Pets in Peril!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Say no to HR 669

Together with the help of some great people including Adam (8ballpython) and PIJAC.org we were able to bring you this video and website. It's extremely important that you watch the vid and please send the link to EVRYONE you know. This is not a reptile bill, it is an animals bill. So anyone that has any interest in keeping fish, birds, reptiles, small animals would be affected. We need you help to get the word out. The more people that see this video and go to the website and take action the better chance that we not only defeat this proposed bill but we desuade them from coming back at us in three months with another one. We need a huge voice!!!!!! I know that together we can make a difference. Don't think that everyone else will do it, YOU have to do it. Contact all friends and family members and lets rock this!!!!!!!! Here's the link to the vid:



YouTube - Pets in Peril (politicians gone wild) HR669
Make sure you go to the youtube page and send the embedded code to EVERYONE you know!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for all the support!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We need you!!!!!!!!!!Brian(BHB)

Awesome video Brian! Thanks for taking the time to put it together and getting the word out about HR 669!

Also, if I could point out really quickly, there's tons of cool stuff for helping out over on www.nohr669.com.

There's a simple form and form letter for contacting your Congressperson ... there's ideas for how you can help beyond just sending emails and making phone calls ... there's a printable flyer that you can take with you to the local pet stores or herp society ... and there's a ton of banners, avatars, and sig banners to help us all say NO to HR 669.

Thanks!

-adam

Excellent job on the video guys. Great step by step instructions, could not have made it any easier!

Thank you Brian, and Adam. :bow:

Ther's no way I could have pulled this off with out you Adam. I've spent more time with you then my wife in the last week.lol The site is awesome! Now lets get this thing to blow up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's where all of you come in:) Thanks, Brian(BHB)

thank you very much guys for all the hard work you've put into creating this new site. I know that this site will help me immensely in being able to do my part ot help, considering that I am a bit of a political dummy (I know, shame on me). I don't think I can say thank you enough, but thank you thank you thank you!!!!

BHB has a video out that will tell us what to do. Go to

www.NOHR669.com


It will give you a step by step on what to do.


Scott Smith

Scott Smith's All Animal Expo

Did it... sending it to all my Bird owner friends right now. They are a force to be reckoned with! lol Thanks guys, :hug: Laura

Thanks for sending it to the bird people! We need the Bird people, the fish people, the small animal people! We need them all!!!!!!!Thans so much!
As for being a dummy on the way government works, I have learned more int he last week then I ever knew.lol We;re right there with ya:) Thanks, Brian(BHB)

Thanks Scott, we have several threads on it! I'll merge yours with the others!

I volunteer with http://www.canineassistants.org, and many of us own pets besides dogs and cats. I've asked the volunteer coordinator to send out an alert to all the volunteers and have them also spread the word and print fliers to take to their local pet stores!

thanx Scott and Brian. Glad I'm not the only one feeling like a "dummy". I'm doing what I can, including having made some posters for my car windows.

Thanks guys. I've been doing my part by talking to my customers. They've all been very concerned, especially the people who're vets. They're outraged, so I've been sending them here or to the new website. Y'all're so amazing and we appreciate everything you've done.

We'll all beat this. We will. We can't let them do this to us. It's not right.

Great job Brian and Adam :gj:

Forwarded to all my bird and herp peeps. I'll work on doing more for this over the weekend. Thanks to everyone for helping out!

Great video and site guys.

I really respect and thank you guys for what your doing.

I also called Pender Veterinarian hospital. Those guys are awesome.

Superlative job Brian...I've created a link on my webpage's front page to your vid.

I would like to thank Deborah for creating a lot of the neat signature banners and avatars for the site too! She rocks! My signature banner is awesome! Thanks Deb!

awesome video!! I'm going to post and repost on my craigslist pet section. I've already gotten several responses from people that didn't know anything about this!!

Heres a sample email I wrote and sent to everyone I know. Feel free to copy and paste this so all your contacts are informed too.




www.nohr669.com

This is about the bill HR669 which on the surface proposes to stop all non-native wildlife from being imported via the pet trade to stop the impact on our native species.

BUT!!! This bill will end all pet ownership as we know it. It will single handedly collapse the pet industry and take with it millions of jobs and billions of dollars. If you own reptiles or amphibians (snakes, lizards, frogs, salamander), if you own rodents (RATS, gerbils, guinea pigs, ect.), if you own FISH (yes even fish, tropical, fresh water, even betas), invertebrates, essentially everything but cats and dogs (and don't think they won't be next) will be banned. You will not be able to move out of state with your pets, you can't sell, buy, breed, .....anything. If your kid has two hamsters and they accidentally have babies you'd be in violation of the law, and your pets would be subject to confiscation and termination. The economy will take a huge blow because pet-stores will no longer be able to stay in business, large chains like Petco will fall but so will every privately owned stores, breeders, and suppliers.

Please don't ignore it. Many people believe that this bill has little to no chance of passing. But if we all turn our backs and ignore it then it's chances increase. I want to see it's chances squashed to zero. I love my pets. I grew up with pets, it's part of the american way of life. This bill is not the way to keep our wildlife safe, it's a extremist proposition being pushed by special interest groups against all pets!

Help us stop it. Go here: www.nohr669.com Watch the video. It's short and if you still don't want to do something you don't have to. but it's easy and quick. Why wouldn't you protect your right to own pets?

Thank you,


P.S. Please send this email to everyone you know who owns pets and/or loves animals, they deserve to know.

www.nohr669.com

I allready did my deed and voted my big ole "NO" on Hr 669.
That is just incrediable to know that congress has this kind of power over the people to even think of a half ass bill like that.
Why dont they put there concerns in world problems like the economy and mabe getting people back to work?

well, went out to do some errands, but before I left I printed out a few flyers from the web site. Turns out the two local vets near me where not informed of this bill, the one mom pet store was informed, but was thankful for the flyer to get more information and she was taping it to door on her store.

I also rememberd a small reef store in the area and gave them a flyer.. the owner was really surprised about this and thanked me for making him aware of something that could take away his livelihood. A few customers in the reef store, jotted down the web address to get more information as well.

I may not fully understand politics, but doing what I can to get information out to other people was doing the best I could do (with three kids in tow mind you :rolleye2: and it felt good. :D

As I was driving around or stopped at lights, I saw people trying to get as close as possible to read my posters. Even if they personally don't do something about it, they might say something to a friend or family member who just might take action. Every little bit helps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ladydragon

well, went out to do some errands, but before I left I printed out a few flyers from the web site. Turns out the two local vets near me where not informed of this bill, the one mom pet store was informed, but was thankful for the flyer to get more information and she was taping it to door on her store.

I also rememberd a small reef store in the area and gave them a flyer.. the owner was really surprised about this and thanked me for making him aware of something that could take away his livelihood. A few customers in the reef store, jotted down the web address to get more information as well.

I may not fully understand politics, but doing what I can to get information out to other people was doing the best I could do (with three kids in tow mind you :rolleye2: and it felt good. :D

As I was driving around or stopped at lights, I saw people trying to get as close as possible to read my posters. Even if they personally don't do something about it, they might say something to a friend or family member who just might take action. Every little bit helps.

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This is awesome ... it's every email, every letter, every phone call, every flyer, and every "hey did you know about this" that is going to make the difference. All of it! Thank you!

-adam

I sent my e-mails, put it all over my facebook page, put a banner on the front page of my website and I'm about to print some flyers out and bring them to my local fish stores (biggest fish store in Northern NJ...a lot of customers there....). This bill has to be stopped.

Best $9 bucks I ever spent. Sent my emails and letters to congress, couldn't have been easier using www.nohr669.com. I also printed out fliers and dropped them off at my exotic vets office. Its good to see people taking this seriously and uniting.

Doris! You are awesome!

I've already told Adam and Brian this - but I cannot adequately express the depths of my gratitude for their efforts (and Pete's and Marshall's, the camera guy, every un-named person involved) for putting this site together.

What this site has done, has empowered ALL of us! Before this site, I know I felt helpless as to what I could do besides write and call my representative. That was all well and good, but HOW did I explain this to other people, and impassion them as well?

This site lets me do that! I also printed the flyer and stopped at three pet stores on the way home and handed all my copies out. Each store thanked me profusely for letting them know - and promised they'd print more copies and tell everyone they could.

Customers that listened to me and took fliers turned ashen when they realized the impact this could have on them, and they became passionate and declared they were going home and printing more fliers and telling all their friends.

I stopped at Office Depot and burned off 300 more b/w copies of the flier, and I'm going to print out a list of all the local pet stores in my area of Atlanta and I have my GPS charged and I'm going to drop off 10 or 15 copies and ask them to make more copies (that should get me to 30 stores this weekend, give or take).

If EACH ONE OF YOU printed 10 copies of the flier on http://www.nohr669.com and stoped by ONE local mom and pop store, can you imagine the impact that we can have?

So thank you Adam, thank you Brian, thank you Marshall and Pete - THANK YOU for empowering us and helping us feel like we can take action to make a REAL difference! :bow::bow::bow:

Spent the nine bucks to have the letters sent as well as the emails :)
Will see if Matt and I can organize anything for the Houston area to fight the bill.

This is a response I received from my state rep:

Thank you for contacting my office. I appreciate the opportunity to hear and understand your views and concerns.

It is an honor and a privilege to represent you in the United States House of Representatives.

Should you have any additional comments about this or any other issues, please do not hesitate to contact me in my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 225-4465. Also, you can access Thomas.loc.gov from my website (www.house.gov/garrett) to obtain additional information on legislative issues.

Thank-you again for your e-mail. It is through your comments that I am better able to represent the people of New Jersey in Congress.

Sincerely,
Scott Garrett
Member of Congress
5th District, New Jersey

Wow, two of my favorite reptile breeders working together to fight the evil that is HR669. Good job to both of you! I just wish Petsmart and Petco would use the power they have, instead of being gutless, and hand out fliers to customers and employees.

***bump***

Can someone tell me who proposed hr 669 in the first place. I think I read somewhere that it was an activist group but I can't for the life of me remember the name or where I saw it.

Also I'm looking for websites that support hr 669.... :O I know.... could they exist? I'm having a very hard time finding any credible sources for the other team. But, as a great teacher once taught me, every good argument sites both sides.... so I need a positive opinion of hr669 to make my negative opinion more valid. (I am in fact explaining to my ex-teacher why I'm opposing this thing, he's very political and we've kept in touch cause he's just that great)

Thanks.

Also has anyone seen this?

http://www.house.gov/baca/hotissues/video_factsheet.htm

It lists HR 669 as Protect Children From Video Game Sex & Violence Act of 2003

I know 2003!! but still people are often quick to judge and don't read. I hope no one sees this and thinks: Yes!!! I'd vote to that. And it's one of the first things that pops up on google when you type in hr 669

Yep if you google HR 669 the first link is (the one we are interested in).....

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-669

The second link listed is (the video game game sex & violence act of 2003)....

http://www.house.gov/baca/hotissues/video_factsheet.htm

:rolleyes:

Thanks Brian, Adam and all of you working so hard to see our rights as pet owners protected. We've just entered spring break here and I'm going to use some of that family time to encourage my own kids to step up and help protect the snakes and the family hobby we love so much.

I post this on my site.
ballpythonzone.com
STOP HR669

I just checked http://www.nohr669.com this morning and as of 8:30 a.m., 2400 e-mails have been sent through the site in a little over 24 hours of launch of the site! OUTSTANDING!

Keep the momentum up folks!!!!

Great video and site.. makes it easy for those of us that are not great with words. Thanks guys!

Didn't read all the responses. I sent an E-mail to Parker Griffin and got an automatic email back. Happen with everyone else? It states that he will hand write me a letter back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I just checked http://www.nohr669.com this morning and as of 8:30 a.m., 2400 e-mails have been sent through the site in a little over 24 hours of launch of the site! OUTSTANDING!

Keep the momentum up folks!!!!

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AWESOME Robin!!!! I posted a flier and handed out several copies out at our local Mom & Pop yesterday... The best thing that happened was some of my bird buddies said, "Yea! We've already received info on this"... but now they are also going to be using the sight after I explained how EZ it was to use. (Props again Brian, Adam, and awesome camera guy)! We had dinner at a friends that I had sent the link to, and he's sending it to all his pals. Hopefully all these little waves will keep adding up!

An even better way to get attention it to send letters. LOTS AND LOTS OF LETTERS!

I've made an "8 Simple Steps to Stopping HR669" kind of thing.

Follow this link or go to my website:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...82#post1030582

We need to send letters, lots and lots of letters. That's what will matter. Emails can be deleted and ignored, thousands of letters are much harder to ignore.

Please send letters.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yotaman

Emails can be deleted and ignored, thousands of letters are much harder to ignore.

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That's a myth that really needs to be cleared up.

Emails to, along with phone calls and in person meetings with your Representative in Congress are by far one of the most effective ways of having your voice heard in the US government process. Your Congressman/woman is in Washington D.C. to serve your interests. They will listen.

Letter writing is also very effective, but make no mistake, letters can be thrown into a shredder just as easy as an email can be deleted.

The confusion and mis-communication over this issue stems from WHO you are trying to contact. Unless one of those subcommittee members is your direct Representative in Congress, there's very little chance that they will listen to anything you have to say whether it be email, fax, letter, or phone call. They are their to represent THEIR constituents, not you. On the other hand, your Representative in Congress is there to work for you and your interests ... including your views on HR 669 ... you have the right to ask him or her to go speak to those committee members on your behalf in person. They have a responsibility to listen to you and take your concerns into consideration in their day to day responsibilities. That's how the democratic system works in this country.

The letter writing campaign to the subcommittee members is an EXCELLENT idea and highly recommended by members of the House of Representatives that are friendly to our efforts ... but, without the support of USARK's lobbyist hand delivering the letters, most of them would never even make it to their final destination. The effect of Tom Wolfe carrying stacks of letters around the halls of Congress will without a doubt help us on the day he drops them off, but every person that will be affected by this bill emailing and calling their direct Representative in Congress each and every day from now until the 24th will help us EVERY DAY.

I'm not saying do one and not the other, I'm not saying do one first and then the other, I'm not saying one idea is better than the other ... I'm saying DO THEM BOTH, and ENCOURAGE everyone you know to do BOTH as well.

This link might provide an interesting read for you ... http://nohr669.com/blog/?p=25

Thank you for all of your efforts.

-adam

Adam,

I agree completely with you. People should do everything they can and not just one thing. I'm just trying to do everything I can to stop this. I'm calling, sending emails, letters, you name it. Whatever I can do I will do.

I'm also trying to get other people to do the same.

I have other hobbies that are in jeopardy because the people that participate in those hobbies just sit around and do nothing to protect them.

I do not want the right to keep and breed reptiles to be gone because people just sit around and think there rights are protected just because. So I'm just trying to speak out as much as I can about this.

Plus, I kind of showed up late in the game. I don't hang around on the boards much.

Is the email link blending into the background for anyone else? If I didn't know it should be there I would have missed it.

I'm cold calling all the vets in my area, and later today will fax the fliers out to them. So far, half a page has agreed to receive the fax.

I have been cold calling pet stores in my area as well. Most seem interested but Aquarium Adventures told me point blank that they are not concerned and this won't affect them :mad:

I just did a search (it's a contest thing, I have to search something) and got this result!!! yes, it's old, but the same number.

http://www.house.gov/baca/hotissues/video_factsheet.htm

if people get that link, they are going to support this bill, video sex and kids?

Here is another e-mail I have just received this morning from my state rep:

Rep. Scott Garrett



Dear Mr. Rybak:



Knowing of your interest in the Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act, H.R. 669, I would like to provide you with an update on this important legislation.



As you know, H.R. 669 was introduced by Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo (Guam) on January 26, 2009. This legislation would require the Secretary of the Interior to establish a process for assessing the risk of importing nonnative wildlife species into the United States. It sets forth factors that must be considered, including the native range of the species and whether or not the species has caused harm to the economy, the environment, other animal species, or human health in similar ecosystems. H.R. 669 has been referred to the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife, where it awaits further review.



Like you, I understand the importance of protecting the unique biodiversity found in nature here in the U.S. While I am not a member of the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife, please be assured that your views are important to me, and as legislation concerning the environment comes before the House of Representatives, I will consider it with your thoughts in mind.



Thank you for contacting me. Should you have any further questions or comments about this or any legislative issue, please do not hesitate to contact me in my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 225-4465. Also, please visit my website at www.house.gov/garrett, to sign up for my e-newsletter for the latest updates.

Sincerely,
Signature
Scott Garrett
Member of Congress

Where can I find the list of approved species and non approved species

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grimm

Where can I find the list of approved species and non approved species

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Well they haven't released the list of over 10,000 non exempt yet that I know of.

Basically if it ain't a dog, cat, horse, rabbit, duck or goose its on the list.

The approved species are very basic, of Dog and cat, and a bare handful of domestic farm animals(horse, cow, pig, rabbit, chickens, etc).
I'm almost at the end of my list of vets in the area.. and encouragingly... while only ONE had heard of this, all but one were concerned and will recieve the fax, or went to the website to look into it.
This is good! Keep calling! Don't let one fish store get you down! If you tell all the other fish stores, maybe one of them will tell them in a manner that makes THEM concerned too!