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Old 11-20-2011, 03:23 PM   #23
Taking Up Serpents
Other than laws like the proposed one in Ohio, most are only targeting the big snake, venomous and crocs. That is why the focus is on them. They are not selling them out or throwing them under the bus, whatever you want to call it.
Chipping is done in Florida and I agree with it there. Any where possible to have escapes live annually should consider some sort of tagging. So the mention of chipping and registration is already done in some places of major concern such as Florida where animals can survive. That's as far is it goes. I have read it in text and heard it from the ARK; they do not push for bans; any of the above you mentioned is the line in the sand. It's the most you will get out of them.
To say that owners of retics and venomous are selling themselves out doesn't make sense. And to not acknowledge that there are those out there with no business of having a reptile of concern is shortening the rope around our collective necks. Standards need to be set in caging and management. What is wrong with a sheet of listed venomous in a keeper's room and their anti-venoms for first responders? What's wrong with latching or locking doors on enclosures? No one is going to inspect it unless enough complaints are filed with local animal control/law enforcement and a red flag is raised.
Should these standards be advocated nation wide? Yes. Should every state have to chip their animals? No. Only those that live in states with hospitable climate and conditions should consider chipping their foreign species.
If you can agree to that and bite protocols for hots, caging standards for them and the big constrictors (boas are not bigguns) and crocs are sensible then you really don't have to be afraid of anything USARK is doing. Did that clarify much? Because we really don't need to be going at each other at a time like this with all eyes on us.