Quote Originally Posted by Gorgias View Post
I have to admit that I have also seen things that made me strongly question whether or not we should be allowed to own exotics. Anyone who has been involved with exotics for an extended period of time will probably know what I’m talking about, especially those who have experiences with birds. The neglect and horror stories are mind blowing, but I have only recently begun to get into snakes.
If this is a good enough reason for us to not be allowed to own exotics, then no animal ownership should be allowed by any person for any reason. Yes, I'm including farmers too. That means we'll all have to go vegan. The fact is, there are "mind blowing" cases of negliect and abuse of all kinds of animals. The cute furry are not exempt from it. But you don't see people proposing that we outlaw dog & cat ownership.

There are also places where there are established wild populations of dogs & cats, and I'm quite sure some of them do harm to threatened or endangered species. But you don't see people proposing that we outlaw dog & cat ownership.

It is really scary when even people in the hobby begin to fall for their propaganda.

I don’t believe that H.R. 669 will become a law
If no one believes it, if no one takes action against it, then it WILL become law, or at least something very similar. You yourself pointed out:

It would (from what I’ve read) require the USFW to evaluate a giant range: (http://www.defenders.org/resources/p..._2000-2004.pdf)
Of species in a variety of hypothetical situations in 36 months. This seems to me beyond imagination. Because it’s better to err on the side of caution, the USFW would put almost all the species on the banned list.
This is EXACTLY what the supporters of this law want! This will not stop them from passing the law. If you think it should not be passed because it is unrealistic that the USFW could possibly do a good job of evaluating all these species in only 30 months, then you should be writing to your senators and representatives and everyone else you can think of, and telling them not to pass this law for this very reason. Don't count on them to figure it out. They probably don't care one way or the other, so if the only people they hear from are the ones pushing the law, you can bet it will be passed.

This would be a huge blow to the pet industry and the major chains would suffer for sure. I don’t think it realistic, and there would be too much money involved to ignore.
Maybe. If they realize how big of a blow it would be. That is why we all need to be writing them and making them aware.

Even if both these fail, this issue WILL NOT go away. If you read into the history of the animal rights movement you will find that they are very persistent and undaunted by failure.
I'm glad you realize that. But does that mean we should just lie down and accept it? I hardly think so. It just means we have to get ourselves organized, and be just as persistent and undaunted as they are.

I believe anything large and dangerous (Tigers, Bears) along with primates and most likely large and venomous snakes will at some point be banned.
Does that mean that all large and dangerous dogs will eventually be banned also? I hope not, and I doubt it, because dog owners are not going to just accept it. We shouldn't either.

It should be our goal as hobbyists to meet the animal rights movement half way.
ABSOLUTELY NOT! As you have already pointed out, they are persistent. They won't stop just because we give them half of the cake. They will continue trying to take away the other half. Thinking this way is very dangerous.

The one thing I think MIGHT be a good idea that we can agree on with the people pushing for these laws is some sort of permit or licensing. After all, as far as I am aware, you can't legally own a dog without a license. This has been true everywhere I've lived at least. But it is still scary for many reptile owners. Because then they have a list of everyone who owns one and when they pass the next law, they know which doors to knock on to take the snakes away. It isn't so scary for dog owners, because they can be pretty certain dog ownership isn't going to become illegal any time soon. Maybe what would work is to write a law requiring a license or permit, but also guaranteeing anyone who owns a properly licensed reptile will be grandfathered in on any future legislation that would ban said ownership. That still could be overturned by future legislation, but I think lawmakers would at least think long & hard about overturning something like that.

That's about the only piece of the cake I'm willing to give up.