Oklahoma senator's thoughts

[Raptor]

Back in July, I sent an e-mail to both my senators. I don't have the e-mail that the other senator sent, but he basically agreed 'that a knee jerk reaction won't solve problems'. I received another e-mail from the other senator.

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Thank you for writing to express your concerns about proposals for new regulations regarding pythons. I am glad that you are paying attention to this problem, and I hope you will accept my apology for the delay in my response to your note.

The death of the small girl in Florida was an irreparable tragedy, as is the untimely loss of any child. Yet, you are correct in noting that no single event is sufficient evidence for changing laws that affect an entire nation.

Senator Nelson's proposal seeks to amend Title 18 of the United States Code to include pythons on a list of regulated injurious animals. This bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, of which I am not a member. If the bill comes to the Senate floor, I will review it with your thoughts in mind. I am not convinced a change is necessary or even advisable. The proposal is likely duplicative, as current law already allows the Secretary of the Interior to prohibit the importation of any species that he or she considers threatening to humans.

Thank you again for communicating your concerns; I hope that you will continue to do so.
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In short, oklahoma senators don't agree with the change. While this senator isn't on the committee, the other senator is on the committee. I figured everyone would like to read this.

[wilomn]

Interesting.

Thanks for stepping up.

[likebull1]

Way to go.
Its a breath of fresh air to actually hear somebody talking positively about the whole situation for once, now only if everybody was that open minded and spoke with some kind of sense.

[hermeticcharm]

Good news is always, well, good!

[West Coast Jungle]

Nice work!

Many thanks for making the effort

[DM1975]

Nice, I got a similar response from my Representative. If I can find the email again I will try to post it, but in short it said that the bill was crap. Good to see people getting involved.

[neilgolli]

what is the senators name?

Can you post your email him?

[Raptor]

Tom Coburn is the one the letter above is from. The other I e-mailed was Jim Inhofe. Surprised that my e-mail kept the copy of the e-mail I sent, but here it is:

Dear Sir,

I understand that you are a busy person, so I will try to make this short and to the point. I'm sure you are aware of the tragedy that occurred in Florida regarding the two year old girl that was strangled by the familys' pet Burmese python. Because of this incident, Sen. Bill Nelson is wanting to ban the importation and transport of pythons due to their 'danger'. In reality, these snakes pose very little danger if properly housed and cared for. There is in fact, very few cases of deaths caused by pythons. There are more dog attacks and dog related injuries each month than attacks and deaths caused by pythons in the past decade.

While these facts may not convince you, something else might: economic impact. Snakes and reptiles are a big part of the pet industry. The price tag on the snake is just the tip of the iceberg. There is also tanks, substrate, heating pads, and food. Even then, it doesn't stop there. The food, commonly mice and rats, require cages and food themselves. In this time of poor economy, is it really wise to ban something that has such an impact?

I sincerely hope that you will consider this letter and do what you can to prevent the ban of both pythons and reptiles alike.