School Speech

[disabled.101]

Matt and I are going to speak at our school assembly tomorrow. This is what we would like to say but we are open to any ideas of what we should add or edit
Remember this is for Freshmen through Seniors at High School so attention span is sort of short

What is HR 669?
H.R. 669 stands for House Resolution 669 and is titled "The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act". It is a bill currently before Congress that if passed will change the way that the US Government classifies animal species that are not native to the United States. H.R. 669 will make it illegal to breed and sell many animals that are very common in the pet trade.

Why should you care about HR 669?
Anyone with pet fish, birds, reptiles, or small mammals will be affected by this bill. Any company selling product or services for pet fish, birds, reptiles or small mammals will be affected by this bill. Would you be impacted by "The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act"?
• Virtually all fish in an aquarium are not native to the United States
• Most pet birds are species not native to the US
• Most reptiles kept as pets are not native to the US
• Hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs and ferrets are not native to the US
What can you do to stop HR 669?
Pet owners support the concept of a risk based approach to non-native imports, unfortunately H.R. 669 as drafted does not provide a constructive way forward.

You can help by standing up and making your voice heard. Let your Representative know that you oppose H.R. 669 as drafted and the financial and/or emotional effect it will have on you, or your friends, or your family members if it passes.
To help go to www.nohr669.com
All you do is type in your name and zip code and hit send. Then a prewritten email will be sent to your representatives.
Thanks

[disabled.101]

BUMP

Input is appreciated please help

[dsirkle]

It is more than likely that the audience that you address will be totally unaware of this proposed legislation. Many of them will have fish, birds, gerbils etc that will be affected by this Bill. If you make them aware of all the common pets that will be affected if this legislation goes into effect and ask them to inform their parents and to email their legislators to urge them not to support this bill you may do some good and get a good grade as well.

[Beardedragon]

Make sure you mention how it would affect petco and petsmart, because that would relate to how when they go in there to look at the animals, that there will no longer be as many... if they can even stay open.

[DutchHerp]

Yeah, Till, like I said, maybe we should get it personal.

Ask like, "With a show of hands, how many of you have pets other than cats, dogs, and gold fish?"

Then start talking about how if this new legislation gets passed, the breeding, selling, and transportation of over state lines will be a violation of the law.

And tell them they can keep their animals, but that they won't be able to supply them with supplies and food anymore.

Make it personal, get them scared.

[dsirkle]

If their fish or gerbils breed they will be lawbreakers that are subject to fines. Matthew has the right idea. We Americans tend to get worked up at the suggestion of a loss of rights or freedoms.

[disabled.101]

So to scare them I should tell them I have 1 kitten for each person in this room. The kittens are adorable, lovable, cute and tiny. If they don't go on the website the kittens disappear?

Na I like kittens. Hmmm re-write the speech Matt and email or post it here and we will edit

[disabled.101]

If their fish or gerbils breed they will be lawbreakers that are subject to fines. Matthew has the right idea. We Americans tend to get worked up at the suggestion of a loss of rights or freedoms.

We go to an international school. Half the kids are french and maybe 10% of the school is American and most of us will leave this country when we graduate.

But it is a good point
Hmm yea Matthew you have the right idea
Lets scare em... The thing is we have to be loud and get em to shut it and listen

[dsirkle]

We go to an international school. Half the kids are french and maybe 10% of the school is American and most of us will leave this country when we graduate.

Well then, most of them would not be affected for long. As long as the French can take their chien to the restaurant with them they will be happy. Seriously, would this group really care about this issue? Would this be a good topic for this particular school? Maybe an International topic would be better, like the fur trade for example. The two of you are passionate about that subject.

[rainglow]

Good speech, I'd go more in depth about maybe bettas, guppies, hamsters, parakeets etc as they're quite common. A lot of people in my school don't care and wouldn't care if I gave a speech on 669 to them because yea they do have really short attention spans.

I do wish you luck on your presentation I hope you get more people to go against this bill.