Quote Originally Posted by ER12 View Post
Reptile65- Thanks for the insight. However, this is what perplexes me about this:

1) If her stated goal is to either close down or regulate puppy mills, then how will proposing to end all retail sales of dogs and cats in one municipality have any impact? Puppy mills will simply sell their sub-standard stock through other venues and to other retail locations in other municipalities...

Likewise and similiarly,

2) How does the inclusion of reptiles and most other species of animals besides cats and dogs accomplish this goal at all?

3) It seems to me that the girl who started this petition clearly has no clue or expertise in reptile husbandry, since she actually made the comparison between many species of small, easily kept/managed captive bred herps and a large, free roaming wild caught mammal that is seldom kept as a pet to begin with. To me, that diminishes her credibility greatly.

Just because the issue is a petition now does not mean it should not be considered any less of a threat to our hobby. I have seen such AR agenda based ordinances pass in several local municipalities, subseqntlly serving as precedents later for the same regulations statewide. These college students may mean well, but it seems that they don't fully understand the issue they are trying to advocate against, how to properly address the issue, and what implications their petition will have, if successful. That combination of ignorance and emotionally driven influence is what I find dangerous and alarming.
I couldn't agree more. There's a reason I didn't sign the petition. The thing that makes me sad is that I think these people have good intentions, but they don't realize that this type of regulation will have more negative consequences than positive ones. I definitely think there are better ways to go about solving the issue of puppy mills and kitten factories.