Federal Ban Coming

This was posted this morning on another forum by USARK:

USARK & Reptile Nation Save 5 of 9 species from FWS Constrictor Rule!

USARK & Reptile Nation Save 5 of 9 species from FWS Constrictor Rule!
This morning a joint press conference was held by Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, Interior Dept Director, Ken Salazar; and US Fish & Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe at Everglades National Park (ENP) to make an Everglades conservation and preservation announcement. It was made public that a final rule would be enacted by FWS potentially restricting trade in 9 constricting snakes. Although there had been no word from FWS or White House oversight officials prior to the press conference, Andrew Wyatt CEO USARK, learned of a “rumor” on the “HILL” that there would be an announcement regarding the Constrictor Listing; a listing of 9 constricting snakes to the Injurious Wildlife list of the Lacey Act. This is an action that could destroy $104 million per year in small business while potentially making more than 1 million Americans into Lacey Act felons. This action has now come to pass; albeit in a more limited fashion than was pushed by FWS and the powerful environmental and animal rights lobby.

As of now the Constrictor Rule, when enacted, will BAN the IMPORT and INTERSTATE TRANSPORT of the following 4 species: Burmese python, Northern African python, Southern African python and yellow anaconda.

USARK will be making further announcements regarding potential legal remedy to the flagrant disregard for “science”, due process, or information quality standards by FWS and the Obama Administration. This is a clear example of policy being based on staff preference combined with political considerations, rather than clear science and due process. The FWS failed at every level to make a solid case for justifying a Lacey Act listing. How the White House can justify this train wreck of a rule to pass is a mystery. In the opinion of USARK the actions of FWS are arbitrary, capricious and unlawful. That is not a charge that is unfamiliar to FWS. In 2010 FWS scientists were found guilty of falsifying information to manufacture science to support a rule on the Delta Smelt in the Central Valley of California. FWS was found guilty of being “arbitrary, capricious and unlawful" in their effort to add the controversial fish to the Endangered Species Act. USARK will pursue available legal remedy to this travesty of justice and blatant misuse of the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act was the wrong tool for the wrong reason.

For questions and comments, please email
USARK.Jonathan.Brady@gmail.com
JOIN USARK! http://www.usark.org/join.php

i don't want to see any animal banned. however, i'm wondering why they felt it necessary to ban only the smaller yellow anaconda. i know that they tend to be more aggressive than their larger cousins but they don't get very big in comparison to the other species listed. this sucks for a lot of people in the hobby. i hope one day the government will wake up and realize that the general public only needs guidance and not full on restriction.

pk, this isn't directed at you but your post gives me the chance to say what's been bottled up since this started

Quote :

i hope one day the government will wake up and realize that the general public only needs guidance and not full on restriction.

No, this is the problem The American government does NOT provide "guidance" to the general public. The Soviet goverment, The ruling Communist party of China, and the militant Islam Republic in Iran provide "guidance" to their citizens. The role of the American government is simple, to protect it's citizen's rights and property. There is NO other government role provided for by the founding fathers and the constitution.

I am going to stop here before I cross the line into politics (although everyone should take a good close look at who is sponsoring most of these bans and use it in their voting criteria if it is a large enough issue to you) but both parties in today's government only vote in order to give themselves more money and power. It is the American public that must wake up at what is happening, not the government.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin

i totally agree i just didn't want to cross that line either. in light of recent legislation i thought that would be the best way to convey the point. unfortunately, the basic rights of americans have been jeopardized by the people who would allow these "guidances." also unfortunate is the fact that while this ban does affect a large portion of the population we as reptile keepers are still a minority in the eyes of the government as well as our fellow americans who choose not to keep these wonderful creatures. i truly believe that this type of legislation will work its way up the line until the tables turn and "they" try to encroach on the majority's rights. i wonder if the founders of this country would have made distinction between owning a snake or owning a gun. i truly believe the root of this problem comes from the average citizen being "guided" by certain people in "power" who will sacrifice a few to "please" the uninformed. just my 22 cents.

Completely agree with you!

I am so angry right now that I can barely type. Honestly I think I will just have to go to bed. Heard some very disturbing news about additions to the Lacey act...very confused. Ugh ugh ugh.

Glad I got my burm today

Sign this online petition.

https://www.change.org/petitions/over-turn-the-python-ban-over-turn-the-python-ban-from-1-17-12#

ive signed God knows how many petitions and sent them out to everyone i know. ive been debating with people for the past 2 days trying to convince them to sign it and how this ban isnt a good thing..... but people are just too damn ignorant

Here is Kevin from NERD's take on the Federal Ban. It's definitely worth watching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oss_2ToN6_0

i agree on the ignorance. i've been using the encroachment of rights argument (if they can take ur snakes they can take ur car, guns, oil, business etc...). i've noticed if the people i have approached consider themselves patriots to any degree the choice is easy.

Jabberwocky Dragons wrote:

Here is Kevin from NERD's take on the Federal Ban. It's definitely worth watching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oss_2ToN6_0

ive watched and reposted this video

pksnipr wrote:

i agree on the ignorance. i've been using the encroachment of rights argument (if they can take ur snakes they can take ur car, guns, oil, business etc...). i've noticed if the people i have approached consider themselves patriots to any degree the choice is easy.

thats the only argument they will kinda listen to, but they are in their own worlds thinking that the government wont go that far..... yeah right.

Were also battling even if it goes through it wont effect me syndrome. It will effect a lot of thing, think about rodent prices, and general reptile supplies. You don't think there prices wont go up when there sales drop. So if your reading this and haven't click the link to sign the partition do it now. Or your next pet my be a hamster!

Here is another good petition to sign:

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/overturn-python-ban/4wGFbc4Y#thank-you=p

I hope the link works, lol. It was giving me a headache trying to get my iPad to copy it.

I am personally against the ban, but lets not forget why this ban is being put in place because some people are simply irresponsible. The Burm problem in florida is serious, we all love our own pets because we love animals, but what about the animals in our own backyard ?our own precious species some only located in the everglades that are being eradicated by the invading alien snake population with no natural predators and an abundance of food theese snakes are becoming a huge problem to the ecosystem in the everglades. Its truly sad that so many people were ignorant for so long about the effect of releasing a huge snake into the wild >>>> with no natural predators one should have thought the numbers will only rise . Government guidance should be put into place to make it harder to get burms and other pythons they want to ban which would make it easier to track and focus more responsibility in education. Unfortunately we may be past the point of just education when it comes to the python invasion of the everglades , and politicians cant control people but they can control what they are allowed to have and since they cant personally stop people from letting their pets go free in the wild. They can try to keep them from coming in at all and its a shame. This is something we seen happen many times before in history a foreign species comes in and recks havoc and then has to be dealt with.
Ignorance is only bliss if you're the one who is ignorant

This is simply incorrect. Have you the research put forward in support of this bill? Here is a nicely phrased summary from USARK

Quote :

Criticized by scientists from around the world, the Constrictor Report (Reed and Rodda, 2009) is NOT a peer-reviewed scientific document. It is an internal report authored by strongly biased USGS biologists with demonstrable vested financial and professional interests in the outcome. After a review of the report, a panel of 11 independent experts from the National Geographic Society, University of Florida, Texas A&M, and others stated in a letter to the US Senate Environmental & Public Works Committee that this report was “not scientific”, and “not suitable as the basis for regulatory legislative policy decisions”

Outdoor cats and pigs are far more dangerous for the ecosystem. Can you imagine the government starting with banning cats? Scary snakes are easy political points for Senator Nelson and all others who HSUS donates election money to. This has very little to do with the relatively limited number of burmese "destroying" the everglades.

Here is the USARK link for the above quote:

http://www.usark.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=314

And here is the actual in house paper used to support this ban

http://www.fort.usgs.gov/products/publications/pub_abstract.asp?PubID=22691

I have read several parts of it myself and found the scientific evidence extremely weak and the conclusions completely unsupported.

i understand your point however, when we as a people give up any small % of rights we make it that much easier for the government to take even more. the irresponsibility of others should not be a fulcrum for the government to leverage my rights from me. if that were the case then just because some idiot does a drive by on a school our guns should be taken away? because a Lamborghini causes more emissions than a focus u shouldn't be able to own one? i am not trying to take a shot at u personally and i do want to preserve the ecosystem in the everglades. i am just not willing to give up my "American" rights for the sake of some politician who is looking for a platform for reelection who cannot even provide decent evidence that these species pose the threat they want u to believe. there was a time when Caucasian males such as myself were considered an invasive species to the native americans who once inhabited this land. there are so many other topics "OUR" tax dollars could be used to ammend but "politicians" are "smart" enough to know the majority's fears and concerns no matter their relevance to society.

Hey i dont think any of you understood when i said in the first place i do not support the ban i mean lets just get real and face some of the facts that we dont like as well , this subject is dear to all of us bc before my son came i also had some burms and had to give them up but i did so resposibly and i made sure it was a forever home what im saying is we cant throw stones at the government without rounding up the people who help get this ban pushed by being irresponsible and throwing stones at them too

Also U.S. customs has been doing it for years seizing certain fruits with bugs and aninamls consider an invading or alien species so the truth is and i dont even like it its already being done in certain cases and now the are trying to get more restrictive and in certain states since idiots did do drive bys and had to many killing cities like NY you cant have a gun at all so yeah what im saying is idiots will always mess things up and they too have to be held accountable thats it i hate this bill bc i couldnt wait till my sont got older and got some lavender sunsrise and as for the outdoor pigs n dogs they have natural predators to keep their population in check

"Idiots" can be held accountable through permits and other regulations that are already in place. The ban is not necessary to curb the mistakes of "idiots," seeing as there are even MORE idiots involved in allowing cats and dogs to breed freely. Litters of puppies and kittens LITTER our nation, but because they have FUR and can be called CUTE, so far a ban has not been considered against them (other than specific dog species like the pit bull...). That burms are "dangerous to the environment" is merely a face issue put forth to gain the sympathy of the public. I believe the reasons behind the ban run farrrrrrr deeper than the "danger of the species" that have been outlawed...sort of like how the Iraq war was about "terrorism" on the face of it but even deeper was actually about oil prices and money.

Just my 2 cents. DNA testing shows that a majority of the burms in the Everglades are not released pets, but animals related to zoo animals that got out after hurricane Ivan! Just saying.

I agree with everyone your all making some valid points and i would vote for you guys should you choose to run for election
except for the hamster part. I dont like them very much

allaboutthekings wrote:

........except for the hamster part. I dont like them very much

LMAO, they are pure evil!!

thats is what really is needed. on a serious note, USARK needs to help fund a few people that are herp/exotic keepers or their spouses to get elected to a national office. That is the only way this bull will stop.

lol @ b_rickard i completely agree i adimantly oppose the bill becuase i support my freedoms and being in the military going on deployments having to give up all your freedoms for months on end is no fun hearing that the government i help defend wants to take away our right to have animals we love around us is bs and i didnt know about the Hurricane Ivan fact and its a fact Im sure WAY too many people dont know as well thnks