HR 669 : CONGRESSIONAL HEARING BANNING NONNATIVE SPECIES APRIL 23, 2009 ACTION NEEDED

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ Here is a place to find your congressman or women to write.

I have read all of these comments and I am saddened at the trust and lack of care. So people have mad mistakes and we have to pay. This comment is silly. Many of the species that are invasive are not here from the pet industry. It is silly to ban the hobby because of these issues. Think of everyone that is in the industry. Now think of them out of a job. That is what will happen. More over we are allowing the Federal Government to take power away from our states. The members who trust the government will do the right thing, well you are dead wrong. The government hardly does the right thing, heard of the bill of rights? We have it for a reason. You can not trust government.

Petitions are great, but they have said that a petition to them counts as one person. It is one document. WE NEED to write them many times over. Get the idea across. The people thinking of passing this bill may have a lot of good intentions, but they are not aware of what the vagueness of this bill will do. Write your Congressmen or Congresswomen.

Here was what has been shared to be approved

ok check this out.ON April 23rd 2009 The Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. Congress will hold a hearing on H.R. 669, a resolution that will in effect ban importation, interstate transport and the private ownership of most birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish as pets. Should HR669 be adopted as written only the following nonnative animals
would be allowed:

any cat (Felis catus)
cattle or oxen (Bos taurus)
chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus)
dog (Canis lupus familiaris)
donkey or *** (Equus asinus)
domesticated members of the family Anatidae (geese)
duck (domesticated Anas spp.)
goat (Capra aegagrus hircus)
goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus)
horse (Equus caballus)
llama (Lama glama)
mule or hinny (Equus caballus x E. asinus)
pig or hog (Sus scrofa domestica)
domesticated varieties of rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
sheep (Ovis aries)

Should this resolution be adopted into law as written it will have a devastating impact on every pet owner and business in the United States. Action is needed TODAY to protect your rights to keep your pets!
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Also, any person on any site that says they are going to let fish go in the wild, I explain that is not the right thing to do. Also, most sites have threads posted on this matter. Do not lecture about what I or other members do or do not do. Either help or don't.

Why are so many here willing to give up on their hobby?
 
I'll agree that centralization of power almost never benefits the people in which they are to serve and that by it's very nature is evil (seeking power without end). I would also tell you that I believe they have "good intentions" and we know what the road to hell is paved with. That aside, I'm simply asking if we've payed attention to warnings and have we reacted appropriately? I don't think you can tell me that you feel we've done enough to make this subject top priority on forums (not just this forum), that we've taken our concerns to pet shop level and asked them to take it to the distributor level. I think most people in this hobby think (thought) this was all a bluff to be honest and if this bill fails, we'll all be back to business as usual in a month selling RTC's by the thousands only to find a home in a local canal.

Sure some of these invasive fish are not from the pet industry but most are. This legislation will not target the pet industry exclusively in any case. have you looked at the invasive list? My goodness it's shameful report card indeed. I don't think many hobbyists know the real impact of release to this day staring down the barrel of legislation that could end our hobby. If we don't educate our hobby, they will take it away.

You talk about all of these jobs lost....isn't there a council? Can't they even see the writing on the wall and organize to get a simple message out? DON'T RELEASE YOUR PETS!

Despite your conclusion of my opinion of the bill, people will travel to Washington with a list similar to what I posted showing how terribly irresponsible our hobby has been to own natural waters (you simply cannot undo an exotic release) and the pet industry is going to demonstrate what? They will show they import as many animals as they can, sell them the highest price they can (market forces) to anyone who has the cash. Nice plan guys and thanks for being so proactive the last few times they tried similar legislation. If you want to write someone, write your local distributor and beg them to get their act together and take this seriously by getting the message out on a national level.
 
I've just read page one but may I point out that Horses are not native (came from Spain)? Llamas? Many animals are not native. I guess we have our own problems like every other hobby.
 
Yeah and Paul Revere rode his oscar through the canals of Florida at midnight.
Many horses are out of the barn (pardon the pun) but exotic introductions seem to have flourished after the first attempt at this legislation.
 
so what your saying here teleost, is that the responsible people who do the right thing in this hobby are the ones who should pay because we somehow didn't stop some dumb*** from releasing his pets into the wild, nevermind the fact that we had no idea it was happening or had happened.

Sorry, that just don't fly.
 
Here again is an example of the government banning a thing instead of taking steps to educate and inform. Our government thinks we're stupid, irresponsible children. It's the reason why many drugs are illegal: someone will miss-use them. Instead of making Americans educated and aware of the potential dangers of releasing non-native species into the wild, the government will just ban them altogether and many will pay for the mistakes of the few.
I live in southern Florida. I can take a stroll 25 yards to the canal near me and watch Midas cichlids spawn. I can drive 2 blocks down the road and visit the Iguana colony that lives in an old boat. I have caught Nile Monitors. A friend from AC who lives here owns a Savannah Monitor he caught in the wild. A customer of mine has a Giant Day Gecko that lives on his house. I have seen schools of dozens of common plecos in the waters near Lake Okeechobee. I've caught Oscars in the Eveglades. There is a need for regulation of certain animals here in Florida for sure. We need to better educate those who would care for an animal that can destroy our wildlife. Even then there will be folks who think it's cute to stock their local waterway with Oscars. There will still be folks who decide that it's easier to release that huge aggressive Monitor into the wild rather than try to rehome it. Something needs to be done, both to correct the problems these animals are causing and to prevent further damage. It should be on a state by state basis though, not with this bill that would effect all states. We're going to end up like drug pushers, or fish-pushers. Thrown in jail with the rest of the dregs of society, like those horrifying pot smokers.
Sign the petition, write your congressman, do what we need to do to prevent this bill, and be responsible! Don't release your animals into the wild! Tell your friends!
 
Cory Keeper said:
so what your saying here teleost, is that the responsible people who do the right thing in this hobby are the ones who should pay because we somehow didn't stop some dumb*** from releasing his pets into the wild, nevermind the fact that we had no idea it was happening or had happened.

Sorry, that just don't fly.
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That's not what I'm saying at all.

We (hobbyists) have ignored the warnings.
We (forum administrators) have ignored the warnings
We (end point fish dealers) have ignored the warnings
We (fish distributors) have ignored the warnings
We (fish importers) have ignored the warnings

This is not the first attempt at this type of legislation and almost nothing has been done to change exotic introductions.

Please realize there are people in the US tasked with ensuring our natural waterways, skies and animals remain healthy for the future and they are scientists. We are now in a horrible position due to our lack of interest to change our ways and the obvious reaction from a government tasked with protecting these things when faced with an industry that refuses to change is to take it away from everyone. I do not like that.

Exotic introductions are very much like a contagious disease but this disease can only be spread by fools who "let" it spread. If you knew you could stop a disease from spreading simply by stopping it from entering the US before it happens, would you do it? This is the thinking at the government level and you can be sure these arguments will be made.

As we write misspelled letters with grammatical errors reinforcing the very argument used to shut down this hobby (WE WILL NOT CHANGE OUR WAYS) people entrusted with protecting our natural heritage will present arguments showing the destruction of fish, reptiles and so on, with no end in sight supplied from an industry and hobbyists that WILL NOT CHANGE THEIR WAYS.

At first I was very strongly against this legislation but the more reactions I read the more I realize this hobby still does not understand the impacts of exotic introduction. Perhaps this hobby needs to be treated like a child since it simply cannot lift a finger to protect our own country from permanent exotic pollution.
 
I'm so glad!!! We need MORE government in our lives!! That's the kind of change we can believe in!!
 
Has there been any reaction from large pet stores, like PetsMart or PetCo?

As for the damage issue, felines are, at least in my neck of the woods, responsible for a lot of damage, ranging from killing endangered birds and tortoise hatchlings, spreading disease, and generally being a nuisance when let outside the house.

Teleost, I myself have not been in the hobby long, and I don't think it just or fair at all that I, or we as hobbyists overall, are to be a secret police over fellow fishkeepers. The idea that one person causing issue, or even hundreds, and so many thousands to millions must be punished, I thought that kind of gray area punishment went out of style in grade school?
 
teleost i disagree with everything you said there. what your saying is its everyones fault when its obviously not. your saying its my fault that some uneducated sap went and dropped his pleco in the river cause it got big? that makes no sense.... i sure hope this doesnt go through its a stupid bill! its not going to prove anything but that the governments lazy and wont do the right thing!
 
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