Next step of action for S373

The next step to fight this Bill S373 is to contact you local state senator with an in person meeting or if thats not possiable contact them and voice your feelings about S373.

We need more people involved in this fight and to become a member to USARK for future battles that need to be addressed.As stated before their are thousands of members in differant forums and web sites such as fauna and kingsnake we need to join in even if you dont own reptiles or if its not the reptile species that effects you at this current time. Keep getting NEWS media involved, the more we as a reptile nation come up in news, talk radio etc the more its going to sink in were not backing down. Todays hearing dosnt mean stop we have to keep going foward.

I am gonna tack on something related to your post.

With faxing still- whom do we fax? Since this is going to th enext level, should there be new representatives and sch we need to fax? I am kinda thinking the old ones wold be kinda pointless since it passed this initial vote.... if anyone knows, please let me know.

I agree, this has to go to the next step!

I would contact your state senators and the representative that represents your district. They will have to vote on this bill, and they need to know that this is yet another issue that you, as a voter, are concerned about.

Go visit your state representative with one of your ball pythons or boas. Take a stack of your feeding or breeding cards. Etc.

Show them this is your livelihood AND there's nothing scary about them. Then have a rational conversation about how this ban is not warranted. (And if you are in the colder states, point out that "investation" is impossible because your snakes wouldn't even survive the winters).

All it takes is one hysterical staffer and the rep will never listen to you.

Do NOT take Any animal uninvited into a place of employment. I have had employees that were scared of all animals no matter how small or harmless, they have the right to not be subjected to animals in their work place.

Plus if you're in a colder state you're stressing your snake and isn't part of the point to say that cold kills?

Make prior arrangements and/or bring pictures.

Good points. I said that sort of tongue and cheek but you are right that showing up with a snake is not a good idea.

One big problem i feel we have is getting the attention of all the members everywhere. Fauna alone has over 61,000 members but yet on the site of open congress their were only over 500 who voted. Im sure KS has alot more members too. My opinion i think in order to get more aware is each site sends out an e-mails to all members and stop the web sites for 1 day and have info on their front page only about whats going on and what to do this will wake up everyone and realize their is a problem that needs everyones att and their is no time to sit back and hope it will pass.

Just my 2 cents

I do definatly plan to talk with my representative, but I feel that a lone isnt enough.

After chating with other people in a chat room, I came to the conclusion that I am really gonna hound freinds and co workers and family members to join in in the faxing. Bless my mom's heart- she hates snakes and she sent emails! if only I can get other peoples permission to fax in their name.

See, I plan on doing all the work- gonna get an account with myfax.com and do the faxing via email- I just need their permission. This way, they can't use the excuse that they dont have time and yadda yadda yadda.

It just seems so hard to get other people involved if it don't concern them- they have no reptiles what-so-ever. But I feel if we don't get non-reptile people involved as well, we may fall short.

The only thing I know is I ain't going down without a fight!

Thankyous for the more info and the insight on this. If anyone else has more suggestions, please speak up so we all can do our very best to work together and take appropriate action.

Janet

Even if you don't keep pythons yourself, the simple fact of the matter is that yet another freedom is about to be taken from you. That should be enough to get any reasonable person fired up over this...

Also, be extremely careful how you word your arguments. Despite common belief, owning a pet or any animal is not a "right", it's a privilege. There is no "right" to pet ownership in the Bill of Rights, Constitution, or Amendments. A lawyer or politician will laugh at you. Besides, it's a weak argument.

If you want to defend your privilege to own reptiles, you must present yourself as knowledgeable in conservation issues and the proper, responsible care of these animals. Present your arguments logically and rationally. Do not fall into the easy trap of extremist activism.

The advice given by other people in this thread is well founded. I suggest people use this advice when contacting their senators.

In addition, the reptile community needs to be centralized. Join a paid membership lobby group, such as USARK (United States Association of Reptile Keepers). Do NOT give money to the Humane Society. They are an extremist left-wing political group like PETA. I think this is fairly obvious considering their recent campaigns.