• In the past two days I have gotten emails asking about being requested to provide credit card info in order to register and also to make a post in the classifieds forums. PLEASE NOTE: In no instance will this site ask you for this sort of information. The only time any request for payment is made is if you choose to opt-in for a higher membership level, and that is done SOLELY through PayPal. Anything else is coming from a source other than this site. My guess is that this is coming through Google Adsense, but when I can get someone to send me a screen shot of this sort of request, I will know more.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

White House Python Ban Petition

The good folks over on RI got your email Rich and helping spread the word to get sigs:
http://www.reptileinsider.com/showthread.php?t=27351

AbsoluteApril said:
wow, I'm surprised by the response from Dr. Kerry Kriger,
Click to expand...

ah... SavetheFrogs (which does do some good conservation work) is very against non-natives and is working to get the bullfrog banned here in CA... so I guess I now understand why he wouldn't support the petition.
 

Attachments

  • SavetheFrogsgetsbans.jpg
    SavetheFrogsgetsbans.jpg
    177 KB · Views: 140
AbsoluteApril said:
The good folks over on RI got your email Rich and helping spread the word to get sigs:
http://www.reptileinsider.com/showthread.php?t=27351



ah... SavetheFrogs (which does do some good conservation work) is very against non-natives and is working to get the bullfrog banned here in CA... so I guess I now understand why he wouldn't support the petition.
Click to expand...

The guy never did tell me how far down the line he was to getting on the boat to leave the USA as a non-native species himself..... :rofl:

I love it how people can talk about eliminating ALL non-native species and apparently be in complete denial about Homo sapiens being the MOST invasive non-native species EVER on this continent.... But heck, that's apparently OK and they want the line drawn AFTER their ancestors colonized this land.

Just because a species may be a non-native doesn't necessarily mean it is BAD in all respects. Everything had to come from somewhere else originally. Not unless every living thing just spontaneously popped out of the air or ground where it is now found. So the question is, of course, are non-native species ONLY bad when they are introduced by humans (either purposely or accidentally), which are a non-native invasive species themselves? And ONLY bad when measured against some arbitrary range map that says where everything is supposed to belong at THIS point in time? If it is OK for human beings to spread out over every possible livable niche in the world, then why is it bad for other species to do the very same thing?

I guess the guy would just flip if he knew I have non-native bamboo groves on my property that I planted myself..... :rofl:

Really just playing devil's advocate here. I don't like the non-native fire ants and love bugs that have infested Florida neither..... ;)
 
I've been getting a substantial number of email replies from people complaining that they were unable to either register on the White House site or sign the petition after registering.

I guess this is pretty much par for the course for anything the government does, though. But obviously it does seriously deflate the numbers on the petition of people cannot access it when they try to.

I did lodge a complaint via the site, but I'm not holding my breath expecting a resolution. I know it may come as a shock to some, but the government REALLY doesn't care what we peons think and say.

As for those trying to sign the petition, please just keep at it. Many people can get through, so it's certainly not impossible to accomplish.
 
Got this today from Senator Udall

January 26, 2012

Dear Mr. Blount,

Thank you for contacting me regarding non-native snakes under the Lacey Act. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

The Lacey Act was enacted in 1900 to prevent hunters from killing game in one state and escaping prosecution by crossing state lines. It has evolved into a law that prohibits import, export, transport, purchase, or sale of species when that action would violate state, federal, tribal, or foreign law. Under the wildlife provisions of the Lacey Act, the U.S. Department of Interior is authorized to regulate the importation and interstate transport of wildlife species determined to be injurious to humans, the interests of agriculture, horticulture, forestry or to wildlife resources of the United States.

On January 17, 2012, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar announced a final rule that would ban the importation and interstate transportation of four non-native constrictor snakes. The final rule was issued following a public comment period, an economic analysis, and an environmental assessment. It lists the Burmese python, the yellow anaconda, and the northern and southern Africa pythons as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act in order to restrict their spread in the wild in the United States. The non-native species constrictor snakes have the potential to cause wide-spread damage to the ecosystems of many environmentally sensitive areas within the United States, such as the Everglades National Park. Burmese pythons have established breeding populations in the Everglades and have posed risk to native species, including endangered species.

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Interior proposed listing five other non-native snakes; the reticulated python, boa constrictor, DeSchauensee's anaconda, green anaconda and Beni anaconda. The new ruling does not affect these species. Those who currently own these species of snakes will be allowed to keep them dependent on state law. However, owners cannot take, send, or sell them across state lines. Please know I will continue to monitor this issue carefully and will keep your thoughts in mind should any related legislation come before the Senate for a vote.

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me. Please feel free to contact me with your concerns regarding any federal issue by visiting my website at www.tomudall.senate.gov. For more information, you may also visit my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Senator-Tom-Udall/106433512869 and receive up to the minute updates through my Twitter page at http://twitter.com/senatortomudall.

Very truly yours,
Signature
Tom Udall
United States Senator
Click to expand...
 
Only 4,880 signatures on that petition to date. Pretty pathetic.....

After sending out email notices to all registered members here (around 50,000), and even considering that 2,435 members alone logged into this site within the past 24 hours, getting only 4,880 signatures on a petition is the BEST that this industry can do? Not to mention all the rest of the sites out there bringing this issue to light?

Like I said, pretty pathetic.......... Or should that be pretty "apathetic"?

Oh well, apparently apathy is contagious.......... :shrug01:
 
Agree with Rich. We are sorry lot indeed when we can't even get 5,000 sigs. I put this on lizard forums, snake forums, facebook and did a small donation to usark. I figured there would be 25,000 burm owners with their hands up by now and maybe another 25,000 reptile hobbist that just want to help in the fight.
 
Yeah, I don't know what to do. I have posted on Craigslist and facebook. I guess people really don't care what happens. Kinda sad. Oh well. When they take everything, then they will whine and complain but it will be their own fault.
 
I know I'll probably get some flak for this, but I'm a little ambivalent toward the American bullfrog thing. It's a common misconception that the bullfrog is native to all of North America and they do a remarkable amount of damage. In fact, the damage they wreak is comparable to the cane toad (Bufo marinus) in some areas. I can certainly understand why some areas would want to ban them considering it is far more likely for people to knowingly release a bullfrog thinking they're doing a good thing rather than a 12 foot burm. You have to know you're doing a bad thing releasing a python because it's common sense they're not from around here. Bullfrogs? Less so. I would personally let the bullfrog thing go and concentrate on the snakes. Seeking to point fingers at people who disagree with us on a philosophical level really doesn't do much to address the politics of the burm problem.

Thank you for tolerating my (probably minority) opinion, and please, be gentle. :eek2:
 
I'm not fighting or arguing on the bullfrog thing, just using it to explain why that person was so against signing the petition to stop the ban of the pythons (since they are against keeping any non-native species)
 
BTW, if some people find that they are unable to register on the White House webpage, or not able to sign the petition after registering, there is a FEEDBACK link on that page that you really should use to lodge a complaint detailing your problem. If a substantial number of people cannot sign the petition because of deficiencies in the coding of the website, they really need to be made aware of that problem, and consider the number of logged signatures accordingly.
 
podcast from last friday night

I think a lot of people don't realize this is just a start and once they're done banning the bigger species, they'll continue on to the smaller species, down to frogs and even bugs. So the best approach imo, would be to advertise and outline the process. Also, we've got to find a way around the government site.
This next link is the podcast from last Friday night that Andrew Wyatt from USARK did, along with Ben Seigal to defend us. I thought he did a pretty good job.;

http://allanhandelman.blogspot.com/2012/01/passion-for-pythons-podcast.html?spref=fb
 
As of a few minutes ago, there are a paltry 5,151 signatures....barely 20% of the "required" number.
Sad :(
 
So we have 16 more days to get basically 20,000 more sigs... wow!! I can't believe people. I thought they would want to do more for the reptiles they love. I guess I was wrong.
 
hhmoore said:
As of a few minutes ago, there are a paltry 5,151 signatures....barely 20% of the "required" number.
Click to expand...

Just saw that when I went to see how many signatures there were by this time. Could only shake my head in disbelief! It truly saddens me.
I don't keep Burms & Large Pythons (and don't ever plan to) but I had signed the petition. My husband had signed it as well. There is very good reason to stand up against this ban.
When it comes to this matter, our Government, our rights, etc., I wish more people would quit burying their head in the sand.
 
There is a politically inspired saying that goes something like "There is POWER in numbers." Obviously many people don't stop to think what the REVERSE of that really means in the political arena.

So let me spell that out for you. If you are not part of a large enough population group in the eyes of politicians, then you have absolutely NO power whatsoever influencing the decisions that they make that affect YOUR life. YOU are completely and absolutely powerless alone, or in what looks like a VERY small fringe whacko group of "snake freaks", to them.

If you don't express your opinion, or make a vote to try to make a difference, then quite frankly, you just do not exist, and have absolutely NO influence in matters that SHOULD be important enough to you to at least raise your hand in protest. It is this sort of attitude that is why it is so easy for our government to literally walk all over our "rights" and thereby turn them into privileges doled out by petty little bureaucracies they create for this purpose via permits (do you know what they word LITERALLY means?), or taken away completely with barely a whimper (comparatively) of protest.
 
I wonder if the fact that there are multiple petitions has any impact on the number of signatures. It wouldn't be a significant impact, I know, because a) I'm sure there is a degree of repetition, and b) even combined, the three biggest ones that I am aware of would still leave us sadly lacking if they were considered entirely individual and added together.

And before anybody brings it up - yes, I did comment on the relative uselessness of some other petitions/polls posted in the recent past.....but, yes, I did sign this one. I wasn't one of the first; but I was in the first 1000, so it was fairly early in the process.
 
I posted this on some of the other forums I go to, and on one of them I was told that big snakes should be banned and that it wouldn't affect other animals. I don't beleive it, and that's why me, my husband and daughter all signed.
 
It all boils down to "it's not my problem".
Too many people not directly impacted by this could care less about signing it.

You see the same thing regarding bad sellers. People continue to buy from sellers who have ripped off a ton of others but hey, since he didn't rip me off, he's OK.
 
We need to remind all pet owners that this is their problem, too, because these same people tried to pass HR669, which would've banned all pets that weren't dogs, cats, or goldfish. Perhaps if more people knew of HR669 and that those pushing for this ban are the same ones behind that failed bill, they would realize how tenuous the legality of their own pets is. The "not my pet, not my problem" people need to be straight-up shown that it will not stop at large constrictors.
 
Back
Top