sschind

It was my understanding that this is separate from the captive wildlife bill that was enacted in the summer of 02 and had not been passed yet. If you are correct, I got nothing out of the madison hearing that indicated anything of the sort of enforcement or animal specifics.

Al;

You have presented a very good synopsis of the situation, and it would seem that the GB meeting was better attended than the Madison one. I had considering closing down for the day to attend the GB meeting and voice my concerns and ask questions that were raised at madison one but it just wasn't practical. In essence I would agree with your comments, but there is just one that got to me. Its not so much that I disagree with the comment, In I fact agree with it completely. It's just that the comment itself sounds like you (and others, including myself, who have voiced the same thing) are getting ready to throw in the towel.

As long as you never intend to purchase an animal from out of state again, or travel with your animals out of state and plan on returning with them, then no, you won't be impacted by this statute. That comment sounds much like the one that went out to many people from Ed Stone from Madison. He was very concerned about this untill he found out that his breeding and selling of snakes within Wisconsin would not be hampered. All of a sudden, this turned into a good thing.

All this bill will do is serve to kill any sort of variety available at any Wisconsin swap meet. Take a look at the vendors at any swap, and now remove any that travel here from outside Wisconsin. If they have to go through all the trouble of getting permits for each and every animal they bring into the state, many will say the heck with it and not even bother.

Part of the problem is that the herp comunity is still so divided. Its still, breeders VS importers, VS pet shops, VS swap vendors VS etc. etc. A lot of people are looking at this as "oh, it will only affect pet shops and since all pet shops suck anyway this is not a bad thing" The truth is that while some people may benefit from this most will not.

I speak as someone who lives close to the Illinois border. I travel to the Streamwood swap regularly (I don't really buy much there because I can't find what I want very often) but I do buy feeders from there. I would assume that this will affect me and my neighbors more than it will affect those of you from farther up north, but it will affect us all. And I would venture to guess that way up nort dere there are not as many people selling locally raised snakes so more have to be purchased from farther ranging sources which I would assume would involve out of state purchases. (before you get on me about the up nort thing, I was born and raised in Chippewa Falls and I still consider myself a Northerner.) It will not affect those of you who are into the expensive stuff as much as it will affect the beginner. If you are paying $1000.00 for a snake whats another $25.00 or so for a vet cert. but what about the people who are starting out on the 20.00 corn snakes and leopard geckos.

One other factor that is overlooked. What about people like Rich. I don't know how many of his customers are from Wisconsin, but this will have an impact on him as well. I bought 40 or so snakes from him last year. If I have to get a certificate of health for each one, I will probably look elsewhere. This bodes well for Jim at SW Wisconsin reptile, but it sure cuts into my options, not to mention Rich's customer base.

This will not only affect reptiles. It will affect ALL animals, and while we may not give a rats patoot about a rats patoot, all animal lovers have to stick together. There was a petition at streamwood yesterday about a bill that bans interstate trade of all small mammels or something to that effect. Aside from feeders we may not have concerns about small animals, but when they get their foot in the door with small animals the next step just may be reptiles.

I don't know what the answers are. I don't know If I will get answers to the questions I raised in my letter or not. All I know is this. This industry (the pet industry) is hurt more by people who are out to make a quick buck by selling crappy animals than anything else. You may not be in the market for those animals, and if you get ripped off for $2000.00 on the next hot morph snake it may not seem like it to you, but face it. That scam artist who got to you will not have as much of an impact on the hobby (or business, or whatever you call it) as the guy who imports the next $25.00 exotic rodent that was not properly quarantined and causes the next outbreak of whatever pox. In most instances I am preaching to the choir here. For the most part people who come to these forums are pretty much of a like mind set when it comes to this. The sad part is that the people who have the most negative influence on us are the ones that don't care. if things close down they will either move on to something else or continue underground making criminal out of even more unsuspecting people and further damaging the hobby. As bad as it sounds, Sometimes I wonder why I even stay in this hobby.

Sorry about the rant, I hope you can make heads or tails out of what I wrote.

Steve Schindler