ATTENTION US CITIZENS: Congress to BAN ALL HERPS ON APRIL 23

Everyone, this is important! Congress is trying to slip this through under everyone's noses to BAN all exotic non-native species, including most reptiles (parrots, etc), BAN ownership of them, BAN interstate trade of them, BAN their international trade, etc.

Aside from the obvious heart-ache that this would cause all of us, it would have greater consequences for this already ailing economy. Think of all the vets out there that that specialize in this business...think of all the breeders out there who make their living from this business....think of the pet stores that carry their products...think about the expos, just how much money this trade generates and how many jobs are provided by this industry.

Furthermore, I urge you to think about the pets...this is probably based on faulty reasoning just like all previous attempts. First, that, in our case, reptile owners are likely to let their pet out into the wild. How often does this really happen? Think of the number of reptile owners versus the few fools who let their animals into the wild for whatever reason? I know I take VERY good care of my reptiles and other exotics and would NEVER let them out into the wild because they are dear to my heart! Second, it's based on the notion that exotics can harm humans and other animals. This probably includes the whole salmonella thing. When was the last time you contracted salmonella from your reptile? You are more likely to get it from eating improperly cooked chicken then anything else!

If the government can take this away from us, what will they take next?

We need to do something FAST. We need to show them our numbers! They are meeting on April 23rd, 2009. I am open to ideas here!

Pijac Site W/ Link to the Topic
http://pijac.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=175

A Nice Summation by Pijac:
http://www.pijac.org/files/public/US_HR_669.pdf

THE BILL ITSELF:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h669ih.txt.pdf

There's other sites too:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-669
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.asp ... s&tid=2982
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h669/show
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1659457,1659457
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/sh ... R_669.html
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=230948
http://www.govit.com/vote/comments.aspx ... 009-hr-669
http://www.pethobbyist.com/sitenews/ind ... -pets.html
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/sh ... p?t=188837
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/The-We ... esson-Bill
http://www.tegutalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=3675
RUN a google search on "HR669 petition" to find petitions that you can sign.
JOIN the Facebook page dedicated to the opposition of HR669: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=86144566696&ref=mf
JOIN USARK.ORG to sign a petition to prevent pythons from being added to the Lacey Act.

you should read this thread too

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=102825&hilit=

or this one

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=101815&p=793415&hilit=illegal+to+own#p793415

GoFast":cd8d7 said:

you should read this thread too

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=102825&hilit=

or this one

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=101815&p=793415&hilit=illegal+to+own#p793415

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Thanks for this! I did not see these...although I think right now the more the better for getting everyone's attention.

Again, we really need to show our numbers. We ALL need to write petitions and letters to our local media outlets, our congressman, etc. If you look at the last page of this link, you will see many people whom you can contact or put pressure on:

http://www.pijac.org/files/public/US_HR_669.pdf

...and get this...this lead on this bill is FROM GUAM of all places...argh!

i agree!!

This is from a member of Tegutalk.org

Click the link and sign them ALL!!
http://www.google.com/search?q=hr66...ent-ff&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGGL,GGGL:2006-22,GGGL:en

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http://iherp.com/Public/Blog/Detail.aspx?uid=12880

Also - someone makes a good point on this. Even if you don't have time, write TWO sentences to your local congressman just to get your voice heard that you don't support this. They need to see numbers. To them numbers = votes.

Not something I can do anything about I do not live in the states thankfully. Well thankfully in the way if the worst does happen it won't happen to me. Sorry if I sound insensitive I do feel bad for everyone on this site in the states owning a beardie or any other reptile or exotic. Which exotic is really anything that is not dog or cat.

Breathe deeply : ) This is still in Committee. It is a long (long long) way from being approved, never mind that it doesn't ban all herps. Write at will, but don't get overly worked up.

Talked to 2 people. My reptile expert and a person who had this to say
"HR669 has died more than once so I don't see this as a major problem. If you read the bill's full text there is greater concern placed on the importation than the current ownership of the animals. Also it has just been sent to committee so we are a long way from anything happening."
So those of us who currently own will NOT be affected, if it were to pass,according to my reptile person. They are more worried about the remaining importation issues,etc.)
I am not going to get upset about something that is only in stage 1 of the voting process. They may vote on the 23rd but it has several more areas it needs to go thru before getting passed'

munchkins9802":f0823 said:

Talked to 2 people. My reptile expert and a person who had this to say
"HR669 has died more than once so I don't see this as a major problem. If you read the bill's full text there is greater concern placed on the importation than the current ownership of the animals. Also it has just been sent to committee so we are a long way from anything happening."
So those of us who currently own will NOT be affected, if it were to pass,according to my reptile person. They are more worried about the remaining importation issues,etc.)
I am not going to get upset about something that is only in stage 1 of the voting process. They may vote on the 23rd but it has several more areas it needs to go thru before getting passed'

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The bill does grandfather in people:

(f) ANIMALS OWNED LAWFULLY PRIOR TO PROHIBI7
TION OF IMPORTATION.—This Act and regulations issued
8 under this Act shall not interfere with the ability of any
9 person to possess an individual animal of any species if
10 such individual animal was legally owned by the person
11 before the risk assessment is begun pursuant to subsection
12 (e)(3), even if such species is later prohibited from being
13 imported under the regulations issued under this Act.

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HOWEVER, any future pet acquisitions will have to be done underground...and it is ONE STEP in the WRONG DIRECTION. It infringes on our rights and happiness. In my opinion, and this may be incendiary, government is getting a little too big here. Instead of worrying about real issues, such as our ailing economy, lawmakers would rather play around with making rules that would cause more harm to the economy. As current animals die off, jobs would start shrinking since there would be less need for pet stores and vets. ...and what about the breeders who make their livelihood off of this?

...and think about the tax ramifications!

One major problem with this bill is that it is going to make it very difficult to approve any animal because the rule is too vague, has too limited of a timeline, etc. It'll be difficult to own any exotic in this case.

While I understand the process that it takes for a bill to become a law, and that it can be a somewhat lengthy matter, it's important for the buck to stop here! Why wait until it's too late?

sixxmum":c0583 said:

Breathe deeply : ) This is still in Committee. It is a long (long long) way from being approved, never mind that it doesn't ban all herps. Write at will, but don't get overly worked up.

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It's not about getting worked up; it's about making a stronger stance against this bill. If they are going to come back every year and rewrite it...we need to come back every year stronger as well.

According to my husband and the reptile person I know, If you read it in its entirety, it may be harder to buy one IF this bill passes (which it probably won't---they have tried to pass this one many times over the last 15 yrs). It will NOT affect those who ALREADY own the said herps listed (or not listed). So, you will not be asked to give up your beloved pet, but you might now be able to own another one.
Again, only one part of congress is voting on the 23rd and there are 5 more steps after that before it can even be considered passed
So, I will not be worrying unless it gets to step 6

munchkins9802":f2a28 said:

According to my husband and the reptile person I know, If you read it in its entirety, it may be harder to buy one IF this bill passes (which it probably won't---they have tried to pass this one many times over the last 15 yrs). It will NOT affect those who ALREADY own the said herps listed (or not listed). So, you will not be asked to give up your beloved pet, but you might now be able to own another one.
Again, only one part of congress is voting on the 23rd and there are 5 more steps after that before it can even be considered passed
So, I will not be worrying unless it gets to step 6

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Right - we are grandfathered in. BUT ... 10 years later...our beardies are dead, and we are not allowed to get more.

It's not only about the importation, it's about the interstate trade of them as well as being allowed to breed them.

The thing with this bill is that it has more support THIS year than in the last years. It has 10 sponsors, plus it has big special interest groups.

Here is a link from kingsnake for a petition to sign...

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/usarkHR6311/index.html

ghr15":9c7b9 said:

Not something I can do anything about I do not live in the states thankfully. Well thankfully in the way if the worst does happen it won't happen to me. Sorry if I sound insensitive I do feel bad for everyone on this site in the states owning a beardie or any other reptile or exotic. Which exotic is really anything that is not dog or cat.

Click to expand...

Don't be so sure that this could not happen to you. A re-vamp off all exotic species was just done in BC in March, with no word from the people at all. A lot of species were banned, very recently, including some pythons and boas. Beardies were also talked about being on that list, thankfully they were not.

To the US citizens, I really hope this ban does not go on a whole scope of exotic pets. As I said it just happened in my Province and they basically banned anything poisonous, dangerous, endangered or anything that can get over 9 and a half feet. If you happen to own one of these animals on the list in BC, they are not taken away from you. You must have a permit to keep it though, so even the worst case scenario would more than likely not result in you surrendering your pet.

Since this is still being hashed out by congress, I would not panic yet, but agree that something should be done to make sure that the animals do not get lumped into a large group, resulting in an overall ban. In Canada, we do not have much choice, or even the luxury of that. What is done is done, no vote, no voice. So do everything you can to make sure this does not happen.