Florida Legislation

[Joe Hiduke]

Here's a pdf file from the agenda of this week's Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting. http://myfwc.com/docs/CommissionMeet...09_Sep_ROC.pdf The proposed legislation and staff recommendation sections are quite concerning. Senator Constantine's office says there is no current draft of this proposed legislation, and the person I spoke with there says this would be on the agenda for the next session of congress.

I expect that we'll have an update from USARk and/or PIJAC after the meeting this week. Just posting this so people can stay informed about what may be on the horizon in Florida.

J

[hermeticcharm]

Some of this stuff is ridiculous, but..
I honestly think that regulating the larger species like the burms, retics, and rocks is a good thing. It ensures that the person that has or is getting a snake like this will know what they are getting in to.

I don't think they should lead a crusade on all snakes and exotics or ban selling and trading. And I don't believe they should make it illegal to breed or sell the ROCs as long as they are being properly cared for.

Most importantly this protects the snakes from owners that don't know what they are doing. The larger species should be for responsible experienced owners and some one that can afford to house and properly take care of the snake. Really, it would be nice if the government would not have to step in and regulate but there are shady pet shops out there that would sell a big snake to anyone.

I hope I don't get flamed for this, I love my pets as much as the next. I personally would never get a snake that size at the moment due to my experience level, finances and space issues but given the amount of idiots that keep popping up in the news it seems like regulating these beautiful giants is beneficial for people and the snakes themselves.

By NO means do I support the banning or regulating of exotics but I also don't want these creatures A) in the hands of people that don't know what they are doing and B) completely illegal; and regulating the species' that get huge seems like the most logical way to go about this.

What I don't understand is it seems theres already a regulation set in place. The requirements seem reasonable...they just want to know you have a snake and that you are properly taking care of it. So why are they still pushing this further?!

Sorry for the rant.

[RebelYell83]

They are pushing more,because of the news media storm that hit when that little girl was killed,which also inspired and animal educator to place his own burmese into a drain pipe,have media come out and fire rescue come out during the "capture"hit the animal with a stick,while narrating the brutality from the tunnel that couldnt be seen,injuring the animal,which probably didnt even attempt striking at him,just to get media attention

[rjk890]

That baby girl died because of her Mother, and her mothers Boyfriend.
They are horrible pet owners and even worse parents.

The restrictions are in place.
The little girls parents did not have their ROC permit, and were keeping the animal incorrectly, and illegally.
Even an all out ban on Burms would not have prevented that tragedy because the parents are obviously willing to violate the law.
The restrictions that are already in place, as well as any further conditions, or a total ban on ROC animals only affects the law abiding responsible reptile keepers.
They should just enforce the laws that are already in place.

[snakemastercanada]

A great big thanks to hollywood & the media for making everyone in the world believe that snakes are evil and should be banished. Ignorance is wonderful.
Does anyone think if the media & hollywood worked as hard getting everyone to believe that hockey was bad the lawmakers would be banning that?

[hermeticcharm]

I think a lot of people in the world found snakes evil, or disgusting or scary long before all this stuff happened. All this blown up media is just taking that predisposition and feeding it.

But then there are people and cultures that find snakes to represent wisdom and life. Oh, and Blue Shields. I like the second group.

[Eventide]

I just read the document, and these are the only things I see that are concerning:

1. Enhances the Commission’s ability to deal with any exotic or non-native species by
making it unlawful to import wild animal life into Florida for sale, personal use, or release
into the wild unless specifically authorized by the Commission.

As long as they're using "import" to describe when an animal is brought into the country (not just brought into the state from another state), this isn't terrible. I'd rather they not ban importation outright, but it's better than other options that have been put on the table.

2. Eliminates the requirement for the Commission to conduct studies to determine any
detrimental ecological effects prior to issuing or denying a permit.

This could be very, very bad if they use this to deny permits for other species besides ROCs. And even then, they could deny a permit for, say, a Burm just because they're detrimental to the ecology (and not because the person isn't educated enough to provide the proper care, get the proper licenses, use secure cages, etc.).

3. This bill would eliminate the personal use of ROCs over time by stopping trade in ROC. The bill would grandfather in current pet owners.

Now, this worries me the most. Stop trade altogether? This smacks of HR669: no more breeding, buying, selling, transporting across state lines. I may be reading too much into "stopping trade," but I doubt it. If there are already a bunch of hoops to jump through to even own a ROC, then they don't need to try to stop the trade. Doing so will only open up a black market and/or keep the good, honest reptile keepers from having these pets. (Ironically, the emergence of black markets in banned ROCs is listed in the document as an issue that needs to be addressed before making legislation.)

But for the most part, this document is just saying what the legislators need to keep in mind while drafting/discussing possible new legislation on this matter. I'm impressed with the notes about getting feedback from those in the reptile trade; it makes me ever-so-slightly more hopeful about future legislation....

[RebelYell83]

well,,worse case,,they ban importing,so,people import in other states,gettingan roc permit,isnt hard to get,,,and i dont see them phasing out personal ones,,as theyd lose a lot of money they get off of them,,and i think theyd face much to strong opposition

[snakemastercanada]

Up here in Canada when they make a law regarding the import of something they mean import from anywhere including other provinces. I would not doubt that in Florida's case they mean from inside or outside the country when importing animals.

[Eventide]

Up here in Canada when they make a law regarding the import of something they mean import from anywhere including other provinces. I would not doubt that in Florida's case they mean from inside or outside the country when importing animals.

It depends, though. The last bill that tried to go through had an amendment added (thanks to the Reptile Nation) that specified "import" as in "imported into the country." So it kinda depends on the fine print, in this case.