Re: [RML] *URGENT* Pending California Legislation

Bjorn Straube (straube at digital.net)
Tue, 30 Jun 1998 00:37:06 -0400

Living in Florida, the largest zoological garden in the world ;) I can certainly
agree with the need for some control. Hell, I wouldn't even mind a "fish keepers
license" sort of like a gun safety class (don't walk around with a loaded pleco
<g>). The proceeds could even go towards removal of non indigenous species.
However, I must point out some dangers of the California enforcement system.
Having spent some time interested in reptiles, I have heard case after case of
really questionable practices from enforcement. The thing I kept hearing about was
raids on breeders and hobbyists in search of illegal snakes (or whatever) where the
whole collection (I mean EVERYTHING) was just taken to be gone through by
"experts". The collections were returned months later and only a dozen or so
animals had survived out of hundreds. The most common reason seemed to be that the
interim "keepers" did not know how to care for them correctly. In many cases, the
target species was not present or the proper permits had been acquired and even
presented to the "raiding party". Now, I have never lived in California and
therefore no first hand experience, but I have heard this sort of thing from
reputable sources, and not just once or twice. Perhaps some of the folks in CA
would speak up on this. Again I'm all for a healthy measure of control and hope
that areas that aren't thoroughly saturated with exotics as Florida can avoid that
fate. I would just hate to live with the threat of having mine or others
collection needlessly destroyed by people who should but don't know any better.

Bjorn

peter.unmack at ASU.Edu wrote:

> On Sun, 28 Jun 1998, Pamela Fukada wrote:
>
> > >the importance of this law, it could give the Calif. Fish and Game Dept. the
> > >power to make ALL exotic birds taboo!
>
> It's about time they finally did something to regulate things. The
> information that is lacking from that post is how they intend to determine
> what becomes prohibited. That's the crucial bit. It's about time for people
> to take some responsibility for their actions. :-)
>
> Tootles
> Peter Unmack