Reptile Show Ethics???

Hi all, I am new to this forum and have had a great time reading all the interesting posts.

I am a hobbiest breeder, nothing big just 1 breeding pair of BD. I have been traveling to the reptile shows in my area this year and have noticed a disturbing dichotomy. All shows have a standard table fee, but some shows allow people to pay an entry fee and bring along their own animals to the show for "Trade" purposes. I guess the idea is that someone might have an animal that a vendor might want to trade. Fine, but what I have seen at these shows is people comming in with random snakes over their shoulder, just to show them off. One case in particular a woman had a large rainbow boa with a raging upper respiratory infection. The thing was sneezing all over peoples tables and nobody said anything! Even more bothersome was the group of young girls toting around a bucket of bearded dragons with signs tapped to their backs that read "ask us about our dragons, $85 each" These girls hung out at the show for at least 2 hours, cruising the crowd. I don't know if they sold any, but why should I pay a table fee if I could just pay an entry fee, bring a bucket of lizards and work the crowd? (I would never do this, BTW, I feel it is unethical). There were many more people doing this, these were just 2 examples. I asked the people in charge what was up with all these off the street vendors? The reply was, "we don't usually get this many", but nothing was done. I was really fed up when a giant fat man with 3 adult dragons in a box labled FOR SALE stood opposite my table for 20 min. Thats when I decided I would not come back.

I come from the southwest, land of the IRBA shows. Outside animals are never allowed into the shows. I expected the same when I moved to the other side of the country. I've learned that the industry over here is VERY different than what I'm used to.

What I would like to know is, why do people bother to go to shows like this? With the risks of disease and off the street competition the way it is, I don't think I will go back. I'll stick to the shows that do not allow animals in off the street.

I did not want to mention the shows in particular, some of them have rather good reputations. I am just looking for some oppinions (I'm sure I'll get some good ones

Thanks for listening!
(sorry for any spelling errors, i'm not a child, just a poor speller!)
Kisha