Below is a letter from a very serious herp keeper in my neighbour country Norway. Please take a few minutes and hear what he has to say. And PLEASE help your norwegian herp interested friends by signing the petition. -------------------------------------------- Dear Group I am sorry for cross posting this over various mailing lists, forums and bothering you with off topic threads. The below text is a description of the legislation around herptiles in Norway and the implications of getting caught with illegal animals. As You may know, herptiles are illegal to keep, breed, import and export in Norway. Norway is 1 out of 2-3 countries in the world where herptiles are illegal. For what reasons? In Hawaii herptiles are illegal (as far as I understand) because animals who escape from private collections are likely to reproduce and may cause a potential threat to native flora and fauna. This is in my opinion a reasonable reason for banning herptiles in Hawaii. In Norway the situation is totally different, here the winter is long, cold and there are extremely few herptile species that can survive the harsh climatic condition of the Norway. Why reptiles are illegal in my country? Your guess is as good as mine, probably due to prejudice against herptiles from the part of politicians uneducated on the matter. Animals confiscated by the Norwegian government are put to death (perhaps with very rare exceptions in the cases of extremely rare and endangered species). Thursday the police came knocking on my door and all my animals are now considered confiscated. My house is sealed off with police tape and no one is allowed to go into it. On Monday the police will return to my house with the district veterinary to confiscate my animals. At a near point in the future my animals will most likely be put to death and there is little I can do about it except hiring a lawyer and hoping for a miracle. This is not a call for help for my part, but on behalf of herptiles and herpetoculturists in my country. I have started a roll call and hope to gather as many signatures as possible as a peaceful protest protest against the Norwegian government's persecution of herpetoculturists in Norway. I believe that the legislation in my country is wrong and that all herptile species are not unjustifiable to keep as captives. The Norwegian herpetological association has struggled for 12 years to lift the ban on herpetoculture in my country without success so far. We can’t seem to put enough pressure on our government to make things happen. The roll call I have initiated is also a protest and sharp criticism against animals being confiscated and put to death as a consequence of the Norwegian legislation. If you agree that governments shouldn’t be so restrictive as to bann all herpetoculture within a country, please take the time to visit the below link and sign the roll call. http://www.opprop.no/opprop.php?id=befrireptiler Please feel free to pass this post onto other relevant mailinglists and forums so that as as many people as possible may sign this role call if they wish. Again I am sorry to occupy your time with this kind of inquiery, have a nice day. Best regards Vålen Gånev (obeligz) Committee member of the Norwegian Herpetological Association e-mail/msn: obeligz@c2i.net --------------------------------------------
man that is incredibly lame! makes no sense at all... i really hope they can make some headway in this...
Sorry to hear of your losses. I've signed and attached the link to this thread in a post on another site in the hopes of getting more signatures for you. Hope you don't mind.
That is horrible- people who are ignorant of the keeping of herps making such laws is a cime, in my opinion.
Hey guys, thank you SO MUCH for signing!! I agree with you, it's really hard to understand those laws. The animals are still alive and there is a SMALL chance he may get to keep a few, or that a few or all can come to a zoo instead of being put to sleep. This is mostly because the reptiles he owns are very rare. He is a VERY serious herp keeper. He has worked around the clock for the past week, to try and find ways to keep his beloved animals alive. I really, REALLY admire this guy. Wow...the work he does, each and every day... ******************************************************************************** AND PLEASE, I know he really wants to spread this to the whole world, and to get people to sign the petition. So please help him and all norwegian herpers by posting his letter (the one at the beginning of this thread) on forums around the world and spread the word!!
This is an update he wrote himself: http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=433836,439975 and he updates on that forum pretty often if anyone is interested on how it's proceeding.
I hope everything turns out well for his poor animals, and I signed his petition. Let us know how it turns out, -Cristine
i signed it. thats whack that they be doing that. hmm maybe we could all make up names and junk and sign. muwahhahahahha
That is so sad.....I dont know what Id do if they tried to change the laws on us. Sign it if you read it!!
i signed it i cant believe that kind of hooplau, ill see where i can spread taht too on canadian sites
