HSUS & Florida Politicians Undermine Efforts to Kill Constrictor Rule!

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Originally Posted by ER12

These large constricting snakes are not suitable as pets; they suffer from capture in the wild and long-distance transport for trade; they can injure and kill people who possess or interact with them; and they can wreak havoc on our natural resources as an invasive species, killing native wildlife, including endangered animals.

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WTF?? How are they not suitable as pets? They don't bark all night. Don't smell (obviously unless you let them live in filth). Don't "crap" in your neighbor's lawn. They don't tear up your living room when you're gone. Don't need to be walked.

Capture in the wild? HELLO!? Captive bred anyone?

Can injure and kill people? Yup. So can dogs and cats. Let me show you my scars from my kitten.

Wreak havoc? Sure. So do cats.

Shesh...these people!!

A couple of things to note:
1) We can defeat HSUS through education. If more people realized what they truly are, they will stop sending them money and that will be the end of them.
2) The complete document for the rule is on kingsnake.com. I read quite a bit of it and it's pretty clear why the boa constrictor isn't listed. It's because it represents too much money. There was a part in there that hinted of this.

So from the blog posted here, we had this thing almost defeated. Due to the efforts of HSUS, the powers that be ended up doing what they probably felt was a compromise. The way I see it, there are two things we can do that will effect future outcomes more than any and that is to educate enough people on HSUS to hit them in their pocketbooks from lost donations (Facebook is a very powerful tool for this) and we all need to be voting and educate yourself on what a candidate's track record is when it comes to supporting small businesses. As far as undoing the damage that is already done, it's going to be difficult. I'm not sure if we will be successful until the politicians responsible for this are removed from office. Thankfully, we have that opportunity later this year.

HSUS is feeling the sting of lessened donations. That's why they've been screaming about both HumaneWatch and the new Shelter organization. They actually issued a public statement about how THEIR donations were less because of the shelter group that says "Donate to your local shelters". This was one of their mistakes, since it made it more evident to the general public that HSUS doesn't support shelters, only their own pockets.

We do have to keep fighting them, unless you'd like to simply euthanize all your pets right now, roll over and give them your paycheck. HSUS won't be happy until we're all vegan without any pets or animal agriculture.

Give up, or fight? Easy choice for me.

If I had the means, I have an awesome plan to create and air my own commercials exposing the truth about HSUS. Kind of like the smear commercials they do during elections.

Unfortunately, I have no money to pay to have it made, no camera to film it with, and I sure don't have the money to pay for airtime. But I can dream.

Gale

A few suggestions:

Promote HumaneWatch.org

Join general pet forums, and post proper care information about reptiles, and share your positive reptile keeping experiences.

Share your views as a reptile keeper with news agencies, when negative publicity occurs, to provide a balancing viewpoint. Not all of them will publish it, but as we have seen, some WILL, and it makes a big difference.

When you see someone promoting HSUS on a website or anywhere else, share the facts with them--not in a confrontational manner, but kindly, with sympathy for how they were duped. (Maybe they weren't, but most of them probably were, so operate on that assumption). Be prepared to back it up with information they can access.

If you encounter a pet store giving bad advice, an individual not engaging in safe handling practices or caring correctly for their animal, or people in general bad-mouthing reptile keeping, SPEAK UP. Do not remain silent. Do not post about it later and complain--talk to those people when these things occur, and DO something about it. We cannot afford to be 'non-confrontational'. We cannot even always afford to be 'polite' when that means allowing something clearly wrong to happen. I'm not saying that you start getting mad and calling names--on the contrary, conduct yourself as though you represent the reptile community, and do a good job of it. Remain civil, and if your temper rises, take a break, but don't give up.

There are a lot of things we need to clean up in the reptile keeping community, and there's a lot more we can do that won't require a LOT of effort on our part, but it's going to take most of us participating in order to get it done.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

HSUS is feeling the sting of lessened donations. That's why they've been screaming about both HumaneWatch and the new Shelter organization. They actually issued a public statement about how THEIR donations were less because of the shelter group that says "Donate to your local shelters". This was one of their mistakes, since it made it more evident to the general public that HSUS doesn't support shelters, only their own pockets.

We do have to keep fighting them, unless you'd like to simply euthanize all your pets right now, roll over and give them your paycheck. HSUS won't be happy until we're all vegan without any pets or animal agriculture.

Give up, or fight? Easy choice for me.

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I agree but I think the best way to do that besides educating people on what they really are is to vote out the politicians that are siding with them.

Of course the reason for not banning retics and boas is money. Everyone knows that burms dont represent much money any more, rock pythons never represented any money and anacondas dont represent any money which brings me back to my question on the other thread. How did usark save 4 out of 9? They didnt. The hsus dictated what they would allow and what they wouldnt. I understand the threat of a non native evasive species and things need to be done to protect the glades. But this is a florida problem and will always be a south florida problem only. These snakes cant survive anywhere else. So the easiest solution would be make breeders and and serious herpers apply for permits in florida. Then go and hunt the animals that are loose. Done. But to make this a country wide ban is just rediculous.

We can try, but it's been made abundantly clear that the politician who has the most charisma, and has the most money, is the one who will win.

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

We can try, but it's been made abundantly clear that the politician who has the most charisma, and has the most money, is the one who will win.

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That is exactly it. I do think USARK did save the others for now because if there was no action all of them would likely be banned. They nearly saved all of them before HSUS and the dirty Florida politicians stepped up their efforts.

Florida proposed this and hsus bankrolled it from the beginning. They were never going to go after the big money snakes in the first place. They went after exactly what they set out to go after. The hsus will always be the ones at the fore front cause they have the deepest pockets