July 24 deadline for constrictor comments is looming...

[kathylove]

You may think that because you only keep corns, kings, ball pythons, geckos, etc, that you are immune to the proposed ban on reticulated pythons, anacondas, and boa constrictors. MAKE NO MISTAKE! This agenda is pushed by the animal rights activists at HSUS and by other AR extremists. Their plan is to eventually ban ALL pets, and ALL use of animals for any reason. The "giant snake" ban is just a push to dispose of the easy, low hanging fruit. Each success will lead them to go for the next level. All reptiles will be easier to gain public acceptance than going straight for cute puppies and kittens. Those will be among the last targeted - easier once all of the other pet keepers have been silenced. Even a short comment will help if it is laced with common sense logic, and kept CIVIL - no matter how frustrated you feel.

I am posting my rather long comment in full. If you want to snip any bits and pieces of it while writing your own, then feel free. JUST DO IT - AND SOON! I have posted the info of where to post at the bottom of my post. It may not show up as a link, so you might have to copy it and paste it into your browser. Please post a reply when you have done your bit to advance our cause! Thanks!

I finally did it - posted my comments about the newest proposal to ban more constrictors. Even though it is just one of a never ending pile of proposed bans and regulations, everyone should at least write a short comment so they can see we are not TOTALLY worn down by the AR agenda yet. And we still can vote. Here is the comment I wrote:


Banning the interstate transportation of tropical snakes that can only survive in small areas of extreme southern Florida will NOT accomplish the stated goals of stemming invasive species throughout the United States. It is a Florida problem, and Florida has already regulated species it considers a potential problem.

Boa constrictors have been established in a small area in south Florida for about 30 - 40 years and have not been able to extend their range beyond the Deering estate. And boas are also native to northern Mexico, but have not been able to extend their range into the US. So it is especially illogical to include boas on a list of prohibited species. Reticulated pythons and all anacondas are just as tropical and should be regulated only by Florida, or other individual states that feel the need to do so. Escaped pets of these species are fairly rare, and would not survive winter outside of south Florida, anyway. Serious injuries are very rare compared to those caused by domestic animals. And no fatality due to any large constrictor has ever been recorded outside of the household or business facility of the owner in the US. So irrational fears of innocent bystanders suffering serious injury are totally baseless. There is no logical reason for federal involvement on this issue - it is a state issue only. This is about MORE than just whether somebody likes snakes or not. It is about sacrificing any freedom to pursue one's own brand of happiness without accomplishing an important goal that would truly benefit the "public good". And federal implementation of this ban will NOT accomplish any real and important public benefit that balances the price paid in the loss of freedom of those affected.

The only accomplishments such a ban will produce is to deprive pet owners of their pets if they must move to another state, even if they are military members REQUIRED to move, to deprive businesses of their livelihood and investments if such animals are an important part of their business, and to make criminals of pet owners who decide to defy an illogical law and who don't give up their pets when they move out of their state. Since southern Florida is the only state that could be affected by escaped pets of these species, a lot of freedom would be lost for residents of the rest of the unaffected states. All of the loss of freedom is for no reason other than to appease animal rights activists who don't like the idea of animals in captivity, and are using this as a ruse to further their agenda - or to appease those with irrational and baseless fears about such animals sharing the country with those who hate or fear them. Those are not good reasons to take away freedoms in our pursuit of happiness.

Please don't make those residing in places such non-tropical places as Nebraska, Montana, or Idaho sacrifice their freedoms because of the tropical climate enjoyed by Floridians! Please let this issue be settled where it belongs - with each individual state government.


Comments must be submitted at www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FWS-R9-FHC-2008-0015-4570 or by visiting www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FWS-R9-FHC-2008-0015-4570 and clicking Comment Now! in the upper right.
www.regulations.gov
REGULATIONS.GOV

 

[Shaggy]

Thanks for the heads-up!
I just registered my comment.

 

[Amanda47]

Are you saying dogs and cats will be banned as pets?

 

[bryanb]

Are you saying dogs and cats will be banned as pets?

These people want all pets including livestock to be banned. They want the world to be vegan animalless farmers.

 

[bryanb]

I tend to not do this type of thing even when I really want to for fear of sounding like a fool. However with a little help I would be more than willing to post. My main thought on this is saying boa constrictor is like saying house dog there are so many in a lots of sizes and shapes. Between the ten sub species they can range from 4-12 feet. I am partial to mine the BCL and the are huge at 7 feet more often 5.5-6 feet but that isn't the point.

 

[kathylove]

Amanda47 - BryanB is correct. The animal rights groups such as HSUS will not scream about their ENTIRE agenda of getting rid of ALL animal use (pets, food, seeing eye dogs, research, etc) YET, because their donors are mostly misguided animal lovers who think their money is going towards helpless cats and dogs in shelters. Most would not donate if they knew the true agenda. But if you want to find out what they REALLY think, just look up quotes from former and current bigwigs at HSUS and other animal rights organizations. They have made quotes about ending all domestic animals in one generation (neuter them all and there will be no more when the current generation dies), among other quotes that would surprise most reasonable people. If you read a couple of dozen quotes from prominent people in those groups, you will have a good idea of their true agenda. Even some herpers send in donations, not realizing that HSUS is totally against ANY reptiles as pets. You can read more about our enemy on my site, here: http://www.cornutopia.com/Corn Utop...G ENEMY Cornutopia corn snakes cornsnakes.htm


The HSUS published a BOOK {>>>} in 2001 - a persuasive political ploy disguised as a 'scientific report'. It was freely distributed to all U.S. governmental regulatory bodies to sway them to help their cause. This is how donation money sent to the HSUS is put to 'good' use. The last paragraph of the entire 'study' sums up their position:

"Finally, we recommend that [government] regulatory bodies put an end to the reptile trade: State and local authorities are encouraged to ban the commercial collection of reptiles to protect wild populations of reptiles and ban the sale of reptiles as PETS to the general public in order to protect human health..."

KNOW YOUR ENEMY!!!!

 

[kathylove]

BryanB - if you want to post your comment here, first, I am sure we could help proof it for you and make suggestions if it needs any. Then you could submit it on the official site for all to see.

 

[Alli_Draggy]

I submitted mine.

 

[Nanci]

Do you think anyone even reads them? Or is it just like, 5000 crazy snake people want us to vote yes and 10 million Americans want to protect their children. I don't think there's anyone who listens to reasoning.

 

[kathylove]

I generally agree, Nanci. BUT - I do remember my very first time that I ever sent a letter of protest to the feds. It was in the late '70s, if I remember correctly. They were proposing an injurious wildlife ban that would have given us a white / clean list of a few token pets while banning EVERYTHING not on the list (similar to the proposal that surfaced a couple of years back). This was before the Internet, so we all had to write letters. We did overwhelm the ban supporters with our protest letters. And I do remember reading a gov't response that tallied up the pro and con letters. And they did withdraw the proposal - at least for then.

Of course, that was back in the old days before lobbyists and special interests were as big and important as they are now. So I honestly don't know if our comments will help or not. But at least we can feel that we tried to do what we can. It doesn't cost anything and can be done in as little as a few minutes if you want to keep it short. (Mine took a little longer, lol!). So considering the "price", why not do what we can?

 

[kathylove]

BTW, I did go on the gov't site and glanced through the most recent 400 or so comments. It appeared that on every page of 25 comments, about 1 - 2 supported the ban and the rest were against it. So we are way ahead so far. Let's keep it that way. It is possible that they (gov't workers) read only far enough to see if the comment is pro or con, and just tally them up that way.