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Update on Senate Bill 1032 in North Carolina

William, contact Tom Houdak from scales and tails website. He is here in NY state, and led the fight for a similar bill. Also contact the Burkes who also were right hands in this fight. We lost our big Boids and monitors here in NY state but we were able to get the bill amended to allow Boas. Good luck , Andy Federico

AJF Reptiles

to let our voices be heard. The sponsor of the NC bill is affiliated with a few different groups that want to drastically limit our freedom to keep and breed the animals we all share a very profound fondness for. I think the unified voice of reason from all fellow reptile keepers needs to be heard once and for all. A majority of US citizens have little idea and even less concern of what it means to us who keep reptiles, and have been led to believe, by a group of fanatics with a political agenda, that we are endangering the public safety of the average American. ANYONE who keeps reptiles inherently knows how false and misleading the statements of groups,like PETA, have been but have remained largely silent. History has taught us that our silence in the political arena means "implied consent" to leglislation like the proposed NC ban.

I, for one, do NOT consent to this type of legislation and offer whatever assistance you need, Gray, to stop this from becoming law!

Denny Rimes

Hey Drimes, I think you have some great posts, but I really do not think that people realize the agenda of the animal rights groups.

So I thought I would share a little more...

I am about as anti animal rights as a person can get, ...I hope everyone reading can understand that animal rights is not about loving and caring for your animals...

Animal Rights is about giving human qualities to animals...thereby threatening our rights to keep them captive in any way!

My wife and I were at my Dads house the other night and he was watching a show called animal cops...I was amazed how they were showing the SPCA going in and taking peoples animals and just getting away with it.... Now I understand, there are alot of people keeping snakes in their clothes dressers and all kinds of horrible conditions, and animals laying in dung for years...that has got to be rectified yes, but these groups are the ones playing the police, and they are the very crooks!

Again education is what will allow us to keep and breed our boas ...Education!

Andy

It is definately time to put our stupid differences aside and come together as a community and try to come up with some solutions! As you know gray, being from Tennessee this is really close to home. Those guys at PETA and other Animal Rights organizations, can have " what they think " are good convictions for doing something like this, BUT the end result will be showing that alot of real thought never went into it. Do they think that all of the Boids being baned will come out of peoples homes and go to Zoos or be taken back to the wild for release? Or will they approve a one time DISPOSAL of all the captive Boids in North Carolina! Here is the thing; " I agree with trying to find ways to make captive animals be treated with love and kindness, but that is were we have to try and come up with another solution. If this is really about safety, " Then they need to band the ownership of any animal that could be labeled as a predator. " More people are killed by Pit Bulls and Rotts and Chows, than they ever have been by large Boids and that tells you what the real motive behind these BANS are; Money and Power and sheer Boredome of politics needing something to do! If these guys want to do something worthwhile, then they should work to help congress pass a Bill that would outlaw any and all IMPORTS from being brought into the country. That, ALONE would save millions of animals and I mean Reptiles and Birds and Mammals and even fish!! They do not do it, because Mr. Jebster Bushy Wushy said Himself that 30% of Floridas revenue was from the Exotic Animal Trade! Good luck Gray and I am working on some things right now, we will talk again soon.......Johnson Herp

First of all has there EVER been a Death in the U.S. caused by a boa constrictor or a monitor lizard? I dont think there has been ever. With the millions and millions that have been imported and bred in the U.S. that really says something about the safety of these animals. Someone needs to show these people the facts on dog bites and deaths caused by dogs, horses etc. so they can see that our reptiles are pretty much not a threat to anyone. As far as I know there has NEVER been a death attributed to a boa constrictor in the U.S. in fact I believe our pets are far safer to keep for our neighbors sake then a dog. I will go even further. Can anyone find any information on a NEIGHBOR being bitten, or attacked by someone elses boa constrictor? Id be curious to know that. I bet it is zero! So has there ever been a death of an individual not owning a python or boa in the entire history of the United States? Id probably have to say never as well. So who are they protecting these reptiles from? We need to fight propoganda with facts!

This info comes from Melissa Kaplans site:

Some Facts on Human Deaths in the United States

©1993 Philippe de Vosjoli, The Vivarium, 4(4):35. Expanded information by Melissa Kaplan

- Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States seeks medical attention for a dog bite–related injury.

- During 1979–1998, dog attacks killed more than 300 Americans.

- Nearly 800,000 people sought medical care for dog bites in 1994; half of them were children under 18.

From the CDC Injury Factbook: Dog Bites

Human Deaths Caused By Animals

Animal Type
Per Year

Horses1
219

Dogs2
14

Reticulated pythons
0.3

Burmese pythons
0.1

Other pythons
0.0

Boa constrictors
0.0

Other boas
0.0

Human Deaths by Accidents

Type of Accident
Per Year (avg. 1986-88)

Motor vehicles5
48,411

Firearms5
1464

Drowning during sports/recreation5
1030

Domestic wiring and appliances5
131

Estimated human injuries by Horses in US in 1991: 71,4906

Additional Information

Number of dog bites reported in Contra Costa County, CA in 1996: 4007

From DogBiteLaw.com
35% of US homes have dogs
80% of all animal bites are from dogs
900 dog bite victims are treated in emergency rooms every day

Per the CDC, there are over 4.7 million dog bites a year (nearly 2% of the U.S. population); 800,000 of them serious enough to require hospitalization