Let me tell you though - what's going to make a larger impact, is if you contact your Senator's local offices and make an appointment to meet with him/her while they're on a holiday break to talk to them.
Tell them how this bill will affect YOU personally. A great majority of our members are pet owners, not breeders. Tell your congressman that this discriminates against your type of pet. Tell him that if this law passes, you can't even take you beloved pet with you if you accept a job in another state, how you'll either have to re-home it or destroy it. Ask them why a ban has to be enacted FEDERALLY to address a problem with an eco-system that is only found in the FL Everglades.
Ask them to ponder this. If there's really a concern about these animals migrating north and overtaking other states, why isn't there a problem with them NOW? Is Florida the ONLY state that people release their pets? Georgia is the closest state to Florida and yet we don't have the same problem that they do. Does that mean that Georgians are more responsible keepers than Floridians? No, it doesn't - it means that as little as one state north, the animals cannot survive through one winter season to pro-create.
Hit your senator from a PERSONAL level, not from a business level. And yes, even tell them that you HIRED them to represent you, and thank them for their no vote (don't ask them for it, thank them for it as if you expect it). I even plan to let mine know, that if they plan to vote for it, I will plan to vote NOT to re-elect them when their term is over. Politely of course.
Above ALL else - do not become emotional (although a single tear rolling down the side of your cheek when you talk about having to destroy your animal if you ever had to leave the state to avoid violating a Federal law, might pull at some heart strings! LOL). But when I say emotional - I mean keep your cool - and carry yourself professionally.
Call you Senator's office today and schedule an appointment with him/her over the next few weeks.
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