Inundate US F&W eith e-mail...

[Adam_Wysocki]

I believe the campaign should continue but I believe we should all be prepared for the worst.

I agree that the campaign should continue as well, but I think it should continue in a way the compliments the efforts being taken up out of the public eye by PIJAC and USARK and not in a way that makes those efforts more difficult.

As far as being prepared for the worst, I personally feel that your analysis of this latest event is incorrect. Politicians that have no scientific back ground voting yes or no without any scientific debate is when we should have been prepared for the worst.

The regulatory process that will be initiated by the USFWS has a great possibility of working out favorably for us. That is why Senator Nelson introduced S373 instead of having USFWS initiate the listing process for Burmese pythons. Nelson knew that the listing process wasn't a "sure thing" and that S373 would be.

Worst case scenario we may lose some snakes, but we dont have to lose them all. I myself have BCC's and SD Retics. The BCC's will get about as big as a boa can and they may be in danger due to this ban. The SD Retic's on the other hand get no bigger than a large king snake.

Personally, I can't agree with the idea of suggesting to the government that it's "ok" to take some animals if they'll leave others alone if the result is that responsible pet owners will be able to continue to own those animals and not be allowed to share the same liberties that other pet owners can. There is actually a potential constitutional challenge hidden in that idea, but that's a whole different story.

Also understand at least with the legislative process for HR2811 & S373 that "giving them something" is endorsing the idea that the USGS report is correct ... the politicians logic is that if the report is wrong as we claim it is, why would we compromise? Once we put our stamp of approval on banning "some" animals it will open the door for our opponents to justify banning many more in the future.

If we compromise every time the groups that seek to end the ownership of these animals come at us, how long until we give it all away? How many times do we "compromise" before we chose to draw our line in the sand? How many pet owners that have done nothing wrong have to suck it up and be screwed over to save someone elses pets? Who gets to decide who loses their animals for each compromise and who gets to keep them?

I say we draw our line in the sand today ... right now ... they are afraid of us, the USFWS announcement proves it. They thought that 669, 2811, & 373 would be "easy" to get through, they weren't ... we disrupted their plans in a big way and we're only starting to get organized. If we hold our ground we can win and come out the other side even stronger.

We must fight tooth and nail to make sure that the only way these animals should ever be listed as injurious is via the regulatory listing process. We must be united in our belief that no matter what species you keep, what message board you hang out on, who your favorite breeder is, or what group you support for fighting the laws that people that own pets responsibly, who are doing the right thing, obeying the law, and taking the best care of the animals in their lives should not be stripped of those freedoms ... ever.

Respectfully,
-adam