Easy E-mail form for Hillsborough County Commissioners
 

Here is the URL where you can easily write an e-mail to all the Hillsborough County Commissioners:

http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/mail/email.html

My Letter to the Hillsbourough Authorities
 

You may be aware of this but there are very strict and correct regulations on exotic animal ownership in Florida already.
For example, to own a tiger there are requirements. These requirements are things such as
A minimum of 5 acres of property, a minimum of 8 foot fence all around that said property and caging requirements with doubkle safety doors, etc.
You also have to have 1,000 hours of experience, two letters of recomendation(that few people ever write), and an inspection of the future facilities. This is done with the classification of all wildlife. They range from Class 3(Monkeys and similar not dangerous(to lives) animals. Class II which is slightly more dangerous and CLASS I which is lions tigers, and bears, oh my, plus elephants, etc.
Florida Fish and Game is and has done a wonderful job of keeping these regulations in place and enforcing them. Many many more accidents would occur if these regulations were not in place. They have full jurisdiction and it should remain so. Why spend county tax dollars on something the state has willingly and shall keep willingly pay with their own money?
Use the county tax dollars for better uses such as improving schools, paying yourselves more, paying teachers more, etc.
The state regulates these animals and checks every detail before you can own one.
Banning smaller things such as pythons, boas, iguanas, etc is ridiculous as these are not dangerous to humans. If you compare statistics from government agencies not HUmane societies which are alwasy against any animal ownership and exagerate many many details to an extreme just to make this industry look bad you will see that Dogs of all kinds, and to make it juicier, exclude pitbulls, rottweilers, and dobermans, cause more fatalities and more casualties than these exotics. It is very similar to the salmonella banning by the FDA of baby turtles. If you compare the number of salmonella infections from chicken and other foods, it by far exceeds the recorded cases from baby turtles as an example. I believe the last statistic I read showed that salmonella from any reptile only accounted for half of a half percent in the overall picture.
Details are twisted and revferted to make certain organizations look like they have base on certain subjects when they are way off.
Our industry plays fair. We follow regulations of Fish and Wildlife departments, federal and state. We follow regs by USDA, FDA, CDC, and many more.
Please do not make it unfortunate and kill alot of peoples livelihood over one or two incidents in your area.
We bring many tax dollars when it comes to sales and the like. This is a billion dollar industry.
Not a flea market, cheap industry. We actually number in the millions of pet owners and breeders. This is excluding dogs, cats, brids and fish.After those industires are removed we have MANY MANY millions of people who are into our hobby and love.
Exotic animals have a place in every ones hearts and it is just not right or feasibly reasonable to ban exotics at all.
Even if the pets cannot be held or touched, these pets bring joy to their lives. They are also used worldwide in eduactional programs, tv documentaries on conservation and more.
You ban exotics and your removing people hearts right out of their body.
Please take this letter seriously and do not condone the entire industry because of a few bad apples.
Thank You.
Mike Barrera
M n R-Reptiles
Permitted by the Florida Fish and Game Commission.

The Hillsborough County Commissioners will again try to ban reptiles and exotics at the January 2004 Hillsborough County Commission Meeting.
This ban will probably spread to the rest of Florida and then the rest of the U.S.
Here is a very easy e-mail form where you can send your comments to all of the Hillsborough County Commissioners:

http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/mail/email.html

Us Fish & Wildlife Undercover Scam
 

I just received an email from Lauren who runs the Reptile shows in So. Fla. and in it she mentions about vendors being approached to buy some Scarlet Kings. Apparently 3 vendors were interested and they were cited with summonses for attempting to purchase these snakes without knowing whether the seller had a permit! The sellers were undercover wildlife people.

Has anyone received any similar email from Lauren or could possibly elaborate as to who the 3 vendors were. JERRY TRESSER

Jerry,

I did not receive the e-mail but if it did happen it would have been Florida Fish & Wildlife and not USF&W. In the State of Florida in order to sell reptiles a person or entity must have the Florida Class III license to exhibit or sell reptiles. Florida F&W have done this many times in the past at many different locations. I have had them try and sell me Venomous snakes only to be turned away when asked if they had the VR permit. It is not uncommon at all now a days for these types of stings to happen.

ROB, the email did not specify other
 

than fish and game officers. In either case, if someone offers me a Leopard gecko , am I obligated in asking to see their permit? Do I have to ask them if they even have a permit?

Also, would it not hold true that who ever bought anything at the show today should have a permit prior to buying anything? What if I was only interested and did not commit to a purchase? Apparently they were waiting for the vendors after the 5pm closing and then gave them summonses outside of the motel. I am only speculating here, but this is a shame. JERRY

Jerry,

The people purchasing animals as attendees don't have to see if the vendor has a permit to sell but a person that is a seller must verify that the person trying to sell to them does in fact have a permit. So if some little kid came up to you and wanted to sell you a leopard Gecko you could not (according to Florida FWS) buy that animal from him if he did not posses the Class III license. Technically in a case like that both the buyer and seller could get fined. It is a BS rule but that is part of the Licensing policy of this state.

Being careful is a must in this hobby...remember operation slither ...well one of the undercover officers was in a wheelchair and he could walk[one of the people busted in the sting saw him walking at the station and another officer yelled that he was seen]
The point I am making is these 'official' are getting sneakier and sneakier so lets not give them a reason to justify thier jobs.

JOHN, your advise is well taken,
 

Laurens show is a small show. It is remarkable that fish & wildlife would go through the trouble of attempting to entrap some of these vendors that way. If we were dealing with stolen herps or illegal herps I could understand, but this petty, unnecessary form of activity really got me thinking.

Can you imagine what would happen if in the future, anyone who would want to purchase a herp would have to have a permit BEFORE, they could buy it. That concept may not be to far off.

Very dissapointing when you go to a show and have to deal with these people who seem to spend alot of manpower trying to trap people who probably did not want the snake in the first place.
JERRY

Just received from Lauren
 

hi guys
jason gave me permission to repeat his story so others can learn other wise I would not of said tell tales out of school

Snakes Unlimited Jason hood -- the undercover offered him some scarlet kings, Jason asked for his permit/license undercover replied no I don't have one. Jason said sorry i cant buy them from u but what i can do is if you give me the snakes for free i can give you $35 to buy your permit hence the bust

other 2 busted
susin tippie for a hedgehog
and her friend tom repyile vendor from out of state


Slithery Kisses- Lauren
I don t know who these people are, but I think if my memory serves me right the person Tom Repyle is from Wisc. and his business name is Canopy Creations (but I could be wrong). You draw your own conclusions from Laurens email. JERRY