Brother, sister allegedly smuggled rare boa constrictor into US (Jeremy Stone)

Originally Posted by KnM-Reptiles

when brian shot snakebytes at petes he told us that. that really sucks, but i dont believe the buyers were sought after, i think any breeding of such animal if its even going on is done behind closed doors and kept from the public until all of it blows over. and who can prove that the offspring were from the princess diamond? cant you say a freak lucy was produced from a "sunglow x jungle het" pairing?

If that were the case then why aren't they on the market by now? There were only a handful of snakes from one clutch produced by the original... easy for the feds to track them down and snatch them from the owners (at least those that were still in the country.. doubt they could have done much about any that might have gone to europe).

Originally Posted by Wraith

If that were the case then why aren't they on the market by now? There were only a handful of snakes from one clutch produced by the original... easy for the feds to track them down and snatch them from the owners (at least those that were still in the country.. doubt they could have done much about any that might have gone to europe).

theyre on the market and theyre in america, they arent on the market to the public yet because no snake breeder wants to deal with the publicity like "omg you have a leucistic boa!" if you know the right people to call and youve got a nice chunk of cash you could land your hand on some hets lol

Originally Posted by Wraith

If that were the case then why aren't they on the market by now? There were only a handful of snakes from one clutch produced by the original... easy for the feds to track them down and snatch them from the owners (at least those that were still in the country.. doubt they could have done much about any that might have gone to europe).

the feds arent coming after people with hets.

In the case of the leucistic hognose. The feds did in fact track down all het offspring purchased (and the hets sold for $10,000 each and more) and confiscated them. Anyone that purchased the hets knowing they were of illegal origin were also prosecuted. The feds will track down everyone that purchased animals from Jeremy and confiscate those animals as well. All the hognose that were confiscated ended up going to a zoo, who in turn ended up auctioning some of them off to the public. Once the zoo has legal possession of them, they are within the means of the law to sell them at that point. The same will happened with these boas Im sure. The ones confiscated will likely go to a zoo, but who knows what that zoo will end up doing with them. In any event you are right about the hets, they will track them down and confiscate them but it isnt likely they will get all of them. The animals will come back around one day. Also Im not sure how the laws work with out of country buyers. I would think it would be determined by the laws in their respective countries.
Will

Originally Posted by wohlerswi

In the case of the leucistic hognose. The feds did in fact track down all het offspring purchased (and the hets sold for $10,000 each and more) and confiscated them. Anyone that purchased the hets knowing they were of illegal origin were also prosecuted. The feds will track down everyone that purchased animals from Jeremy and confiscate those animals as well. All the hognose that were confiscated ended up going to a zoo, who in turn ended up auctioning some of them off to the public. Once the zoo has legal possession of them, they are within the means of the law to sell them at that point. The same will happened with these boas Im sure. The ones confiscated will likely go to a zoo, but who knows what that zoo will end up doing with them. In any event you are right about the hets, they will track them down and confiscate them but it isnt likely they will get all of them. The animals will come back around one day. Also Im not sure how the laws work with out of country buyers. I would think it would be determined by the laws in their respective countries.
Will

Misinformed? I prefer optimistic. Jeremy is a fantastic guy! Everyone likes him around I just want to see this case end well. Who says this is going to model the hognose case? It's not worth the feds time nor money to come after the hets so them coming after people with them could happen but it's unlikely.

Originally Posted by KnM-Reptiles

Jeremy is a fantastic guy! Everyone likes him around

Assuming even a third of the charges are true, he's a reptile smuggler and destroys the credibility of your hobby. If he is guilty I hope he goes away. Cases like this are part of the reason Brazil is difficult to export from even for scientists. You all (and I say that to you, as an enabler, and to him, if found guilty) make it difficult for the people trying to professionally study the organisms.

It has nothing to do with how good of a guy Jeremy is. Hell Ive known him for 15 years. Thats not the point. The point is he has been found to be in violation of the Lacey Act, and the feds will track down every animal they can that he sold. It has nothing to do with time and resources when it comes to the Lacey Act. Any animal that was produced from that leucistic boa is also illegal and considered a violation of the Lacey Act as well. They will track most if not all of them down, and thats that.

Jeremy can be argued as a good guy all day, but fact of the matter is he knowingly smuggled an animal out of Brazil for profit. Not good for Jeremy, not good for the hobby, and certainly doesnt help the case for future potential exports from Brazil. It hurts us and the animals all around. No one is saying he is a bad guy, just made a real bad decision fueled by money.
Will

If you think that's what it's about then you haven't known Jeremy for 15 years. You don't know what his situation is and I'm not going to sit here and talk about the doom he brought the hobby...because he hasn't.

I have known Jeremy for 15 years like I said. Yes it was about money. Importing all new morphs is about potential profit. Do you think he imported it for the greater good of the hobby? You are silly if you think anything other than its because of money. If it wasnt about money he would have never brought the animal into the states illegally. He damn sure wouldnt have payed what he did for the animal. He would have left it in Brazil where it is suppose to be. You apparently dont know Jeremy. Talking to him at shows is not the same as knowing him. Buying a couple animals from him isnt the same as knowing him. Speculating on if he is a good guy or not doesnt change the fact he directly broke the law. I didnt say he doomed our hobby by any means, I simply said what he did wasnt good for the hobby. Do you think what he did will positively or negatively affect out hobby? Sounds to me like you have an ax to grind, and maybe you were one of the ones that purchased an animal from him? If thats the case the feds will be at your door soon enough regardless if you think he had good intentions. It was purely about profit my uninformed friend.
Will

Originally Posted by wohlerswi

In the case of the leucistic hognose. The feds did in fact track down all het offspring purchased (and the hets sold for $10,000 each and more) and confiscated them. Anyone that purchased the hets knowing they were of illegal origin were also prosecuted. The feds will track down everyone that purchased animals from Jeremy and confiscate those animals as well. All the hognose that were confiscated ended up going to a zoo, who in turn ended up auctioning some of them off to the public. Once the zoo has legal possession of them, they are within the means of the law to sell them at that point. The same will happened with these boas Im sure. The ones confiscated will likely go to a zoo, but who knows what that zoo will end up doing with them. In any event you are right about the hets, they will track them down and confiscate them but it isnt likely they will get all of them. The animals will come back around one day. Also Im not sure how the laws work with out of country buyers. I would think it would be determined by the laws in their respective countries.
Will

Brazil is demanding the return of all offspring. Their zoos will get them and likely the trait will be lost unless someone breeds their lucy male or het males for poss offspring.