Recent Constrictor Rule Additions for the Lacey Act

[freedumbdclxvi]

Recently, USFWS added four large constrictors to the Lacey Act via the Constrictor Rule. We keepers and breeders are having our rights infringed here, and the public needs to know. USFWS Director Dan Ashe stated that, despite the law detailing that there needs to be evidence to add new species, there was no evidence and they made their decision based on a "feeling" that they could be injurious.

This is complete illegal government overreach.

We exotic keepers need to stand together, as we need all the help we can get.

http://www.fws.gov/verobeach/InvasiveSpecies.html

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pe...ated-pythons-and-anacondas-lacey-act/JV5jDMZv

Joining USARK as they gear up to take on this latest travesty is the best option all exotic keepers have to protect our right to enjoy the companionship of exotic pets.

People to Contact in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service:
Director, Dan Ashe: Telephone 202-208-4717, Email: dan_ashe@fws.gov
Address: U.5. Fish & Wildlife Service, 1849 C. Street, NW, ROOM 3331 Washington, DC 20240

Assistant Director, David Hoskins: Fish and Aquatic Conservation Telephone 703-358-1715 Email: david_hoskins@fws.gov Address: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS-ARLSQ 770, Arlington, VA 22203

Chief of Hatcheries, Mike Weimer, Fish and Aquatic Conservation Telephone 703-358-1715, Email: mike_weimer@fws.gov Address: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS-ARLSQ 770, Arlington, VA 22203

Southeast Regional Director, Cynthia Dohner Telephone 404- 679-4000, Email: cynthia_dohner@fws.gov Address: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 1849 Century Blvd., Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30345ello.

 

[The Snark]

Taking the role, in part, of the devils advocate.

Have you read and understand the Lacey act? If you answer yes to that question you are a liar or completely self deluded.

The Lacey act is a compilation of acts, sporadic and random government edicts, and public and private vested interests all having their say. The act itself in so incomprehensible and nebulous the proponents that use it can pick and choose as they see fit.

The Lacey act has done as much good as it has done harm. It is extremely benevolent and protective while at the same time being as self regulating and vicious as the Third Reich's SS. In short, it needs to be completely rewritten, broken down into sensible comprehensible sections. As it now stands, the right person or persons with sufficient grasp of the act and political maneuvering can employ it as desired, in or outside the scope and intents of the act.

Taking on a single talking point or action stemming from the Lacey Act is, quite frankly, pissing up a rope. You will never nail down a single instance of overreach with the act so arbitrarily compiled and applied. That is like voicing a gripe about the context of a paragraph in a book while the web press behind you continues to crank out thousands of books an hour.

Best of luck. Carry on.


PS. I'm an academic. A pseudo professional researcher if you will. I spent an hour reading the Lacey Act and TWELVE publications that define and explain the act. I got nowhere. I was able to keep up with the administrator of Hale Observatories explanation of applied Doppler effect equations and 'Doc' Richter's tectonic plates theory but Lacey left me completely in the dark and I've been on the sidelines of conservation for decades. It's piece of governmental legislation outside of governmental checks and balances that answers to no single person or agency and is able to make up it's own rules and it goes along. While it is under the USFWS, the scope of that agency is ... ridiculous. It's range of operation ranges from the erosion of the Queen Mary's hull to regulation clear cut logging to Michigan marsh grass to tide pool access restrictions in the Florida Keys. Any of the operations of the USFWS can be subverted by simply finding the correct authority to file the correctly worded EIR.

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

Snark, I absolutely agree. I should have clarified that my beef, as well as the beef of the large constrictor community at large, is with the Constrictor Rule made by executive order and *not* the Act itself as a whole. And, as you said, taking on a specific point in an act that can be made to enforce whatever they choose may be futile. However, I'm not sure what the best course is, which is why I'm not on USARK's legal team but rather trying to garner as much support as possible.

 

[Najakeeper]

Take money out of politics...the only solution to the master problem.

[YOUTUBE]W-hx-9Gvnnw[/YOUTUBE]

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

Take money out of politics...the only solution to the master problem.

[YOUTUBE]W-hx-9Gvnnw[/YOUTUBE]

I wish that would happen.

 

[The Snark]

Let's clarify a few things,

First, the average person who gets a pet animal is a rampaging douchebag moron first class. I'll direct your gaze to the millions of baby chicks, ducks and rabbits slaughtered every post Easter. While the exotic animals are rarer, the moron contingent is present in droves doing patentable stupid ****. If anyone wants to pass a law, rule or regulation they have tens of thousands of sterling examples of irresponsible owners to point at.

Second we have the others. At any given time there are 10 or 20 thousand lettered academics looking to add a few bucks to their nest egg. I refer to these fine people as A-whores. Academic whores selling their degrees. For example, a man I have known for many years, a retired hydrology professor, who picks up an extra $50,000 to $100,000 every year filling out Environmental Impact Reports for lumber companies. A couple I knew once cut down 8 trees on their 8 acre private property of about 50 trees. They were fined around $30,000. Next door to them a lumber company did a modified clear cut, taking all but 3 seed trees in a 240 acre cutting block. They had the EIR filled out by that retired professor. That by the way, was your land. Public property, a part of the National Forest.

So you have the Lacey act which authorizes the USFWS to act gestapo. In turn the Lacey act is just one of thousands of mandates that the USFWS operates under. In turn, if some clown in Washington wants to add additional bullcrap to the Lacey act and stomp on your rights to own or transport a certain animal they hold a public hearing. A few thousand responsible exotic animal keepers vs the A-whores that have hundreds of thousands or millions of morons of proof the amendment must happen. Guess who loses. They have the statistics and established veracity. The animal keepers are a small minority fringe contingent. Just look what it took the get net neutrality. Endorsement from the president and millions of complaints.

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

That's what I have been trying to tell people - we need outside support. But every time I ask one of the USARK people if they're going outside tje herp community, it gets ignored. I've touched base with the Libertarian Party and a couple other places that seem very receptive to at least spreading the word to their members, but I can't seem to get many people to follow through.

 

[The Snark]

I wish I had some positive suggestions. I went through hell and back for 10 years trying to protect the last stands of old growth redwood forests. Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Audubon Society, all powerless against the machine. The only thing we found that worked was Earth First! tree sitting and obstructing their operations and we were on the wrong side of the law. They tried to kill one of us with a car bomb and the FBI was on their side persecuting the victims.. What's the solution?