Hearing to ban non-native species in the USA

This is BS! I already sent in my letter I think all reptile owners should ban together and make our voice heared! here is a copy of the letter I'm sending in.

Hello, my name is Heather Anderson. I am writing this letter over my concerns of two bills that have been introduced into Congress on 1/26/09 and 2/3/09.
H.R. 669 introduced into the House by Rep. Madeleine Bordallo [GU], and S.373 in the Senate introduced by Sen. Bill Nelson [FL]. Making it illegal to own reptiles that are not native to our area.
While I understand the impact of non-native species that are let loose because of someone not being able to care for them any more or simply because the novelty of owning them has wore off. There are still many of us in the reptile community that love and properly care for our reptiles. There are also a lot of responsible breeders that there lively hood is based on these beautiful animals. Shutting down reptile breeders will be putting even more people in financial down fall in this down word economical spiral. You will not only be punishing people who love and care for these animals in financial ruins but it will set off a chain reaction of financial problems. You make owning reptiles illegal, breeders lose there livelihood, next is the impact on pet stores, then the companies that make lighting for reptiles, the people that make substrate for reptiles, the people that raise or make food for reptiles .etc…etc. I ask you to walk into a pet store and look at all the products for reptiles and then you will see just how many companies you will be effecting and how many people that will be out of jobs.
As for the reptiles being responsible for the destruction of our native species. We are the biggest cause of destruction to wildlife habitats. We push animals to the brink of extinction everyday. We tear down their homes to build our own. There are even more irresponsible dog and cat owners who dump there animals that to has a great impact on the environment and safety of a community. For example : The Beach Mouse is an endangered animal in my area. Not only people that keep building condos and beach houses are pushing them closer to extinction but we are also overrun by feral cats that are killing them because of irresponsible pet owners that can no longer care or want their cats. So do we make owning a cat illegal? More feral dogs attack people than reptiles that were let lose in the wild. Instead of pointing fingers and trying to banish reptile ownership, why not pass a law that has stipulations and requirements of owning reptiles. Such as all reptiles sold must be micro chipped and a contract signed stating the proper care and requirements that particular species will require till they are adults. I find many of the people that have unwanted reptiles are simple because they were misinformed of the care and requirements that these animals need throughout there lives. By requiring reptiles be mirco-chipped not only can the irresponsible person be fined and punished, but will also detour people from releasing these animals into the wild.
My other concern is over the fact that people that own reptiles now will not be grandfathered in. I am just one of many people who love there reptiles, the way most people love dogs or cats. I could not imagine my life without them in it, and I think I speak for all of us reptile lovers. If god forbid this law does pass, What will happen to our beloved pets? Most could not go from a home where they are loved and fed everyday and throne into the wild and survive. It sickens me to think that they may all have to be euthanized from no fault of their own or the people who love and care for them. I ask you to please reconsider passing these laws that will not only put more strain on people in an already falling economy but would take away the joy in our lives that these wonderful animals bring to us. To many of us they are not just a novelty or an exotic position but our best friends and companions. They brighten our lives and breath life into us. If you doubt the love and care of reptiles and there owners, take the time to go to the online reptile forums you will see how many of us there are who absolutely adore them and make it a point to help everyone who has a question or concern over there reptile. We take the time out of our day to help and educate people on the proper care for there reptiles because they are so important to us. Don’t punish the people who really love and care for these animals.

Sincerely,

Heather J. Anderson

 

Hi,
I suggest this is posted on every forum, I know it's classed as spamming but everyone needs to know about it and TAKE ACTION like we had to do here in the UK.
The F.B.H. was setup up in 1995 to protect our hobby and promote good reptile keeping.
When new legislation was proposed, we even took it to parliament (your Congress).
They wanted to ban reptile keeping and the organization responsable was the R.S.P.C.A. (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) most of the directors are anti-reptile campainers. Expo's were banned and restricted unless your were a member of a club.
Ok, we are a small country with about 1 million reptile owners, keeping over 5 million reptiles which now out numbers dogs.
By banding together we managed to stop a lot of restrictions.

You guys really need to sit up and take notice, otherwise the hobby will suffer greatly

Setup petitions and bombard Congress, dont loose your right to keep reptiles.

 

I have spent all day on this computer posting on every site I come across from breeders, yahoo groups, pet store, diff reptile supply store sites, other reptile sites and will keep going!!!...even called and emailed my mom and step dad who are not even big reptile people and they typed up a petition that I tried to upload for others to sign and be sent in but it wont let me. If you like I can email it to who ever would like to join in on it. Thank you so much for all your info.

ANYONE who wants more info or to join the patition you may email me at DuTaDuSupermom30@yahoo.com

 

its being talked about on the rat forum i go to. dont get me wrong, i love my reptiles and everything but im really worried about my rats with this, they are my children. what will they do with all the animals that arent legal after this? they wouldnt just put them all down would they?

 

I hope that in the long run they will realize just how much it would cost the government money to ship them back or even god forbid euthanize them! Or the fact that if it did come down to euthanizing them...what they were trying to ovoid would be even greater than they could imagine...I'm sure more than a few reptile owners would much rather keep the illegal or if it came down to it most would prob set them free and prayed they would survive! The fact that the government is so stingier with money unless it has to do with dropping a few mill on a plane might work in our favor.. would be easier and more profitable to them to make reptile owners get a license or take a class before obtaining a license...lord know who would the government would get to hold proper reptile care class...prob some petsmart reject.

 

somebody on the rat forum i go to read the thing and said that it said that whatever animals you already have you can keep but you cant get any more after the ban.
if this does go through i hope that they will make it where people cat get a license decently easily so we can keep owning exotics

also this brings up a question. i dont want to turn this into a debate but im curious, would you set your animals free or would you let the govornment put them down? or would you try to keep them illegaly? again, im not trying to start a debate, im just wondering what some of the members on here would do.

 

I have bearded dragons and would NEVER release them in the wild But I'll be damned if anyone takes them!!! So I guess that means I would keep them illegaly...even if we are grandfathered in breeding and transport of reptiles would not be aloud which means after our guys grow old and passed away we would never be aloud to own them...even if they let us breed but not cross state lines it would cause mass amounts of inbreeeding...nothing good can come from this bill. People that say they will never pass it need to look at how many pets were once ok to have and now are illegal to own. Hell lot's of states you can't own pitt's ....because of stuiped pet owners that gave them a bad rep!

 

im not a fan of breed specific legislation at all. though with any of these animal slaws, most if not all of the time we can blame stupid people

 

One thing I have not done yet is read the law myself. Before I finish composing my letter and send it, I would like to read the law. Is it in the link posted? I have not checked the link myself because this computer is not mine and it does not have the necessary program installed.

Thanks

 

Even if this law does not pass, I am afraid that the sponsers of the law are gaining ground and heading our country in that direction. They are causing people to believe that this law is within their jurisdiction when in fact it is not.

I pulled out a copy of the United States Constitution and read it yesterday.

Article 1 section 8 is a list of jurisdictional areas that Congress can make laws about.

The twelveth amendment then says that any area not specifically given to the federal government belongs to the states.

As I see it, the federal government might have some say about what may or may not be imported; but the rest of the law is unconstitutional.

I think that they want people to get so upset about the limited list of acceptable pets that when they triple the species allowed, and require expensive liscences, then the general public will look at a bad law (which now appears to be more friendly) and agree that it is a good law to pass.

The truth is that a federal law of this sort should not be passed at all!

(Now I just need to read the proposed law for myself so that I can write my letters)

 

actually i think those animals make mess worse if they get loose than reptiles. pigs can row larrge to be like hogzilla (im serious)
and cat and dog threaten many species more.

reptiles will die if they get loose in cold or hot weather

 

america cannot live without their cats and dogs
as for the farm animals, alot of people raise their own animals so they dont have to buy meat, which i think is great because then there is more of a chance of that animal dyeing in a more humane way

outside cats should just be illegal, they do way too much damage to the native species. just my opinion

 

I tried to send the letter from the nohr669 site but there appears to be a problem with that site.

 

Ok try
PIJAC.ORG

or look at my post
HERE
scroll down and you will find a list of addresses to write to.

 

I eventually got it to work.

 

I take huge offense to that. I have been at petsmart in the petcare for 3 years and know how to care for just about every reptile, bird, fish, and small animals. Because of my knowledge, I have gotten a promotion. I have also refused sales of parrots due too neglect, and you assume that someone like myself doesn't care or have any knowledge about animals. I rarely will sell a turtle, because people won't spend 200 dollars for a proper set up and I will not let the company make money off a animal that will suffer. Did it ever occur to you, that maybe people like myself go to petsmart, because we do have knowledge that we try to share?

 

you may be the best employee ever for all we know., his post was not at individual workers but at the petsmart chain as a whole. alot of people have really bad petsmarts in their area, with employees that either dont know what they are doing or dont care. plus not all petsmarts really great care of all its animals, not even the one in my area, which is a pretty good one, is taking care of some of the animals wrong.