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How anti-snake legislation gets proposed
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by Buzztail1 on November 27, 2006
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I have been looking into the various agencies that are very active in proposing bans on keeping venomous snakes. Each year new legislation is proposed.
Here are a few examples with links:
Ohio Legislation
H 643 Prohibits Exotic Animals as “Pets”
http://www.api4animals.org/legislation?p=945&more=1&cat=136
"In Ohio during the last 10 years, there have been a string of incidents involving venomous snakes, wild cats and non-human primates that have left individuals injured and even including some deaths. For example, on 09/06/04, a woman in North College Hill died after being bitten by one of her venomous snakes. The American Veterinary Medical Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all oppose private possession of certain dangerous wild animals."
Louisiana Legislation
H 783 Bans the Possession of Dangerous Reptiles and Primates
http://www.api4animals.org/legislation?p=799&more=1&cat=119
"According to the University of Florida, more than 7,000 venomous snake bites are reported annually in the U.S., 15 of which result in death. When in the hands of private individuals, the animals themselves may suffer as a result of a lack of the special care, housing, diet, and maintenance that are required but which the average person cannot provide."
"Update: Sadly, this bill failed to complete the legislative process prior to session adjournment."
The Animal Protection Institute is quite involved in pushing legislation to regulate the keeping and eventual ban on the keeping of any and all animals. Apparently, they keep track of reported bites and animals incidents to use as ammunition for proposed legislation. This link was quite helpful as a starting place to see who (statewise) has banned what:
http://www.api4animals.org/b4a2_exotic_animals_summary.php
Karl
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RE: How anti-snake legislation gets proposed
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by MoccasinMan on November 27, 2006
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The Animal Protection Institute (API) has the largest legal dept. of any AR group in the country. A woman by the name of Nicole Paquette is the director. She is the one who wrote this bill that has been circulated through countless states. It is the same language we are dealing with in NC/SC. It has passed in TN, KY and NY.
API's partner in crime is the Humane Society of the United States. Most legislators think of them as the local humane society. Not even close. HSUS is by far the largest and most powerful of the extreme AR groups. They lend the political muscle and influence to API's legal effort. They work together to implement the largest and most effective propaganda and lobbying machine in the AR world.
And if they haven't been to your state yet... expect them to arrive with lots of money and lawyers in tow in the very near future.
A high profile victory by NCARK in NC would set them back considerably.
Andrew
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RE: How anti-snake legislation gets proposed
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by AquaHerp on November 27, 2006
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Karl,
I love these things. Well, not really. This is typical propaganda at its best though. These folks can write anything they want and people buy it because they won't investigate it for themselves.
The truth of the matter is; the AVMA has NO stance whatsoever on keeping exotic pets at all. Their website has their positions on various items but not a single line on keeping exotics. The USDA...the same. Again, if USDA had issues with people keeping exotic cats they would simply pull the permits and that would be the end of it, no questions asked. USDA does not even regulate herps, birds or fish. AZA, has some issues with primates and large carnivores, they shy a little short of herps. The bottom line is, don't ever trust what you read from the AR machine, use your common sense, take a breath or two and take a few minutes to investigate for yourself. You'll find that they try to get by with smokescreens and twisted logic and hope that everyone will simply follow blindly. We aren't cattle are we folks?
DH
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RE: How anti-snake legislation gets proposed
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by LarryDFishel on November 27, 2006
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And now the full-court press...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061128/ap_on_re_us/threats_from_the_wild
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RE: How anti-snake legislation gets proposed
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by kacz on November 27, 2006
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May I quote your quote?
"According to the University of Florida, more than 7,000 venomous snake bites are reported annually in the U.S., 15 of which result in death. When in the hands of private individuals, the animals themselves may suffer as a result of a lack of the special care, housing, diet, and maintenance that are required but which the average person cannot provide."
This quote consists of two sentences. The first gives dubious data and warning us all that death is near! The second singles out private keepers. The way this is stated infers that U of F expects almost all of us to be in serious discomfort over the next 12 months. And to 15 of you, well, it's been nice knowing you! What horse hockey!! There is no evidence that suggests that those stats are in any way related to private keepers.
Even the 7000 bites is suspect. It doesn't make sense! If it's not private keepers we have to assume that a large percentage is bites outdoors. If you take into account the 5 months of winter in most of the country the absudity of this statistic becomes even more obvious. Without any knowledge of how the 7000 number was derived, it is meaningless. In order to confirm the veracity of the data you must know the protocol, the methodology and the constraints.
The 19th century British statesman, Benjiman Disraeli, once stated "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics!" The Bambi huggers, self-serving elitists, and all of those who are trying to save us from ourselves, are only too happy to parrot this mindless rhetoric.
Paul M. Kaczmarczik
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RE: How anti-snake legislation gets proposed
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by LarryDFishel on November 27, 2006
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Those numbers are actually pretty well accepted. But if you read carefully, they didn't actually say they had anything to do with private keepers and they don't. Those are all bites in the U.S..
They also do almost exactly the same thing with the salonella stats. They give this huge number of salmonella infections and something like 89 deaths and then as if it's an afterthought they say that most of those are from FOOD. So the other 95% have WHAT to do with exotic pets? Looks quite intentional to me.
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RE: How anti-snake legislation gets proposed
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by kacz on November 27, 2006
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Larry,
If those numbers are accurate I stand corrected, and absolutely amazed! I am in full agreement with your position on intentional bias. Your statement “if you read carefully” pretty much sums it up. If you word things to elicit the maximum reaction it serves two groups particularly well. For the media it sells more newspapers, and for the politicians it buys more votes. To many people, readers and voters all, our interest in venomous reptiles marks us as pariahs. To those people the SHHS may as well be “The Society For Shooting Firearms Wildly Into the Air Near Densely Populated Urban Centers”! They perceive what we espouse as a tangible threat to their well-being. We’re just such easy marks. A campaign against us is too easily regarded as common sense.
You really have to hand it to organizations like NCARK (North Carolina Association of Reptile Keepers). Not only do they have to change the legislator’s perception of our interests, they must convince them to forego the votes. That they have had any successes is pretty amazing.
Paul M. Kaczmarczik
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RE: How anti-snake legislation gets proposed
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by MoccasinMan on November 28, 2006
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According to Dr. Mark Mitchell, an epidemiologist from LSU who has done the most recent and comprehensive studies on reptile related Salmonella, only 3-5% of all cases can be attributed to reptiles... and of those cases the majority of infections are attributed to the green iguana and red eared slider.
Andrew
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RE: How anti-snake legislation gets proposed
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by Buzztail1 on November 28, 2006
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It just keeps getting worse.
I live in a little bitty Southeastern town.
While visiting the local Huddle House for breakfast with one of my sons and his family this morning, I looked out the window and the local newspaper box caught my eye.
Sure enough it was an AP article titled "Trendy exotic pets pose a security threat" by John Solomon.
Front page, of course, was Paris Hilton with "Baby Luv" her pet Kinkajou which bit her amidst much publicity.
Each and every news report about the latest venomous bite gives them (API, HSUS, etc) the ammunition that they need to push for a ban on keeping reptiles. And they take every possible avenue to apply that data to statistics in order to achieve their goals.
I have a sinking feeling that the hobby of keeping venomous snakes will eventually be driven back "underground" where it was before the advent of the Internet. Organizations like NCARK have their work cut out for them. They can use all our voices and help to keep our hobby legal and viable.
Karl
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RE: How anti-snake legislation gets proposed
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by Cro on November 29, 2006
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One thing that comes to mind is that Reptile Keepers are usually lumped in with other Exotic Animal Keepers.
It is very rare that an Reptile injures anyone besides its own keeper.
On the other side of the issue, are folks who are allowed to keep animals like Tigers, Lions, Wolves, and Bears. These folks often use these animals out in public, where the potential for someone getting hurt or killed is much greater. There have been several people killed by "tame" Big Cats when the cats were used to pose with people for photos and magic acts.
People have also been killed by their Wolfs, as these animals have a very rigid social structure that must be respected by the keeper / owner.
I guess what I am trying to say, is that some of the folks who keep large exotic animals, or inappropriate small exotic animals (monkeys, kinkajoos, etc), really should not be keeping them. It is often an accident waiting to happen.
It would be good if the Reptile Community could somehow Seperate Itself from keepers of other exotic animals, as the other animals are going to get a lot of bad press when the pet tiger eats the high school girl who was posing with it for a photo.
Just some random thoughts to get the thread going again.
Best Regards JohnZ
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