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John,
What I meant by "too vague" is that this petition is about wildlife collection fees and does not address the issue of permit costs, excessive insurance regulations, the keeping of non-indigenous venomous species, or indigenous non venomous species.
My concerns are that unless you are an educational or scientific organization, you are forbidden to possess these animals. Or, you can pay $236 per year, per animal, for the permit. But, that is only after you have paid in excess of $800 per year, per animal for insurance.
Just one animal will cost over $1000.0 per year !!!!!!!! That is EXCESSIVE !!!!!!!
Think of it another way: You have an Eastern Diamondback for free. This thing will kill you just as dead as a cobra, mamba, krait, or whatever venomous you can think of. Insurance not required, per not required.
Or, that 21ft reticulated python can squeeze the life out of you in minutes. It is a legal animal. But, touch a cornsnake and you go to jail and pay fines the rest of your life. But, the cornsnake cannot harm you.
My question is what kind of crackhead thought of these laws and who authorized it???? No real thought was given to the logical foundation of the laws. You can have this killer, but not that one. You can have this thing that can kill but not the ones that cannot kill. ???????????????????????????
I understand that alot of this was written to prevent the release of animals that could cause enviromental conflict with indigenous animals, but boas and pythons have the ability to do the same.
Another reason behind the current laws is preservation of naturally occuring species. No, I don't want to see all of the states' cornsnakes in captivity. But, what are the odds of that???
Why are roundups still legal??? The Claxton roundup was started in 1967 because a guy was bitten by an EDB. That was 37 years ago. Do they not think they got the culprit yet??? From 1967 to 1999, 7,850 rattlesnakes lost their lives. And that does not include 1970. There was no offical record that year.
And this is preservation ? ???????????
Lets discuss the other animals that persished, the habitats destroyed, for the pleasure of chasing one snake. And was that bite, in 1967, a legitimate bite?????
The rattlesnake population is so low now that most snakes are brought in from other towns and other states. Georgia's preservation laws are now affecting other states.
These are some of the issues the laws should address. The collection fee you wrote of should NEVER exsist. How is paying the DNR replacing, or preserving, the species??? It cannot. The only real solution to this issue is that people should progagate a species and release the offspring to the wild. The snakes at roundups should be released into woodlands not normally tresspassed upon, or given to individuals that have the expirience to propagate those species, not killed.
If I had the finances, I would buy the snakes from the roundups and do this, but I do not. The state does, and can, do it. If preservation is the issue, and the state wanted to, it could be done.
Just my two cents...................
Michael Parkinson
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