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.