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Jennifer O’Connor / Federal snake ban lacks bite

I love peta!
I already replied to this article a while back, not sure if it was on the same website though! I basically said that she had done no research at all, because snakes don't require tedious, technical care, and in fact, far less tedious care than a dog or cat. Since she had ended the article with a "who would want a pet python anyway" remark, I said, "Who would want a dog or a cat? They're loud, shed, cause allergies, and need attention all the time." At the time that I replied, we had a lot of posts on our side. I haven't checked back to see how it's going though.
 
This was in our ""local"' paper today. The Alantic City Press, the comments (write in) section. How old is this artical you think and or where did you see it?
 
I just posted this on that article...

All of this, from someone who is a writer for an organization that murders more animals in their care than actually helps them. If it weren't just for that fact I would not listen to anything you have to say, Jennifer O'Connor. The main reason that I know for a fact you have no idea what you are talking about, is that it is obvious that you have not done any research on what kind of care these animals require to live long healthy lives in captivity. Most snake owners take very good care of their pets. There are only a few who do not. In fact, these are beautiful animals, and while I do not necessarily approve of the taking of animals from the wild to make into pets. Many of these snakes are the products of multiple, sometimes hundreds or thousands of generations that have been bred for the pet industry. So, your argument that t...hese are all "wild" animals, may be right in part, but most of these snakes in captivity are Captive Bred, and not by wild parents, but by parents who are also Captive Bred.

I look at pet ownership in the same light as I look at gun rights, hunting rights, my right to vote, eat, sleep, breathe. It is a right that I as a Veteran have fought for, and seeing groups like yours try to take those rights away, sets my blood boiling. In my opinion, PETA is a terrorist organization. You (organization) have set out to terrorize all pet owners with your animal "rights" activism...

And for you people who believe that animal rights= animal welfare. Look them up in a definition. Welfare means the proper management of the ecosystem and the animals, it includes culling herds, fishing, and other things that animal rights people do not want happening. Animal rights is all for the innate right for an animal to exist in an area, and that it should be left alone, no matter what, by humans. Basically, if there were 24 individuals of a given species left, animal rights people would rather see them die off than be put into a captive breeding program to save the species, so that one day the ecosystem can be restored and the animals may be restored to the area.

These are the same types of people who would rather see the endangered species from Africa (actually extinct in Africa, but thriving in Texas), that we have in Texas, die off, instead of being bred by ranchers so that a few a year can be hunted, and the majority of that money go back into the species.
 
This is what my reply was
"Who needs a pet cat? Or dog? There's no reasonable answer for that. Especially with the vast number of people that are mauled by dogs every year. Snakes make great pets. For those of us with allergies to furry "cute" animals, scalebabies are way up on the list of pets to have- ESPECIALLY snakes. Snakes eat once a week, larger ones, such as the burmese python, eat once every 3-4 weeks. This makes them very easy and cheap pets to keep (where on EARTH did you hear that they are expensive?? A frozen mouse costs less than a buck! And frozen rabbits are about $10). The fact that snakes avoid people is another reason they make wonderful pets. You can set them up in a nice vivarium (or a snake rack, I use both) and leave them alone. This makes them great pets for the busy student, the family on the go, the late night worker, everyone! They have very, very simple care- especially snakes. Snakes do not need UV lighting, as they gain all their calcium from eating whole prey animals. Over all, their husbandry requirements are far simpler than that of a cat or a dog. All a snake needs is either a heat light, or a heat pad, both found readily available at petco or petsmart, and a thermostat to ensure that the temperature does not get too hot. Nothing complex, tedious, nor technical about that. Those of us that breed and sell reptiles don't make that much money- it's nothing that one could live off of. We breed them because we love these animals and want to share them with others. I am not sure where you got your information on the shipment of reptiles, as it sounds more like those would be illegally smuggled animals, versus the captive bred and born animals that we love. I, for one, have had several reptiles shipped to me from across the country. They are shipped over night in insulated boxes that either contain a heated or a cooled pack, weather depending, to keep the animals at a stable temperature. You also mention the mammal decline in the Everglades, as well as the recently released study, which NEVER stated that the snakes were responsible for the declines- there is a lot of other factors going on there. Why focus on these beautiful animals and blame them for destruction of the Everglades when thousands of acres of the swamps are being drained everyday for construction? If these are people's escaped or released pets, then where are all the morphs? It has been proven time and time again that the snakes that are loose in the Everglades are all related to animals that escaped a breeding facility during the destruction of Hurricane Andrew in 96. The Lacey Act was not the way to go, now those of us who choose to have scalebabies over furbabies are going to become felons, placed along side murderers and rapists, simply because we refuse to leave behind our scalebabies or kill them. Just because someone finds snakes to be "creepy" shouldn't mean that they are banned. I find rats creepy, but many people love them- just like reptiles. Please do some research before you write an article."
 
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