USFWS Salamander Injurious Listing 01/13/2016
 

From http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=...&id=dde2fe05f8:

Salamander Injurious Listing

As posted on our Facebook page this morning, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will post tomorrow (1/13/15) in the federal register an interim rule listing 201 species (from 20 genera) of salamanders as injurious. This will prohibit importation and interstate transportation. The interim rule will be effective 15 days after posting in the register.

"This action is necessary to protect the interests of wildlife and wildlife resources from the introduction, establishment, and spread of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans [Bsal] into ecosystems of the United States." - FWS

This is an interim and not a final rule. There will be a 60 day comment period. USARK will post updates following the federal register posting.

See all species to be listed on pages 90-99 at the link below.

Read the pre-filing document at http://www.usark.org/wp-content/uplo...-Injurious.pdf.

More information at http://www.fws.gov/injuriouswildlife/salamanders.html.

View the USARK newsletter from December 2014 regarding Bsal at http://www.us4.campaign-archive1.com...&id=2a51d02304.

Donate to the USARK Legal Defense Fund

Information for making donations online and via check/money order can be found at www.usark.org/reptile-defense-fund-2/. You can make one-time, weekly, monthly or annual donations. You can also include a message that will be posted on the Legal Defense Fund Donor Wall at http://www.usark.org/usark-announcem...se-donor-wall/ for all to see. You can even choose to make your donation or donation amount anonymous. Thanks for your support as we battle FWS to restore the freedoms of the Reptile Nation.

An import ban is a good measure. It's a pity it took a disease for the USFWS to bother to stop the import of wild caught animals. However, the inter-state trade in these animals by hobbyists who captive breed them will be devastated by this. What is USARK going to do about it?! First they stop inter-state trade in salamanders. Then they may decide that the latest Ranavirus strain means they will ban inter-state trade in frogs. Then it's on to snakes and lizards. The inter-state trade ban needs to be fought or more bans will follow that you _do_ care about. Don't let this precedent stand.

Remember that no one has ever had direct evidence of inter-state captive trade introducing Chytrid fungus, but researchers have carried Chytrid to populations of endangered amphibians and wiped them out. If Chytrid/B.d. Wasn't proven to be spread by hobbyists, it seems unlikely that the less robust pathogen B. sal. will be spread by them either. For more information on this please drop by Caudata.org.

USARK please do your job, before it's too late.

The Interstate Commerce issues is being addressed through USARK's constrictor lawsuit. One of the major issues has to do with whether FWS has the right to block that trade under the Lacey Act, as we see from USARK's latest filings. That ruling (if USARK wins) would apply across the board to Interstate Commerce.

Why reptile hobbyists need to be worried: https://andreww1blog.wordpress.com/2...-as-injurious/

Wyatt created this mess with his tactics of pretending to fight bills so they just get reintroduced....please do share his info...he has done more than enough damage to this industry.....

Oh and on a side note my last thread about how usark lawsuit and pushing fws on the issue of what fws have the authority to do,,would only cause fws to seek out more authority and look to bypass judicial processes even more...well I guess 201 species of salamanders getting added by a rule change that was made possible by catx that also was a rule change that bypassed the judicial process,,might be an indication that I was right again.

If usark wins their case on 18 usc 42 not giving fws the authority to ban interstate commerce fws will get an amendment to lacey act giving them the authority to do so.....would anybody like to bet against my prediction?

Regardless of the outcome, do your part and help fight this. The importation isn't crazy, but their thought that only 340 cb caudata are sold annually is insane. Click the green box on the right side of the page the link I'm posting brings up. Comment. Show them that the herp industry isn't going to bow out. Show them that the sales of caudata on that list are far higher than they think. If it isn't stopped here, it'll push to frogs, then they'll target fish and reptiles. You can mark those words. Also, I don't believe it's that simple to redraft something like the lacey act to better FWS use of it. But again, we can and should fight that tooth and nail. Just like this.
https://www.federalregister.gov/arti...chytrid-fungus

People need to remember this listing isn't like the python listing based on fake threat of being invasive.....I'm not saying that the salamander listing was necessary but what has the reptile industry offered up in way scientific information to prove the listing isn't needed...the reptile industry I'd going to have to work with fws in the future if it hopes to slow down all these listing

I definitely agree that the USFWS does not have a leg to stand on. They do not have a legal basis of it so even if they tried to enforce it, they would not have an argument in court. What they are trying to do basically is bully people into not getting, or giving up their pets. This is a lot like the situation with mini potbelly pigs. Many people are bullied by their city government, etc. to try to get them them to give up their pet pig. Almost every time someone went to court over it, the case was dismissed because it is not illegal. This seems to be the case with the salamander ban. The Lacey Act states "any shipment between the continental United States, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any possession of the United States of [an injurious species] is hereby prohibited." According to this, all the states that make up the continental US are grouped together and counted as one, and because of that, interstate transport of states within the continental US is perfectly legal. Transport between any of the states in the continental US and for example, Hawaii, would be illegal though because Hawaii is not a part of the continental US.