PIJAC on fox news today (video)

Just wanted to see if anyone caught the segment that went on just before 1 pm eastern. I caught it just as it was ending, but the headline was for the exotic pet industry challenging gov legislation.

http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.h...9d70b0c12f2749

I think it was a bit vague. The phrasing in some spots seemed weird, "we need to deal with the animals in people's homes"(**Not a direct quote**), can sound like "We want pet owners to be able to keep their pets", or the opposite of "We want to remove all these snakes from homes".

Trying to watch it as a general member of the public, it wasn't inspiring.. either way. The video of a woman putting her two small children in the coils of a giant python were not exactly images of responsible herp keepers IMHO. Just how it appears to general public, not how it appears to ME, or anyone keeping pythons, I'm sure.

At least it wasn't a NEGATIVE interview though. They did mention the hurricanes causing the python issues in the Everglades, rather than the vague theory that all 150,000 owners drove down to turn their snakes loose.

Thanks for the link Neil!

Thanks for the link Neil!

The footage of the woman with her children on a large burmese was unnecessary, but I agree with Wolfy, it could have been much worse. It seems like at least the reporter paid Marshall Meyers some respect.

What I didn't understand was why Meyers kept talking about people releasing snakes in response to an import ban? Doesn't the import ban still allow people to keep and breed the snakes, so long as they were grandfathered in? :confused:

I think the message people hopefully heard from this interview was this bill neither corrects nor reduces the problem in the everglades whatsoever and actually may cause even more animal releases and chaos.

The only laws needed should be to educate and enforce responsible and secure housing of hots and other potentially dangerous animals. This would make people liable for damages stemming from irresponsible ownership, just like you would be liable for causing damage driving a car if it was your fault.

That way good reptile owners dont get punished for what the few irresponsible ones do and people learn what is required when owning a potentially dangerous animal.

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Originally Posted by icygirl

Thanks for the link Neil!

The footage of the woman with her children on a large burmese was unnecessary, but I agree with Wolfy, it could have been much worse. It seems like at least the reporter paid Marshall Meyers some respect.

What I didn't understand was why Meyers kept talking about people releasing snakes in response to an import ban? Doesn't the import ban still allow people to keep and breed the snakes, so long as they were grandfathered in? :confused:

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I agree with yall on the woman with the burm, it was unnecessary. Along with the Retic, I suppose. But I guess that is one of the cheap thrills that the news give people.

The parents of the girl that recent was killed by their pet burmese, I believe are having the possibility of facing jail time because they didn't have a license for the snake. I don't know if that is 100% true or not, but its a rumor that is spreading around Fl., I've heard it from like 15 different people. Also, I think that any species on "the list" can only be grandfathered if you have proof that you got it before Jan. 08. If you don't then oh well.

So yeah, there is alot of crap that is being spread around right now that is scaring alot of snake owners in Fl. Which could be the reason why some are starting to release their snakes, but I haven't heard of any of these alleged reports. Has anyone else?

Hopefully, like Raul said, they'll hear the real message.

I loved the part with the kids all over the burm. IDK why people are disagreeing. That just shows that pythons are NOT all evil. You could tell the python was a loved pet that was so tame it let the kids lay around it and all that. Just my :twocents:

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Originally Posted by PythonBreeder

I loved the part with the kids all over the burm. IDK why people are disagreeing. That just shows that pythons are NOT all evil. You could tell the python was a loved pet that was so tame it let the kids lay around it and all that. Just my :twocents:

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Your kidding right ??? I found that to be terribly irresponsible. An animal that size could easily inadvertently hurt any of those kids. Snakes are never "tamed" and whether they are loved pets makes no difference to them. What reason could you possibly have for allowing children that young to be playing around an animal that size...Oh yeah thats right cause you love them...absolute nonsense and another owner that does not exercise common sense. Just my two cents

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Originally Posted by bigrn69

Your kidding right ??? I found that to be terribly irresponsible. An animal that size could easily inadvertently hurt any of those kids. Snakes are never "tamed" and whether they are loved pets makes no difference to them. What reason could you possibly have for allowing children that young to be playing around an animal that size...Oh yeah thats right cause you love them...absolute nonsense and another owner that does not exercise common sense. Just my two cents

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Did you just say snakes are never tamed? Snakes can to be tamed and can show affection. Just my other :twocents:

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Originally Posted by icygirl

What I didn't understand was why Meyers kept talking about people releasing snakes in response to an import ban? Doesn't the import ban still allow people to keep and breed the snakes, so long as they were grandfathered in? :confused:

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The injurious list bans the importation and interstate commerce. What USARK is HOPING to do is to have an exception to the lacy act to allow for breeders to continue to produce and sell babies across state lines. If passed as currently written importation and transportation across states line would be prohibited. Thus the concern is if you owned a burm and you move from ohio to indiana, say 3 miles but you cross state lines, you could not take your pet with you, you would have to put it down. Thus the REAL concern is that more pet burms would be introduced into the wild as people would just let them go rather than putting them down.