PIJAC on fox news today (video)

Just wanted to see if anyone caught the segment that went on just before 1 pm eastern. I caught it just as it was ending, but the headline was for the exotic pet industry challenging gov legislation.

http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.h...9d70b0c12f2749

I think it was a bit vague. The phrasing in some spots seemed weird, "we need to deal with the animals in people's homes"(**Not a direct quote**), can sound like "We want pet owners to be able to keep their pets", or the opposite of "We want to remove all these snakes from homes".

Trying to watch it as a general member of the public, it wasn't inspiring.. either way. The video of a woman putting her two small children in the coils of a giant python were not exactly images of responsible herp keepers IMHO. Just how it appears to general public, not how it appears to ME, or anyone keeping pythons, I'm sure.

At least it wasn't a NEGATIVE interview though. They did mention the hurricanes causing the python issues in the Everglades, rather than the vague theory that all 150,000 owners drove down to turn their snakes loose.

Thanks for the link Neil!

Thanks for the link Neil!

The footage of the woman with her children on a large burmese was unnecessary, but I agree with Wolfy, it could have been much worse. It seems like at least the reporter paid Marshall Meyers some respect.

What I didn't understand was why Meyers kept talking about people releasing snakes in response to an import ban? Doesn't the import ban still allow people to keep and breed the snakes, so long as they were grandfathered in? :confused:

I think the message people hopefully heard from this interview was this bill neither corrects nor reduces the problem in the everglades whatsoever and actually may cause even more animal releases and chaos.

The only laws needed should be to educate and enforce responsible and secure housing of hots and other potentially dangerous animals. This would make people liable for damages stemming from irresponsible ownership, just like you would be liable for causing damage driving a car if it was your fault.

That way good reptile owners dont get punished for what the few irresponsible ones do and people learn what is required when owning a potentially dangerous animal.

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Originally Posted by icygirl

Thanks for the link Neil!

The footage of the woman with her children on a large burmese was unnecessary, but I agree with Wolfy, it could have been much worse. It seems like at least the reporter paid Marshall Meyers some respect.

What I didn't understand was why Meyers kept talking about people releasing snakes in response to an import ban? Doesn't the import ban still allow people to keep and breed the snakes, so long as they were grandfathered in? :confused:

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I agree with yall on the woman with the burm, it was unnecessary. Along with the Retic, I suppose. But I guess that is one of the cheap thrills that the news give people.

The parents of the girl that recent was killed by their pet burmese, I believe are having the possibility of facing jail time because they didn't have a license for the snake. I don't know if that is 100% true or not, but its a rumor that is spreading around Fl., I've heard it from like 15 different people. Also, I think that any species on "the list" can only be grandfathered if you have proof that you got it before Jan. 08. If you don't then oh well.

So yeah, there is alot of crap that is being spread around right now that is scaring alot of snake owners in Fl. Which could be the reason why some are starting to release their snakes, but I haven't heard of any of these alleged reports. Has anyone else?

Hopefully, like Raul said, they'll hear the real message.

I loved the part with the kids all over the burm. IDK why people are disagreeing. That just shows that pythons are NOT all evil. You could tell the python was a loved pet that was so tame it let the kids lay around it and all that. Just my :twocents:

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Originally Posted by PythonBreeder

I loved the part with the kids all over the burm. IDK why people are disagreeing. That just shows that pythons are NOT all evil. You could tell the python was a loved pet that was so tame it let the kids lay around it and all that. Just my :twocents:

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Your kidding right ??? I found that to be terribly irresponsible. An animal that size could easily inadvertently hurt any of those kids. Snakes are never "tamed" and whether they are loved pets makes no difference to them. What reason could you possibly have for allowing children that young to be playing around an animal that size...Oh yeah thats right cause you love them...absolute nonsense and another owner that does not exercise common sense. Just my two cents

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Originally Posted by bigrn69

Your kidding right ??? I found that to be terribly irresponsible. An animal that size could easily inadvertently hurt any of those kids. Snakes are never "tamed" and whether they are loved pets makes no difference to them. What reason could you possibly have for allowing children that young to be playing around an animal that size...Oh yeah thats right cause you love them...absolute nonsense and another owner that does not exercise common sense. Just my two cents

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Did you just say snakes are never tamed? Snakes can to be tamed and can show affection. Just my other :twocents:

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Originally Posted by icygirl

What I didn't understand was why Meyers kept talking about people releasing snakes in response to an import ban? Doesn't the import ban still allow people to keep and breed the snakes, so long as they were grandfathered in? :confused:

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The injurious list bans the importation and interstate commerce. What USARK is HOPING to do is to have an exception to the lacy act to allow for breeders to continue to produce and sell babies across state lines. If passed as currently written importation and transportation across states line would be prohibited. Thus the concern is if you owned a burm and you move from ohio to indiana, say 3 miles but you cross state lines, you could not take your pet with you, you would have to put it down. Thus the REAL concern is that more pet burms would be introduced into the wild as people would just let them go rather than putting them down.

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Originally Posted by Jyson

Also, I think that any species on "the list" can only be grandfathered if you have proof that you got it before Jan. 08. If you don't then oh well.

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There is no provision for currently owned animals in either S 373 or HR 2811. The proposed legislation seeks to modify the Lacey Act which has never made a single provision for "grandfathering" in it's 99 year history.

As things stand today, burmese pythons and african rock pythons will be illegal to import and transport across state lines if what is currently being proposed becomes law ... also, if you give or sell your burmese python to a local friend that then takes the snake across state lines, you could be charged with a violation of federal smuggling laws punishable by up to 10 years in jail and/or a $10,000 fine.

USARK is working extremely hard to have HR 2811 amended even further to allow the captive bred trade in these snakes to continue, but they're being met with heavy opposition from the Humane Society of the United States, The Nature Conservancy, and Defenders of Wildlife. They will also have S 373 to contend with in the weeks ahead.

Even if you don't keep burmese pythons or african rock pythons, it's still very important for ALL pet owners to stand up against HR 2811 and S 373 ... For the first time in 99 years, Congress is about to declare species that have been kept in the pet trade for decades "injurious" and effectively put an end to those species as pets (probably forever). They are about to pass these laws without hearing one word of scientific testimony, without one shred of evidence presented either for or against, and without listening to any alternative solutions to the problems they think they are trying to solve. Once they do this, the only question left will be which species will they go after next ... it will only be a matter of time.

Join USARK ... or join PIJAC ... or, if you can, join both ... donate $10, donate $1, heck donate $.50 ... anything will help ... don't just sit there and believe that someone is taking care of it and it's not your problem ... it is your problem too and we can't do it without your help!

I hope this info helps and sorry for being so preachy. :rolleye2:

-adam

http://www.foxnews.com/search-result...tic+pet+battle

I found it on Kingsnake forums. It's a much better piece than we've been seeing...

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Originally Posted by PythonBreeder

I loved the part with the kids all over the burm. IDK why people are disagreeing. That just shows that pythons are NOT all evil. You could tell the python was a loved pet that was so tame it let the kids lay around it and all that. Just my :twocents:

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Frankly, your two cents, at the end of the day, are still worth two cents. The video of that lady letting her babies crawl all over that snake is priceless in the amount of damage it inflicts on this hobby. I could not have envisioned a more damaging clip to be aired with that story.

For better or for worse, people in this hobby are being labeled as irresponsible. The mother in the clip perpetuates that negative stereotype. Letting your babies play with a giant constrictor is irresponsible - I take that back - irresponsible is too weak a word for what she was doing - criminally stupid describes her actions much better.

If that python was hungry, thinking that that burm is somehow tame and feels affection for those kids would have led to another front page story.

While the interview, in general, was positive, that clip was sickening.

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Originally Posted by PythonBreeder

Did you just say snakes are never tamed? Snakes can to be tamed and can show affection. Just my other :twocents:

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I'll see your two cents and raise it a nickel. No - they are not tamed - and they do not show affection. They don't "feel" affectionate towards humans. They have learned to tolerate the human interaction, but there's no doubt that woman was terribly irresponsible with her children.

All it would take is one wrong move to trigger that animal's instinct and have it strike and constrict one of those babies. One missed meal where it saw one of those babies as the perfect sized prey.

Is it REALLY worth putting on a dog and pony show with your own babies and your giant python to make some sort of point of how "tame" it is? No - that clip will be seen in a negative light about the irresponsible "type of people" who keep snakes, by those who fear snakes.

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Originally Posted by PythonBreeder

Did you just say snakes are never tamed? Snakes can to be tamed and can show affection. Just my other :twocents:

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I dare you then, to take a "Tame" burm, and place a small family pet in front of it. Go on. See what happens. You tell me that snake is "Tame" When its hungry, and very easily able to overpower and swallow that animal.

You can train a dog not to attack, and you can even train a cat to ignore pet rodents. You cannot train a pet snake, to ignore an easy meal.

They are NEVER "Tame" They are not like cats and dogs....

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Originally Posted by mooingtricycle

I dare you then, to take a "Tame" burm, and place a small family pet in front of it. Go on. See what happens. You tell me that snake is "Tame" When its hungry, and very easily able to overpower and swallow that animal.

You can train a dog not to attack, and you can even train a cat to ignore pet rodents. You cannot train a pet snake, to ignore an easy meal.

They are NEVER "Tame" They are not like cats and dogs....

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In addition, tell that to the folks that have been killed by their "tame" giants (be it burm, afrock or retic) when they forgot to clean up after working with rodents how affectionate their animals are after hugging the life out of them.

Whether or not any of us feel it is safe or unsafe to allow infants to sit in the coils of a giant python is irrelevant.

The damage is that the general public will see that video, and then immediately assume that all owners of giant pythons with small children do exactly the same thing. It makes all keepers look criminally irresponsible and hurts our overall image as a responsible keeper of reptiles.

My personal opinion is that she's a moron for allowing her infants to play on that snake. Not because it's a high probability that the snake will kill them, but for the very real possibility that the snake could kill them.

And if she came on this site and was on this thread, I would say the same thing. Shame on you for portraying us all as irresponsible!

The video itself wasn't bad until the clip with the mother letting babies crawl around that large burm. Imagine a snake fearing person's worst fear... having their child eaten by one of these snakes! I wouldn't even hold an adult ball python by a baby, it just seems like a stupid and risky thing to do, no matter how calm the animal appears.

As stated above, they are not tamed animals and that's the first thing you should always remember around snakes. Snakes of any species are animal's primarily driven by instinct- whether its to hide, hunt, breed, or most importantly to feed.

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Originally Posted by PythonBreeder

Did you just say snakes are never tamed? Snakes can to be tamed and can show affection. Just my other :twocents:

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Huh.
So when my snake flicks it's tongue on my cheek, that means it loves me right?

It was great to see that we had a spot on the news but did they have to show the toddlers all laying around on the snakes? There may have been an adult present but with the tight camera shots, none was shown. If we want the everyday public to respect us for what we do and our right to own them, why show video clips of that?

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Originally Posted by MPenn

It was great to see that we had a spot on the news but did they have to show the toddlers all laying around on the snakes? There may have been an adult present but with the tight camera shots, none was shown. If we want the everyday public to respect us for what we do and our right to own them, why show video clips of that?

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Ya, I agree. We didn't need that... also a few clips of 4 people holding a snake and the snake struggling like that (Right in the begining I believe)... but overall, that wasn't too bad...

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Originally Posted by PythonBreeder

I loved the part with the kids all over the burm. IDK why people are disagreeing. That just shows that pythons are NOT all evil. You could tell the python was a loved pet that was so tame it let the kids lay around it and all that. Just my :twocents:

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I posted this in another thread but felt it was relevant here.

It was great to see that we had a spot on the news but did they have to show the toddlers all laying around on the snakes? There may have been an adult present but with the tight camera shots, none was shown. If we want the everyday public to respect us for what we do and our right to own them, why show video clips of that?

While the burm may have seemed tame, it is a falsehood. It is still a wild animal. Better yet, replace the burm with a 600 lb. "pet" tiger and see if the response would have been the same. It only takes one second to become seriously injured.
Several years ago, Dave Barker wrote an article for Reptiles magazine. In it is a picture of a really bad retic bite he received that was less than an inch away from being a very serious, perhaps dehabilitating, injury. I do not remember his exact words but to paraphrase, the normally "tame" snake was spooked when they tried to remove a piece of shed from the snake and it delivered the bite.

most of the time when he talks, they show video vootage LOL

i had to watch it twice cuz i was distracted

I've merged the two threads.

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Originally Posted by PythonBreeder

Did you just say snakes are never tamed? Snakes can to be tamed and can show affection. Just my other :twocents:

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I sure as hell did..Tame no docile yes worlds apart..You are so far wrong if you think you snake shows you affection its not even to being funny. You need to do some research or soul searching or something.

Reptiles aren't tame, they are docile or "tolerant" to human contact. The babies and toddlers climbing on the snake is completely irresponcible and obviously notes the undertone of that clip. This clip is meant to sicken people, and get people FOR legislation banning reptile ownership. The 'we need to implement several strategies... including deal with the private ownership problem' pointing towards the army coming into your house and taking your animals (this happened for different reasons in Nor Cal, who is to say its not going to happen with FL). I can't believe what I saw here, and the lobbyist is TOTALLY against reptile ownership, while maintaining a so-close-to-neutral approach that you might think he was pro-reptiles, when in fact this whole clip is a BASH and negative to snakes in particular, but subliminally reptiles as a whole. Thumbs down for the pet lobbyists... my faith and hope now lies with USARK. Hopefully donations will rise and we can all stand together to fight this negative media.

Ps. I am going to get rich with all the 2 cents (and a nickel!) flying around in this thread. Don't mind me while I pick it all up.