The US-ARK thing: what's your disaster plan?

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Originally Posted by Homebody

So much for knee jerk reactions. It occurred to me after I posted that my pet is registered, so quiet disobedience probably wouldn't work. They know what I keep and they have my address. I suppose, in that case, I'd rehome him.

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Let's hope it NEVER comes to anything like that. :tears: For any of us.

Violating/ignoring the law is not an option for me as I have a security clearance and a federal firearms license. So, any kind of conviction would cost me my day job and my small business. The critters would have to be rehomed, or I would move.

Fortunately my state seems to be one of the last where the elected officials even seem to care about the issue. I'm also on a first name/I have your cell phone # basis with a few current and former local politicians in the state legislature, so should something get introduced they will hear from me very quickly.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

It's hard to comment without knowing specifics- were there local laws in place before his business got going? (ie. Did he start off in violation or did they pass laws just to put him out of business?) ...

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Laws were passed many years after he started.

Regulations will happen at state and federal levels...banning will be local.

A county next door to me passed a 'no constrictor law'...and it put a good size corn snake breeder out of the hobby. How scary is a corn snake?

I saw a recent headline where a very large retic was loose in a small Texas (I think) town and there have been many this year (cobra, boas and pythons on the loose). That's all it takes...A couple of furry pets go missing...a large snake capable of killing a child prowling a neighborhood...and some angry people who decide on safety to make sure this doesn't happen again or worse. And they're right...anyone who has an escapee shouldn't be keeping snakes.

Try going to a town meeting and educating parents of small children bent on banning...about how safe their child is with your 6-foot + constrictor...that your own people say needs a two-person rule to handle. Or explain how your snakes can't get out of their enclosures...like the ones they see on the news or social media that did just that. We are point zero zero one percent of the 'norm' and have very little support locally...your own community will be your demise.

I've been to schools, participated in local educational events...no more for me. It's my private hobby.

Sorry folks, its already happening and has been for years it just doesn't make the news.

We need more of the public to go to Google, search 'child dog attack' and then hit 'images' (if you try this at home, steel yourself first). Sure puts the risk of snakes into perspective, and gives reason to think that the fear of them is way out of proportion to that of other animals that we actually let sleep in our kids' beds.

It is well known here in farm country that horses and cows are the most dangerous non-human animal we're likely to encounter, and that's backed up by data. Cat bites are much more dangerous than most people know (30% hospitalization rate on cases that receive medical attention, here). If dangerous captive animals need to be prohibited, then horses, cats and dogs need to go first.

Reptile bans are sometimes enacted out of legitimate conservation concerns, but all other purported reasons (such as public safety) are groundless. Simple fear and ignorance.

Ideally, I'll eventually be at a point in my life where I can live somewhere remote and away from it all. Nobody will care what I own because nobody will be around to care. No way would I register anything that doesn't have to be either because at this rate that's just putting a free target on your back when they eventually goad further and decide "Oops sorry, instead of needing to register this with a license we decided it's completely illegal for you to keep this animal now." Sometimes people who already own a given species are allowed to keep individuals after a ban is swept over, but it's never a guarantee.

I won't delve further due to the topic, but let's just say stripping away our rights to keep snakes and other "exotics" is but the tip of the iceberg as to what those in power have in mind. We're just the easiest demographic to rally the masses against right now.