Feeder Crickets: illegal in RI soon?

alidpayne

Arachnoknight
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Apr 12, 2003
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As you may or may not be aware, Rhode Island is trying to pass HB 5817. If passed, this would inadvertently stop anyone in RI from owning a Tarantula, because it makes the use of "feeder animals" a crime. Yes, that's right, a CRIME.

That includes Crickets and other insects that are routinely used as food for our tarantulas. If the bill passes into law any person who is caught doing this will lose all of their animals. So does this mean RI tarantula owners are supposed to starve their pets to death? Wouldn't they be violating the same act that way?

Oh wait, I know. They have to put their tarantulas in the car, drive on over the nearest state line and feed the animals there. Then bring them back home with a full belly. Repeat as necessary. I guess it is a good thing that RI is a very small state, the pet owners won't have to drive too
many hours to reach the state lines. And what about the serious hobbyists who breed tarantulas? Yep, they better buy a large van or a bus for these frequent state line trips. Just think about the money that all the bait shops popping up on the RI state line will make. That brings up another interesting thought. Will fishing also be illegal in RI? I mean, is using a worm or a cricket to fish any different than feeding it to your tarantula or lizard?

I don't personally live in RI, but if this law passes in RI how long will it be before other states do the same? You can get the details at the PIJAC website using the following link. What can we do to stop this?

http://www.pijac.org/files/public/RIH5817II.03.pdf

Now, don't get me wrong. I am all for the humane treatment of animals. I think people who abuse or neglect their pets are the worst form of scum, and deserve to be punished. There are positive points to this bill, but making it illegal to feed a cricket to a pet that only eats live prey is ridiculous and it only creates new abuse situations. How many people in RI are going to try to get their animals to eat something unsuitable and just let them starve to death?

A. D. Payne
 

Weapon-X

Arachnodemon
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Jul 19, 2002
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re

that is the lamest law i have ever heard, stop freeze! put down the cricket and step away from it! we are doing this for the well being of others! puuuleeeassse, talk about lame... so if you go outside and catch a moth or cricket on your porch will you be arrested,lol screw them man, i'm glad i don't live there--Jeff
 

slice9

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 26, 2003
Messages
35
The lack of sense makes me really believe there is no way that law could ever pass. Regal Reptiles, one of the largest wholesalers of Ts, which resides in Providence RI would be kinda screwed if that law went in to effect. Next time I talk to Pat Kane their invert guy I'll ask him about that law.
 

Buspirone

Arachnoprince
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Mar 10, 2003
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This is the scariest part of that law:

5817 grants full police powers to private groups who would be empowered to arrest pet owners, confiscate animals, execute warrants, and inspect private property. Such persons would be granted immunity against civil suit for illegal actions introduced in Rhode Island that would empower any society incorporated for the protection against animal abuse to exercise police powers.
A severe violation of personal rights.

I guess fishing with live bait would be out of the question too.
 

sunnymarcie

Celestial Spider
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Feb 13, 2003
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1,294
Who the Heck are they kidding!? What a ridiculous idea!
What do they think these critters eat anyway? We are only
trying to provide a NATURAL ENVIRONMENT for our T's.:rolleyes: :mad: :mad:

Sure glad that I do not have to deal with that crap!
 

Grael

Arachnolord
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Mar 3, 2003
Messages
606
lmao america has some of the stupiest laws no offense ^_^ we kinda have the same here which is pretty stupid, feeder insects are allowed, but we are not allowed to feed live mammals (ie mice etc) to our inverts and herps, but there is a loop hole! if the pet wont eat anything else and will die of stravation then it will =D

oh another stupid one you can have sex at 16 but you cant watch porn or buy any pornographic stuff until 18! like WTF!?its been the same for years......
 

jwb121377

Arachnoangel
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Well if the (lame) law gets passed you could always try and switch your collection over to beff heart and frozed/thawed pinkys.
 

RugbyDave

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Apr 5, 2003
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Whats next, are they going to outlaw humans cos we eat other animals? i'm waiting for the day where they just kill everyone since they decide to outlaw EVERYTHING because someone, somewhere has a moral issue with it..

damn, we'll slaughter cows,a nd keep baby calves in wodden crates in very inhumane (in my opinion) ways, and we'll trowl through the seas clubbing baby seals and whales and fish and lobsters, and there's actually a law trying to get passed thats against feeder crickets? oh man....


oh man :)
peace
dave
 

alidpayne

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Apr 12, 2003
Messages
152
I should mention that this law is not intended to be against feeder crickets. It is meant to make animal abuse punishment tougher, which it is certainly doing.

As someone pointed out, there is also part of this law that will "allow animal protection agencies to have police powers.

So the bottom line here is that if this law passes, and you live in RI you are gonna have a hard time. If the human society busts in your house (cause now they will be cops and can get a warrant to bust in your house when that old lady next door calls them and says you eat all those spiders you have or something). Anyway, when they bust in your house and catch you feeding a cricket to one of your T's, well you are screwed. They can cuff you on the spot for animal cruelty. They will take you in and take all your animals. You could be in jail for a year and face up to $10,000 in fines. Then, if you are convicted, you will be banned from owning or living with ANY ANIMALS for a five to ten year period. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention, you will also have to pay the humane society to take care of all the pets they took from your house untill they get adopted.

All that because you fed a cricket to your T.

Ali
 

willywonka

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Apr 2, 2003
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Does RI have any zoos? Wouldn't this law affect them as well? I can only hope that there are some smart lawmakers in RI but as we all know, smart lawmakers is an oxymoron. Good luck to all of you who live in RI and let the rest of us hope that this is not going to be a trend.
 

Action Jackson

Arachnosquire
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Apr 3, 2003
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I'm afraid that the only answer is invert anarchy in rhode island. Down with the system.
 

Kugellager

ArachnoJester of the Ancient Ones
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Then technically this law should put ALL exterminators out of business, outlaw all pesticides and moustraps.

John
];')
 

Wade

Arachnoking
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Aug 16, 2002
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Don't be fooled, folks. This has nothing to do with the welfare of the crickets or mice. What it's about is shutting down the exotic pet trade. If this thing passes, it becomes legally impossible to keep a huge range of inverts and herps...probably 90% of the biz.

They tried the same type of crap a couple of years ago when they tried to standardize the way animals are shipped, claiming they only wanted to insure they were shipped humanely. What they proposed, however, were regulations that would require that you take the same precautions when shipping a spider that you would take when shipping...oh, say a tiger or chipmanzee. The added cost would have made it completely imractical to ship invertebrates or reptiles at all.

Then there's that California bill that requires all pet stores to give away species-specific care sheets with every animal...just to make it a bigger pain to sell them.

AND then there's the HSUS move to ban all reptiles due to the risk of samonella (hmmm...an animal rights group worried about human welfare...anybody suspicious?).

Every little thing that makes it that much harder to own an exotic pet is a step towards their goal.
These people are not only facists, but cowards to boot. They know nobody would swallow their agendas if proposed in a straight forward way, so they go with these back door strategies.

Hopfully, this thing will get shot down for what it is.

Wade
 

XOskeletonRED

Arachnodemon
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Jan 6, 2003
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707
Most definitely in agreement with all of you. Glad I don't live there but I'd love to live on the border to see what they'd try. I'd keep my inverts on the other side of the house. *lol* If they came in my front door, which would, of course, be in the other state, I take them all to court for trespassing and eat them all alive! Idiots! I think we should all start contacting those clowns just to make sure we piss em' off enough that they leave it alone...permanently! Afterwards, if they open another issue ever again, we start writing...again.


adios,
edw. :mad:
 

D-Man

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Feb 27, 2003
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Vote, vote, vote!!!!!

Bitch all you want, but the way to make an impact is to vote and to get your friends and family to vote. Shoot these measures down with your vote.
 
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