Snake lab, have you been paying *any* attention over the last 5 years? It started out as an attempt to ban all non-native wildlife and got reduced over time to 9 species, and now only 4. Yeah, we lost something, and we need to fight to get it back, but we lost a lot less than they were originally trying to take from us. I have to believe that the efforts of USARK lobbying and individuals making phone calls and writing their congresspeople and senators had an impact.
Obviously the fight isn't over for either side, but to claim that defeat is a foregone conclusion borders on the absurd. We can fight HSUS and win; we just have to get the general public to understand what HSUS (and PETA) are really all about.