOTE]obtained as pets in this State

No where in there does it says it is limited to IL residents.

means any person who sells, offers to sell or , exchange,...in this State

If you are coming in from out of state for the Tinley Park reptiles show next year you may be required to get inspected. Im going to use Bob Clark as an example, for no other reason then everyone has heard his name. Any person would include Bob Clark Shipping ball pythons into IL. Now does he send enough ball pythons here that its worth the hassle for him to jump through the hoops to do so legally under this law. I dunno. But keep in mind it clearly states ANY PERSON(which includes you), no where in there does it have any proposed way that someone from out of state can make the state of IL happy to legally tranfer animals into the state. The state of IL surly is not going to send agents to FL or CA to do inspections. The point I am getting at is this could shut the state lines down.

Now look at the wording for animal care taker

Animal caretaker " means any person who sells, offers to sell or , exchange, or offers for adoption with or without charge or donation dogs, cats, birds, fish, reptiles, or other animals customarily obtained as pets in this State.

Anyone who transfers reptiles is an animal caretaker and falls under the wording of this law Now notice what you must do with your reptiles under this law

Every animal caretaker pet shop operator, dog dealer, and cattery operator shall provide the following information for every dog or cat available for sale: (a) The age, sex, and weight of the animal. (b) The breed of the animal. (c) A record of vaccinations and veterinary care and treatment. (d) A record of surgical sterilization or lack of surgical sterilization. (e) The name and address of the breeder of the animal. (f) The name and address of any other person who owned or harbored the animal between its birth and the point of sale. 25 (Source: P.A. 87-819.)

26 (225 ILCS 605/18) (from Ch. 8, par. 318)
27 Sec. 18. The licensee shall:
28 a. Maintain sanitary conditions.
29 b. Insure proper ventilation.
30 c. Provide adequate nutrition.
31 d. Provide humane care and treatment of all animals under
32 his jurisdiction.
33 d-5. Provide a sufficient quantity of good quality,
34 wholesome food and water.

HB0707 - 5 - LRB094 04266 RAS 34291 b
1 d-10. Provide adequate shelter and protection from the
2 weather.
3 d-15. Provide veterinary care on an annual basis and also
4 when needed to prevent suffering.
5 d-20. Provide a stimulating and enriching environment.

Now if you look further into this law a "stimulating and enriching environment" is one that includes toys and all kinds of other nonsense that snakes simpy do not need. My dumerils may play with their food sometimes but they sure have no interest in balls, bells or anything else.

(f) The name and address of any other person who owned or harbored the animal between its birth and the point of sale.

Can you provide that for every single snake you own? Some maybe, but the majority no I cant. I dont know about you but I really dont think reptiles require yearly vet visits

Provide veterinary care on an annual basis and also when needed to prevent suffering.

I mean come on, I agree that when sick they need to be taken to a vet but yearly? They require no vaccinations or anything that needs to be checked and treated on a regualry schedule such as mammals.

Theres alot of other things in there too but just those should be enough to scare anyone. And lastly we dont know for certain that it was PETA members who wrote and brought this up to the officals. From what I am told it was two people who apraoched Elaine gave her a great sales pitch and she thought that this was going to save all the animal in the state of IL. But I have seen enough that I would bet money that PETA is somehow behind this. The vague language, direct wording etc etc just stinks of PETA or some other humaniacs.

Someone asked about who propsed this
Representative Elaine Nekritz (D)
www.ilga.gov/house/rep.asp?MemberID=1033
Springfield Office:
258-W Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 558-1004
(217) 557-7204 FAX

District Office:
24 S. Des Plaines River Road
Suite 200
Des Plaines, IL 60016
(847) 257-0450
(847) 257-0452 FAX
Cook County

Representative Paul D. Froehlich (R)
www.ilga.gov/house/rep.asp?MemberID=1068
Springfield Office:
232-N Stratton Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-3725
(217) 782-1336 FAX

District Office:
15 W. Weathersfield Way
Schaumburg, IL 60193
(847) 985-9210
(847) 891-8772 FAX
Cook County

Full text can be veiwed here
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=50&GA=94&DocTypeId=HB&DocNum=0707&GAID=8&LegID=15187&SpecSess=&Session=
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Jason & Danica
Don't wanna wait 'til tomorrow Why put it off another day? One by one, little problems Build up, and stand in our way. Oh One step ahead, one step behind it Now ya gotta run to get even Make future plans I'll dream about yesterday, hey! Come on turn, turn this thing around (Right now) Hey! It's your tomorrow (Right now) Come on, it's everything (Right now) Catch your magic moment (Right now) Catch your magic moment Do it right here and now Do it right here and now, IT MEANS EVERYTHING (Van Halen, Right Now)

So am I still waiting for this world to stop hating/Can't find a good reason, can't find hope to believe in/...You can't change the state of the nation we just need/ some motivation...So am I still waiting for this world to stop hating(Sum41 Still Waiting)

Classic Dums frozen feeders

Looking through it initially it doesn't look like a bad law, but then when pointed out it is pretty darn bad..
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

I assume your session has just begun but it is important to get these bills voted down quickly before the make it out of the house or senate(of you respective state). I'm pretty sure bills must be voted on 3 times in each legislative(house/senate) and between each vote they are sent back to committe to tweak them.

It was most effective for us to talk to the committe, our Exotics bill was snuck through so quickly that we only got in on one of them. It was written to ban all transfers of exotics into the state. We brought thousands of signatures against the bill. We were able to get some things added to the bill to protect exotic owners rights, ie private citizen oversite.

There are some portions of the IL bill that I'm sure all of us can agree on but Jason is probably right, they could take this a lot further. Its a smoke screen. Even though you may see some things in the bill as "right", do not let that confuse you. These bills are only used as launching pads to ban ownership of ALL animals. Sounds nutty, I'm sure, but have you ever listened to "the other side". They are truely insane and bent on eliminating private ownership of animals.

A good example would be the bill written for exotics in my state. They have already wrote an addition to this bill for this session which absolves the "grand father clause" and allows the FWP to write the rules pertaining to the exotic commision(this would mean that they won't require citizen oversite to ban animal ownership).

What caught me funny about the IL bill is that they are writing additions to the Animal Welfare Act, that is a federal mandate controlled by the USDA, this could become a real cluster(bleep).

Later-
Matt Schubarth
Pet Nebula

It's seems to me that this law will effect your show my chubby friend. Those auctions that you have that I donate my hard earned het for albino cornsnakes to don't seem to be helping with these new laws. Lol. Next time I'm donating a regular cornsnake if this is the results we get.