Python Rope A Dope

[bigrn69]

I have to agree that there can be no exception to which species is banned. When i called i registered a vote of no and just no without a change to include import of just burmese pythons.

[dsirkle]

Colin, I think that you give these politicians more credit then they are due. These Democrats just give knee jerk reactions to issues that grab headlines. They aren't going to invest their time in doing any research on this issue. The newspapers and National Public Radio and televised media love the evil Python drama. I heard NPR hang up on Dave Barker and summarily dismiss him as a weirdo. I have seen the attitude of these Congressmen on a Newscast, gleefully contemplating action against the Python menace. The Reptile community is not a major voting block. In fact when I have called the office of these Congressmen today, the Florida Congressmen's offices seemed to be downright gleeful about my Michigan zip code.These same Congressmen mindlessly oppose gun ownership also. However they have the Constitution blocking their way on that issue. In this particular case you have no big stick. In fact you have no stick at all. I applaud your enthusiasm and have no wish to discourage you in your efforts. I just disagree wit your assessment of the situation and posted to explain why I endorse the USARK position.

[ColinWeaver]

... In this particular case you have no big stick. In fact you have no stick at all. I applaud your enthusiasm and have no wish to discourage you in your efforts. I just disagree wit your assessment of the situation and posted to explain why I endorse the USARK position.

If USARK is not going to be my stick why should I or any other reptile enthusiast ever join and give them money? Today we are tossing Burmese onto the sacrificial altar. What will we offer next time Congress demands a sacrifice?

Ball python people are so quick to dog pile on a Burmese ban because it doesn't appear to impact them. "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a cheeseburger today.". Sooner or later you have to pay.

I wonder how the rest of the reptile community will treat us when we're on the block...

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Keep calling and faxing a personal letter with your personal info to every number! Make sure you get every number! Keep going all day if you have to! I was told by one rep that they have recieved more calls on this than any other issue in the house right now! Here are all the numbers. Keep at it. If you get a busy line move to the next one!

Time is critical, so please take the time to contact the following Congresspeople and ask them -- POLITELY -- to send this bill back to be amended to use the scientific names of the specific animals they're seeking to restrict, and not include common housepets along with animals of concern.

Chair:

John Conyers, Jr., (D) Michigan, 14th, email: john.conyers@mail.house.gov, phone: 202-225-5126, fax: 202-225-0072

Ranking member:

Lamar Smith, (R) Texas, 21st: phone: 202-225-4236, fax: 202-225-8628

Key members for this bill:


Tom Rooney, (R) Florida, 16th: phone: 202-225-5792, fax: 202-225-3132 (co-sponsor)

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, (D) Florida, 20th: Phone: 202-225-7931, fax: 202-226-2052

Robert Wexler, (D) Florida, 19th: phone: phone: 202-225-3001, fax: 202-225-5974 (co-sponsor)
The bill's author; he is not on this committee, but contact his office also:

Congressman Kendrick Meek (D) Florida; phone 202-225-4506; fax 202-226-0777

Below, you'll find the remaining members of the Judiciary Committee. If you have time to contact them as well, that would be helpful, but at the very least scan the list and see if your represenative is there, and contact him or her.

Other members – if your representative is on this list, contact him or her and mention that you are a constituent:

* Tammy Baldwin, (D) Wisconsin, 2nd: phone: 202-225-2906, fax: 202-225-6942

* Howard Berman, (D) California, 28th: phone: 202-225-4695, fax: 202-225-3196

* Rick Boucher, (D) Virginia, 9th: phone: 202-225-3861, fax: 202-225-0442

* Jason Chaffetz, (R) Utah, 3rd: phone: 202-225-7751, fax: (202) 225-5629

* Howard Coble, (R) North Carolina, 6th: howard.coble@mail.house.gov, 202-225-3065, fax: 202-225-8611

* Steve Cohen, (D) Tennessee, 9th: phone: 202-225-3265, fax: 202-225-5663

* Bill Delahunt, (D) Massachusetts, 10th: William.Delahunt@mail.house.gov, 202-225-3111, fax: 202-225-5658

* Randy Forbes, (R) Virginia, 4th: Phone: 202-225-6365, fax: 202-226-1170

* Trent Franks, (R) Arizona, 2nd: phone: 202-225-4576, fax: 202-225-6328

* Elton Gallegly, (R) California, 24th: Phone: 202-225-5811, fax: 202-225-1100

* Louie Gohmert, (R) Texas, 1st: phone: 202-225-3035, 202-226-1230 fax

* Charles Gonzalez, (D) Texas, 20th: phone: 202-225-3236, fax: 202-225-1915

* Bob Goodlatte, (R) Virginia, 6th: phone: 202-225-5431, fax: 202-225-9681

* Luis Gutierrez, (D) Illinois, 4th: phone: 202-225-8203, fax: 202-225-7810

* Gregg Harper, (R) Mississippi, 3rd: phone: 202-225-5031, fax: 202-225-5797

* Darrell Issa, (R) California, 49th: phone: 202-225-3906, fax: 202-225-3303

* Henry "Hank" Johnson, Jr., (D) Georgia, 4th: phone: 202-225-1605, fax: 202-226-0691

* Jim Jordan, (R) Ohio, 4th: phone: 202-225-2676, fax: 202-226-0577

* Steve King, (R) Iowa, 5th: phone: 202-225-4426, fax: 202-225-3193

* Sheila Jackson Lee, (D) Texas, 18th: phone: 202-225-3816, fax: 202-225-3317

* Zoe Lofgren, (D) California, 16th: phone: 202-225-3072

* Dan Lungren, (R) California, 3rd: phone: 202-225-5716, fax: 202-226-1298

* Dan Maffei, (D) New York, 25th: phone: 202-225-3701, fax: 202-225-4042

* Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York, 8th: phone: 202-225-5635, fax: 202-225-6923

* Pedro Pierluisi, (D) Puerto Rico, Resident Commissioner: phone: (202) 225-2615

* Ted Poe, (R) Texas, 2nd: phone: 202-225-6565, fax: 202-225-5547

* Linda Sanchez, (D) California, 39th: The Hill form 202-225-6676, fax: 202-226-1012

* Adam B. Schiff, (D) California, 29th: e-mail form 202-225-4176, fax: 202-225-5828

* Bobby Scott, Virginia, 3rd: Phone: 202-225-8351, fax:202-225-8354

* F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., (R) Wisconsin, 5th: phone: 202-225-5101, fax: (202) 225-3190

* Brad Sherman, (D) California, 27: phone: 202-225-5911, fax:202-225-5879

* Maxine Waters, (D) California, 35th: phone: 202-225-2201, fax: 202-225-7854

* Melvin L. Watt ("Mel"), (D) North Carolina, 12th: phone: 202-225-1510, fax: 202-25-1512

* Anthony D. Weiner, (D) New York, 9th: phone: 202-225-6616, fax: 202-226-7253

[wolfy-hound]

For the most part I tend to stay away from topics like this, but I am going to make an exception this time. First off incidents like the recent one in Florida SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED And I don't think any responsible snake keeper would disagree with me. What the answer is as how to fix it I don't know. But something needs to be done so that every John Doe with a couple hundred bucks can't just walk into a pet store and get a large snake, just because they think it makes them look cool!!!!! Maybe some sort of permit system where prospective snake owners can prove they know what they are getting into with large snakes. Something similar to they use for firearms where there is a seven day waiting period before you can get your firearm. Or in one city near to where I live you have to have a permit to own a pit bull dog. Sure we do not need more government intervention in our hobby, but maybe if there had been rules and regulations in place it MIGHT have saved the little girl in Florida!!!!!!!!! I have seen posts on this forum where someone asks if they are ready for a large snake...Well if you have to ask, then my guess would be that NO you are not ready!!!!!!

Excuse me? There ARE rules and regulations in place! The owner did NOT have the required permit and did NOT have the required caging, and did NOT have a LOCKED cage! There's already regulations and permits required in the state of Florida!

And look at what USARK said! "AMEND TO RESTRICT THE IMPORT OF BURMESE". It does not say to amend it to add burmese to the Lacey Act. It does not say to amend it to only say burmese banned. It says specifically to ask to amend to ban only the import of burmese.

Yes, you misunderstood what USARK said in the emails. No, you have not misunderstood the lawmakers goal. The lawmakers are not stupid, they are merely against snake keeping in many instances. That does not mean they are stupid, although some are misinformed, and some deliberately twist things to make it sound worse.

[Chris Rossi]

IM confused

[dsirkle]

If USARK is not going to be my stick why should I or any other reptile enthusiast ever join and give them money? Today we are tossing Burmese onto the sacrificial altar. What will we offer next time Congress demands a sacrifice?

Ball python people are so quick to dog pile on a Burmese ban because it doesn't appear to impact them. "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a cheeseburger today.". Sooner or later you have to pay.

I wonder how the rest of the reptile community will treat us when we're on the block...

By "stick" I mean something that you can effectively hit them with such as the 2nd amendment can be used as a stick to beat the anti gun politicians in court. USARK is a lobbying group. They can talk. They can ask. But they have no stick. Demanding that they prove that Burmese Pythons can migrate is just shooting blanks. They do not have to provide any proof to you or anyone else but they do have the authority to enact legislation. As it stands the whole Python genus is on the chopping block. And there is no stick. I have made my calls today and I don't feel like a quitter. I am not happy with the proposed legislation. The American people wanted to vote Big Brother into power to protect them from themselves and take care of them. Well here it is.

[bsd13]

For what it's worth here's my 2 cents...

We have to get them to pass sensible legislation not try to stop it altogether. That's a losing battle. The moment a 2 year old toddler got killed we knew something was going to happen. If it had been a 20 something that had been killed this would blow over, but because it was a 2 year old it is going to play out.

Having said that we should all be putting forth an effort to educate our representatives and explain to them that this is a state issue, not a national issue. That's why state's have legislative bodies to regulate their own selves. Basically what is happening here is that the entirety of the United States is going to be punished for the actions of a few citizens of one state.

[West Coast Jungle]

I dont think we should throw Burms under the bus but we do need to help structure laws that serve everyones interests.

North Carolina has recently passed realistic laws that dont ban but enforce liability for owning potentially dangerous animals. This is legislation which allows the pets by setting security and housing standards which in turn also protects other citizens. This is legislation influenced by herpetologists not media hysteria.

Laws like HR2811 are based on irrational fears not logic. The herp community needs to educate lawmakers and what we are seeing is this process. Keep calling, sending letters and faxes. The squeaky wheel gets the grease!

[Russ Lawson]

Colin, I agree 100% with everything you've said so far in this thread. I couldn't believe it at first when I saw USARK was so willing to sacrifice Burmese pythons. I actually found a different sample letter, lengthened it to an entire page from a couple paragraphs, and faxed it to EVERY member of the committee, not just the list provided by USARK.

I don't even keep burms at the moment, and personally am not very happy that a lot of the snake breeders of other species seem so willing to throw burm breeders under the bus just because they don't think it will directly affect them. Even if they get this thing reduced to only include importation, that will still include dwarf burms (currently listed as Python molurus bivittatus - same as mainland burms), which I was keen to add to my collection within the next few years. It will also open the door to more restrictive legislation concerning other species. If the government feels it must pass something in regards to the problem in the Everglades, they should make a federal license or something else, not a ban. I know I'd rather pay for that every year than not even be allowed to do out of state sales at all. Just seems like an all around bad situation for us. I am truly worried about the future of our hobby after today.