Reptile & Amphibian Forums

?didn't hear about this until today. The last Hamburg show had a bust ? Seems the Pa fish comm. busted all people with ""Native"" reptiles.....native as in any species or sub-species of copperhead...even broad banded (southern ,Trans-Pecos too) ..saying copperhead is native and illegal...Heard the same with any painted turtle . Heard they are going to go for ANY "milksnake" next...any...as in any of the 26 ssp...saying milks are milks?...

YET the amel black rats are legal...even though they are exactly black ratsnakes / Allegheny ratsnakes, yet a "morph"

....heard they didn't check any lisences or permits for anything just went after the copperheads.

next thing you know it will be legal to ship retics and not Burmese.....cough....

Government.....(look under retarded in the dictionary)
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........JY

I am thinking (hoping anyway) that someone through the "grape vine" there was talking completely out of their arse. How on earth could those clowns (or anyone else) ever consider a captive-bred Stuart's Milksnake (L.t.stuarti) or Pueblan Milksnake (L.t.campbelli) anything even remotely CLOSE to being "native fauna" like PA's indigenous Eastern triangulum???? (major triple face palm).

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com/index.htm

It's just a way to make money and present the idea that they are doing an important job by stopping "illegal wildlife trade."

We had a "bust" several years ago in Columbus, OH. It costs a lot of money to pay authorities to set up a "sting" operation and then make a public "bust."

So to justify the waste of taxpayer's money, they need to expand what is considered "native." In Ohio, Italian Wall Lizards are considered native and albino as well as hybrid forms of reptiles are treated as native animals. This greatly expands the number of people who can be fined, while the people the laws are intended to stop (those catching wild herps and then selling them) go on with their regularly scheduled routine.

Afterwards the Division of Wildlife sends out a misleading press release about the criminals they caught who are dealing in "rare" and "expensive" snakes, when they're really just hobbyist breeders of Honduran morphs or Black Rat Snake morphs. But the slant that is presented is that these hobbyists are "stealing" snakes from the wild and making a lot of money doing it.

I get that turtle populations are declining in a lot of places and some reptiles do need protection. But as far as I can see, most of these state-run regulations are a scam to make money and promote themselves - not protect wildlife.

Tim

Sadly, that is the true reality of how their "smoke & mirrors" game all ACTUALLY works. The book cover portrays one thing to be eaten up by the unknowing general public while the pages of the true agenda are cloaked in pure BS to keep the wheels turning smoothly.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com/index.htm

I agre with everything you said except they aren't really "making" money. The cost of the busts are always exponentially more than any fines that get collected. They are just making themselves look more neccessary so that they can recieve more funding. It is a shame because they are actually neccessary for some things but this sounds rediculous.
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www.hcu-tx.org/