It's far easier for politicians to introduce blanket legislation in the time of a tragedy so they are seen as doing "something" about the "problem". This is purely for votes, and not because they seek to understand the issue. Instead of holding individuals accountable, they attack the object or the animal because if they look at the unbiased, real CDC statistics...20+ people are killed every year by dogs (mostly kids and the elderly), 200+ people are killed by domesticated farm animals, 80000+ people are killed in alcohol related incidents, and you're 10 times more likely to be killed by your toaster (or other small electrical appliance)...they'll see it as it truly is: a simple, horrific tragedy that is extremely rare in our hobby. Only one other person has been killed in the U.S. by an African Rock python in the last 15-20 years. Let's not forget the USFWS has even proved that constricting snakes cannot live anywhere north of Florida in their own study.
All this information is fine and dandy, but the politicians don't look at it. And with the introduction of legislation that would allow the USFWS to add ANY species to Lacey without due process, we can probably kiss our hobby goodbye as we know it. The only way we can attempt to overcome these hurdles is by action. Talking about it in these forums is great, but no one hears us. We need to take our views to our Congressional Representative and support organizations like USARK that do speak for us. Moreover, we need to educate.
So if you're wondering what you can do, head over to the USARK website and follow the steps to oppose Categorical Exclusion AND the recent push to add Boas, Reticulated Pythons, and others to Lacey. Without the sum of our individual efforts, we'll be shot down:
http://usark.org/action-alert/usfws-...l-exclusion-2/
http://usark.org/press-releases/acti...-as-injurious/
Reply With Quote