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Awesome point.

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  • 08-15-2013, 07:24 AM
    treeboa
    The public opinion isn't going to change. On a Yahoo board about the boys in Canada I posted the data I found about dog, horse and snake deaths. Someone posted that he knows 350 people and that most of them have dogs, but he only knows 3 people who own snakes, so the numbers are skewed. When I presented him with facts about how many reptiles are produced and imported in this country every year and that many of his friends probably own reptiles but don't want to make it public because of prejudice, he just flat out said I was lying.

    Most people think that there are only maybe a few thousand of us Herp keepers and we're all just crazy. I think a lot of politicians think that too. The politicians do need to know just how many of us there are and just how big the trade in reptiles and reptile related goods is. Don't forget, the politicians are the ones that appoint the heads of government institutions like USF&W. They have most of the control over the fate of our hobby/industry. The ones that claim to be for small business just might get on our side if we can show this is not just some insignificant cottage industry. I think it would be a big mistake to give up on plying the politicians.
  • 08-15-2013, 09:02 AM
    Neal
    Trust me, I see all of your points. The media may not be the prime culprit, but they don't help people who don't know any better by portraying stuff as vicious and dangerous. What most people fail to realize time and time again is that no two animals are the same, and just because one species has something bad happen doesn't mean you should punish the whole snake trade. It's the ignorance of the general public that fail to educate themselves regarding the truth about our beloved animals.

    So an incident with that African Rock Python happened, and now they're going to try to take it out on all snakes because of plain ignorance. Oh, you let them try to do that regarding a dog, or something else and they'll just chalk it up to whatever the case may be.

    Another prime example is how badly the media portrays pit bulls. They make them seem vicious and that they're killers when the fact of the matter is while sure you can get one that's been inbred and you're not aware of and run into problems, and sure sooner or later you get a crazy dog, it happens. It's because of myths and stuff that people believe and pass on that gets carried on and on and on that basically only encourages ignorance. The overall reason that they get the reputation they get is because of people fighting them and inbreeding.

    One major myth about pit bulls is that they have locking jaws. This is the most ignorant misconception started by God only knows what kind of a moron. They may have a very powerful bite PSI, but they can not lock their jaw, no dog can. They're just simply able to bite harder and keep pressure because of their jaw muscles.
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