New federal law may make keeping scorpions and tarantulas impossible.

[pitbulllady]

the hearing was today, i cant find the out come anywhere...

Great news! I just got an email from USARK...HR669 is effectively DEAD in committee! There were TONS of mail delivered to Congressmen imploring them to stop this thing in its tracks. The only way it can ever pass is to be completely re-written and re-filed, but for now, it's history. None of us can rest on our laurels, though, since the big driving force behind this bill, HSUS and rest of the AR people WILL be back with more bills. You can count on that. I'm sure that there will be additional posts from the USARK reps here to fill everyone in, but for now, we can breathe a bit easier. For NOW. You can bet that if they fail to make headway at the Federal level, though, HSUS will push for the same bill on a state level.

pitbulllady

 

[tabor]

the sponsor of the bill was the representative from Guam, i just realized this

Glad it didn't pass, didn't think it would.

cant wait to get my law degree

 

[BeakerTheMighty]

Dodged that bullet. Now we get to wait for the next one :-/ .

 

[BrianWI]

It is NOT dead. It will be back, count on it. It is going to be modified.

What many hobbies currently under attack don't realize is that this is an epidemic of governement out of control. In my state, we gave to register such things as even a single chicken! They say its for disease control, but many of these animal things are not truly based on that. What IS the part they hate is how we operate outside of tax laws. Animal auctions, online pets sales, swaps, etc., all contain sales where th govt is not collecting its "deserved" revenue. Heck, why do you think ballast water on the Great Lakes and other TRUE sources of exotic infestation are still going on?

The govt wants to control native species (read up on WI DNR and game animal programs), too. They want to take a way guns. They have now legislated away your ability to chose natural supplements and vitamins (look up cGMP), all the while hiding the real reasons for these attacks behind a cloud of "protection citizens/ consumers.

The short is, we are under attack by our out-of-control governemt officials who are rampantly dissolving our rights and freedoms. Don't let it happen in your hobby or to anyone else! We need more common people in politics.

 

[burmish101]

Ouch Guam, they should send me all their Boiga irregularis, id be one happy man.

 

[2bears]

New Law

The new bill is now defeated......at least for this time thanks to the the reptile community:clap:
We suspect they will try again at a later date, but for now we have won the battle, but must be prepared for a new one in the future.
Twobears

 

[BrianWI]

I would watch using the words "defeated" etc. It was not, it will be back. People may misunderstand and forget. We get way to passive about these things. Its part of their plan, hit it hard and fast, maybe sneak it in, but really just trying to wear you down so when a milder version comes up, u just fold and give in. Thats the whole idea and if you think it was defeated, you are falling for it!

 

[ArachnoDrew]

Does anyone have any recent info on new or current laws and restrictions

 

[RTTB]

None that I am aware of.

 

[atraxrobustus]

I have no idea WHAT bill this thread is talking about, but its NOT H.R. 669, which is a bill concerning restricting the first use of nuclear weapons.

 

[ArachnoDrew]

I have no idea WHAT bill this thread is talking about, but its NOT H.R. 669, which is a bill concerning restricting the first use of nuclear weapons.

Lolololol wow

 

[pannaking22]

You'd have to check state by state because I don't think there are any new federal laws in the process for inverts. One county in Alabama I believe just banned all arthropod pets, but that's all the new stuff I know of (other than the usual BS certain organizations are constantly throwing up that actually worked in Alabama).

 

[atraxrobustus]

You'd have to check state by state because I don't think there are any new federal laws in the process for inverts. One county in Alabama I believe just banned all arthropod pets, but that's all the new stuff I know of (other than the usual BS certain organizations are constantly throwing up that actually worked in Alabama).

They do have federal laws pertaining to the import of exotics, for example it is a felony under federal law to smuggle any wild-caught specimen of Brachypelma into the U.S. But this is aimed in terms of "endangered species" type legislation of sorts. The reason being is that the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. constitution prohibits the states from regulating import/export, because interstate commerce is defined as a strictly "federal" power.

As for banning on the county level, that's dangerous territory- because what might fly in one state, won't fly in another. The federal courts in Alabama tend to be pro-government. However, this sort of thing probably wouldn't fly in the 9th circuit (California), which has struck down every "pit bull" ordinance known to man. The bad thing is that SCOTUS will invariably deny cert to hear a case on our issues, because we're not a significant enough affected group. For that reason, we need to build numbers.

 

[pannaking22]

They do have federal laws pertaining to the import of exotics, for example it is a felony under federal law to smuggle any wild-caught specimen of Brachypelma into the U.S. But this is aimed in terms of "endangered species" type legislation of sorts. The reason being is that the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. constitution prohibits the states from regulating import/export, because interstate commerce is defined as a strictly "federal" power.

As for banning on the county level, that's dangerous territory- because what might fly in one state, won't fly in another. The federal courts in Alabama tend to be pro-government. However, this sort of thing probably wouldn't fly in the 9th circuit (California), which has struck down every "pit bull" ordinance known to man. The bad thing is that SCOTUS will invariably deny cert to hear a case on our issues, because we're not a significant enough affected group. For that reason, we need to build numbers.

Sorry, yeah, I wasn't very specific there. Other than the current import laws and cross-state transportation laws there wasn't anything new coming up.

I couldn't believe it worked in Alabama. They were trying to ban all snakes that get over three feet long, but enough people complained about it that there was a modification to the rule (or it might have been dropped altogether). I'm trying to track that info down now.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

One county in Alabama I believe just banned all arthropod pets

This is a thing I will never, never, never and freaking never understand. I mean, I can understand the whole Alabama state banning those (even if that would suck to say the least) but not that.

Basically is city/town/municipality A of Alabama banning inverts/whatever, while city/town/municipality B of Alabama, 10 KM far, permits the keeping of those? Insanity

 

[pannaking22]

Found it! Not in Alabama. Originated in Arlington county, VA. More here: https://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/release/county-board-bans-wild-and-exotic-animals-as-pets/ and the modified law here: https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us...tes/25/2017/09/Chapter-2-2017-PROVISIONAL.pdf

Breakdown for invert lovers:

• No scorps other than Pandinus
• No Scolopendra
• No Latrodectus/Loxosceles/Phoneutria/Sicarius/Dipluridae/Ctenizidae/OW Theraphosidae

There are some oddities in there though. You can keep theraphosids from North and South America, and you can keep B. smithi (I'm assuming they meant B. hamorii). Presumably this is because it's a CITES species, but heavily CB, so odds of getting a WC one are slim to none.

If you owned anything in those categories, you have to register them. Though there's a line that makes it sound like if they're CB they're ok?

 

[Ratmosphere]

Found it! Not in Alabama. Originated in Arlington county, VA. More here: https://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/release/county-board-bans-wild-and-exotic-animals-as-pets/ and the modified law here: https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us...tes/25/2017/09/Chapter-2-2017-PROVISIONAL.pdf

Breakdown for invert lovers:

• No scorps other than Pandinus
• No Scolopendra
• No Latrodectus/Loxosceles/Phoneutria/Sicarius/Dipluridae/Ctenizidae/OW Theraphosidae

There are some oddities in there though. You can keep theraphosids from North and South America, and you can keep B. smithi (I'm assuming they meant B. hamorii). Presumably this is because it's a CITES species, but heavily CB, so odds of getting a WC one are slim to none.

If you owned anything in those categories, you have to register them. Though there's a line that makes it sound like if they're CB they're ok?

These laws pertain to every state? Pretty sure I'd go to jail if that's the case lol.

 

[RTTB]

I will never live in Alabama.

 

[atraxrobustus]

Yep, the states typically regulate venomous animals capable of inflicting serious bodily harm or death, largely because they don't want these animals being used as weapons. That said, if some of these laws were seriously and fairly challenged, they probably wouldn't survive judicial scrutiny. The real problem is getting enough people behind us that really care enough to make it an "issue" in the larger sense. Personally, I won't vote for people that support these kinds of laws to begin with.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Breakdown for invert lovers:

• No scorps other than Pandinus
• No Scolopendra
• No OW Theraphosidae

Absurd: not even when Italy banned every arachnid was that crappy.