Click link for contact info and where to send comments!
https://usark.org/2021-sc-venom/
UPDATE: There must be constant phone calls and emails today and tomorrow morning (May 10/11) if there is any chance to stop this! We have new sample letters and more below. If you already called/emailed, do it again! If either bill passes tomorrow, phone calls and emails must be immediately redirected to the Governor’s office (see below). There are also herpetoculturists gathering at the Capitol on May 11 to bring attention to this unjust action. Details at
https://www.facebook.com/events/349721659823007.
Contact the SC legislators ASAP! It only takes a few minutes! This is a backdoor effort to completely ban non-native venomous reptiles just before the last day of the session. This was done to hide from the opposition and it makes a mockery of the legislative process and American government. After returning from a short recess, the vote will happen on Tuesday (May 11).
Two bills moving through the South Carolina legislature regarding non-herpetoculture matters were amended to include a ban on non-native venomous reptiles. Both bills were nearly through the legislative process when the amendments were added. H3539 adds the ban to the previous text regarding swine. H3056 completely stripped the previous bill language regarding various SCDNR laws and replaced it with this ban.
The bills vary slightly but both will:
1.ban all non-native venomous reptiles of the class Reptilia belonging to the families Elapidae, Crotalidae, Viperidae, and Hydrophiidae;
2.ban all non-native venomous reptiles in the genus Heloderma;
3.ban all non-native venomous reptiles in the family Colubridae belonging to the genera: Rhabdophis, Boiga, Dispholidus, Thelatornis, and Atractapsi;
4.make it unlawful for a person to import into, possess, keep, purchase, have custody or control of, reproduce, or sell a non-native venomous reptile, including transactions conducted via the Internet;
5.find that a person who possesses non-native venomous reptiles may be guilty of a felony and may be fined up to five thousand dollars or imprisoned up to five years.
Exceptions allowed only for:
•Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited facilities;
•any business engaged in the public exhibition of non-native venomous reptiles. The exhibition must be at a non-traveling, fixed facility that is open to the public for a time no less than thirty hours per week for at least six months each year.
Bill differences (we have links to both bill texts at the bottom of the alert):
•H3056 is an immediate, overnight ban! You cannot keep current animals and you are an instant criminal if it passes.
•H3539 does allow for current animals to be kept (but no breeding, sales, future acquisitions, etc.) if you register them, pay a fee (one hundred dollars per non-native venomous reptile), and follow the new rules of compliance.
•Violation of either bill would be a felony and the person may be fined up to five thousand dollars or imprisoned up to five years.