PENNSYLVANIA LAW CHANGE ALERT!

From Fred Bruckman

We need everyone's help!

The PA Fish and Boat Commission will be presented with a proposed rulemaking at their meeting on Tues April 26^th . The meeting starts at 8AM at the Pa Fish and Boat headquarters building in Harrisburg. It will be held in the Susquehanna Room. Please try to attend.

This proposal will:

-Ban the importation and sale of every color morph and every subspecies of native PA species! There is no question about the inclusion of subspecies in the prohibition.

No Lampropeltis getula - Eastern, California, & Florida kings, etc.
No Lampropeltis triangulum - Eastern, Sinaloan, & Honduran milksnakes, etc.
No Elaphe obsoleta (Pantherophis alleganiensis) - black, yellow, &
everglades ratsnakes, etc.
No Thamnophis sirtalis - Eastern, redsided, redspotted, flame, &
melanistic garter snakes, etc.
No Terrapene carolina - eastern, Gulf, three-toed, or Florida, etc.
No common snappers - Chelydra serpentina
No painted turtles - Chrysemys picta
No Apalone spinifera - Eastern spiny softshell turtle and other
species/subspecies etc. etc.

They set a limit of one per species, but they don't make provisions for what will happen to the snakes that are "over limit" - confiscated, euthanized - don't know! Or what will happen to the owner, for that matter - fines?

-Make you guilty of a crime until you prove your innocence if you carry tongs or a hook in the woods outside the six weeks of rattlesnake season. Ridiculous.

-Lower the native reptile possession limit from 2 to 1 with NO scientific support for this action.

-Require a $50 /year permit to capture a Northern Copperhead though they admit there is no scientific evidence that collecting is affecting the population. This proposal appears to me to be prompted by the desire to prevent us from carrying hooks and tongs in the woods outside of the rattlesnake season. I am in favor of the other conservation measures for timbers, but think law enforcement ought to be able to catch illegal hunters with snakes in the bag not assume that I am guilty of hunting timbers because I'm carrying a snakehook or tongs for use in positioning
non-venomous snakes for photographs.

-There is more some very GOOD, some very bad. If we as citizens let this kind of regulation take effect eventually it will result in these folks making a regs that ban the keeping of reptiles completely because that's the way they THINK it should be. We must insist on scientific accountability or we are surrendering!

If you think this proposal is ok because it doesn't affect what you do, think again! It is a huge step in the direction of a total ban. If allowed to stand it will empower government agencies and step by step they will impose their beliefs on us without the necessity of backing them up with scientific evidence.

With the exception of the timber rattlesnake changes, there is no science behind any of this.

Captive breeding protects wild populations by fulfilling demand for desirable species. Do you really think that there are still folks out commercially collecting corn snakes or pine snakes, or cal kings? Of course not. It is more profitable to call a large breeder and buy them wholesale for resale than it is to collect them.

An analysis of the reptile market through the internet, shows that the VAST majority (90+ %) of domestic reptiles for sale in the US are CAPTIVE produced. Pa Fish and Boat does not refute this FACT. The choose
to ignore it.

This whole thing is based on a tradition in conservation agencies of preventing commercialization. It originated early in the century when bird feathers were in great demand for ladies hats. Feathers don't reproduce in captivity. Reptiles do. It is apples and oranges.

For the text of the proposed reg, go to http://www.fish.state.pa.us/ then click on the Agendas/Minutes menu on the left, then below "April 25-26" click on agenda. It's a .pdf file.

PLEASE CALL:
(email if you can)

PA. Fish and Boat Executive Director Douglas Austin 717-705-7801
Go here to email -
https://www.state.pa.us/papower/cwp/view.asp?a=1093&q=438119

PA. Senate Game and Fisheries Com. Chair. Joe Conti 717-787-7305
email - jconti@pasenate.gov

PA. House Game and Fisheries Com. Chair Bruce Smith 717-783-8783
As far as I can tell Rep. Smith has no email.

If you are a PA resident please call your own state senator and representative. You can find who they are at:

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/find.cfm

There's a new yahoo group - PA Animal Law (PAL) - please consider joining for updates as we get them in, posts may be a bit sparse at first, but it's still early in the game.......

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PAAnimalLaw/

Thanks to all in advance for your help!!!

Fred Bruckman