NARBC ST. Charles/St. Louis (no auction) NARBC is bringing it back to St. Louis! This is a growing expo where you will see vendors not attending other area shows. Be sure to hit this one to see some of the best breeders and businesses in herpetoculture.
USARK will be there! We need all attendees to stop by and take action to stop the Lacey Act amendments that were hidden in the America COMPETES Act. We make it easy to make your voice heard but you must take the time to do it! We will also have shirts, hats, and more for you to show support for your herp community advocacy.
We will not be having a Saturday night auction. Both the host hotel and conference center were fully booked and we do not have a room for an auction. However, we will take donations from vendors and we will have silent auctions in our booth. Thank you to all donors, members, and supporters who make USARK possible!
Show Schedule:
Friday: Setup and VIP
Saturday, April 30: 10:00-5:00 (VIP at 7:30 AM)
Auction: NO AUCTION on Saturday night!
Sunday, May 1: 11:00-4:00 (VIP at 10:00 AM)
Location:
Saint Charles Convention Center
1 Convention Center Plaza
St. Charles, MO 63303
Get full show details at https://www.narbc.com/StLouis/show_info_narbc_stlouis.html. Thank you to NARBC for their continued support!
Membership Shirt Update Thank you to all of our members! We will get your membership shirts out ASAP. Please read below for details.
If you joined before March 8 and received a tracking number but have not received your shirt, it will be there soon! All labels were printed but we ran out of shirts (specifically, large, 3X, and 4X). If you received tracking for orders that did not include those sizes but have not received your shirt, please email us at info@usark.org.
For those who joined after March 8, your shirts will begin shipping next week.
We apologize for the delay. There were problems with shirt availability and we also continue to develop the best system for getting your shirts shipped as quickly as possible. Thank you for your continued support and understanding.
Please note that there is a disclaimer at the top of the registration page that shirts may take 6-8 weeks before shipment.
USARK on YouTube! If you missed it, we have a new YouTube channel! New videos are posted every Friday. The latest video features Garrett putting into words how pet owners and small businesses are feeling under the threat of these overreaching Lacey Act amendments.
Please go subscribe and share to help us build our audience for this important channel.
LINK to our latest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiuhREnMtCk&t=141s
LINK to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUqGNL4mvOsJecjJwG6onMw
Special thanks to Garrett and Thomas from Reach Out Reptiles for getting this channel up and going!
Lacey Act Amendments Congress is back from recess this week (4/25) and discussions on this matter will be one of the top priorities. Please keep contacting your legislators! Remember, we are not trying to stop this bill but we need to keep the Lacey Act amendments from being hidden in this expansive piece of legislation.
The animal rights groups supporting these Lacey Act amendments have been lobbying hard so we must make our voice louder to stop it. Members of Congress know that this could be the last big bill that passes this session. As such, there will be attempts to slip in bills that would not pass on their own into this monster package.
On April 7, we reported the members of the conference committee that will merge (or reconcile) the two bills we have been discussing since January 28 (HR4521 America COMPETES Act from the House and S1260 USICA from the Senate). You can find that list of conferees at https://usark.org/laceycomm/. If any of these are your legislators, please contact them with your opposition (even if you have already done so)! If your legislators are not listed, you should still let your opposition to these Lacey Act amendments be known through phone calls, mailed letters, faxes, and emails.
The Bipartisan Innovation Act (this is the current name for the bill that will merge HR4521 and S1260) is a top priority on Capitol Hill. The primary goal of this bill is to boost high-tech research and chip manufacturing in the United States, but the House version (3,610 pages) hid many other non-related sections and amendments. Since the House and Senate passed different versions, the two versions must now be reconciled by the special Committee listed above.
Our permanent alert link for taking action (and where we have posted these updates) remains https://usark.org/2022lacey/.
ALERT: Royal Oak, Michigan A city ordinance is being discussed that could affect all non-domesticated animals. Animal owners should contact local lawmakers immediately.
Read the full alert and related article at https://usark.org/22royaloak/.
ALERT: Connecticut UPDATE 4/25: The amended bill passed the Judiciary Committee and may go to the House for a vote before the session ends on May 5.
UPDATE 3/28: The bill passed Committee but it was amended. The list of species in the bill text was edited. The good news is that it removed the “including, but not limited to” text. This means that now the bill is limited to the list of species listed in the text. It no longer includes ALL non-domesticated animals, but instead only the species in the classifications below. Here is the relevant new definition:
- “exotic or wild animal” means any Canidae other than a domestic dog, cetartiodactyla, crocodilian, elasmobranchii, Felidae other than a domestic cat, marsupialia, nonhuman primates, perissodactyla other than a domestic horse, pony, donkey or mule, pinnipedia, probocidea, ratites, spheniscidae or Ursidae
This is still a bad and unnecessary bill authored by radical animal rights groups. They will assuredly try to get the original broad species ban text implemented, whether that is this session during the legislative process or in a future session as an amendment to the law if the bill passes. The end game is NO ANIMALS IN OUR LIVES! This is just one board building the coffin to end it all.
Thank you to everyone who opposed the original bill and those who continue to do so. Your voices made a difference!Here is the complete new text: https://usark.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-CT-HB5293-amend.pdf
Get all details at https://usark.org/22ct/.
Lacey Act Frequently Act Questions (FAQ) We have compiled a comprehensive list of questions and answers regarding the unsettling Lacey Act amendments found in the America COMPETES Act. Please read and share to keep animal communities and businesses informed. This is especially helpful on social media where we have seen misinformation posted regarding this issue. This FAQ is a very valuable and informative tool to keep everyone educated. Thank you to everyone opposing these disturbing and overreaching changes to the Lacey Act!
On our website: https://usark.org/2022laceyfaq/
On Facebook (image 1): https://www.facebook.com/UnitedStatesAssociationOfReptileKeepers/photos/4891602957588285/
On Facebook (image 2): https://www.facebook.com/UnitedStatesAssociationOfReptileKeepers/photos/4895288790553035/ |
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