This is INCREDIBLY important to my hobby and my livelihood and I need a the help I can get. I know you all have busy lives, but my trade needs your help. There is a bill that is close to being passed. The deadline for comments is today. Please read what is here in full detail. It explains everything. Then click the link and read the discussion points and leave your comment. Im begging all of you to please help. This is only 10-15 minutes out of your busy day. Most of you spend 10xs that just perusing FB lol My career needs your help. After you comment they will give you a number. Message me that number please. THE LACEY ACT There is an ever-expanding piece of law called the Lacey Act that has been around since 1900. It was created to help stop the massive slaughter of native game animals for export by commercial hunters. Today, it does a lot more than that, as government likes to keep adding to their lists of things to do. Perhaps one of the most useless pieces of the Lacey Act is the Injurious Wildlife List. Injurious means causing or likely to cause harm. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which is responsible for enforcing this monster, defines Injurious Species as: Injurious wildlife are mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, crustaceans, mollusks and their offspring or gametes that are injurious to the interests of human beings, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, wildlife or wildlife resources of the United States. Plants and organisms other than those listed above cannot be listed as injurious wildlife. When a species is added to the Injurious Wildlife list, it makes it a federal crime to transport that species across state lines. You can keep them, breed them and sell them- within your own state- but you cant take them if you need to move across the country, and you cant sell them to someone outside your state. Take a look at the mammals that are currently classified as Injurious Wildlife Flying Fox (Fruit Bat) Mongoose European Rabbits Raccoon dog Brushtail possum Indian Wild Dog aka Dhole Multimammat mouse aka Soft-furred rat How many do you recognize? How many have you heard about on the news? Any hint that fruit bats or Indian wild dogs are invading the United States and wreaking havoc? Lots of brushtailed possums damaging agriculture? Seen a mongoose lately? Nope. The only animal youre probably familiar with on that list is the European Rabbit. They are literally everywhere in the United States. Theyre all over, fully established feral populations- but if you transport one across state lines- that would be a federal offense. Nevermind that all the domestic rabbits came from the European rabbit... The flying fox is invasive in Australia. Brushtailed possums have colonized New Zealand, and the mongoose is invasive on several tropical islands. The Raccoon Dog is invasive in North Europe. The Indian Wild Dog is not only NOT invasive, its now classified as Endangered in what is left of its native territory. It is classified as injurious because it kills livestock in its home country...A similar situation exists for the multimammate mouse- they cause damage in their native African habitats, but they have not invaded any other countries. Remember the definition which clearly stated the species had to be detriment to the United States? Only the mongoose qualifies, since they are in Hawaii...though the mongoose was listed 59 years before Hawaii became a state. Legislators heard some scary news from other countries and dropped the ban hammer, with little to no consideration of whether or not those animals actually pose a risk to the U.S. Now- lets take note of which mammals are missing from this list: The wild boar is conspicuously absent. These invasive mammals cause damage to the United States agricultural sector and environment estimated at 1.5 BILLION dollars *per year*. NOT LISTED AS INJURIOUS. The common house mouse as well as the black and brown rats are NOT native species- we brought them over from Europe! They are responsible for crop and property damage to the tune of over $19 billion dollars a year in the United States. NOT LISTED AS INJURIOUS Nutria (a beaver sized water rat) are yet another introduced species which can now be found in 40 states. Each year- in the United States, mind you, not some distant country- they are responsible for a minimum of one million dollars worth of damage by wrecking levees, banks and roadbeds with their burrowing activities. NOT LISTED AS INJURIOUS. You might say, Well, the rats and nutria have been here forever! Okay, I see where you are coming from, but remember the Fish & Wildlife Service still thinks the European Rabbit needs to be on the list, and theyve been around forever as well. Two of the first animals added to the Injurious list were the European Starling and the House Sparrow . Yep- those are also not native to North America! They have displaced native species and have been causing crop damage valued at as much as 800 million per year.- They were removed from the Injurious List in 1960 because regulators realized having them listed ***DID NOTHING*** to prevent them from spreading. You dont say? In the 113+ years that the Lacey Act has been around, dozens of species have been added, most of them very damaging aquatic species (fish, mollusks & crustaceans) Since those species can spread themselves without any help just by traveling through waterways, having them listed is virtually useless as well. It wasnt until 1990 that a reptile was added to the Injurious Species List- the Brown Tree Snake. You wont find any in the United States, either. They became invasive in Guam, which, if we are nitpicking- is a US territory. In 2012, more species were added- big, scary snakes- the Burmese python, yellow anaconda and two subspecies of African Rock Python. Anacondas have never colonized outside of their native south american habitat, anywhere in the whole world. There are no invasive colonies in the United States today. The same is true of the Rock Pythons. The Burmese python- due to the destruction of import facilities by Hurricane Andrew in 1992- were able to establish a small colony in the Everglades. It has been 22 years and they have failed to expand outside of southern Florida. Cold spells in the winters of 2008 and 2010 demonstrated that the Everglades burmese pythons can not tolerate temperatures near freezing. Are the burmese invasive in the Everglades? Absolutely. What is not being said is that a full 25% of the animal life and nearly half of the plant speices found in South Florida are NON NATIVE! Now the Fish & Wildlife Service wants to add even more species to the list! They want to go ahead and throw in the other three species of anaconda- even though they are rare in captivity, and have never, ever established an invasive population- not even in the Everglades! Theyre also after the famous boa constrictors- which are also not invasive or damaging to anyone, anywhere in the United States. As a matter of fact, there are boas that are native to northern Mexico- if the boa could expand further north, natura would have run that course all by herself! Also on the list- the Reticulated python- which has the impressive record of never having established a colony outside of its native range, EVER- and there are no wild colonies in the United States. These species clearly do not fit the definition of Injurious wildlife given by USF&W- but they do represent peoples pets and a niche industry that focuses on the *captive* breeding of fantastically colored versions of these snakes that sell for thousands of dollars both domestically and overseas. Only two things will be accomplished by the addition of these species to the Lacey Act- the destruction of dreams and businesses. usark.org/2014-blog/constrictor-rule-1/
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:49:10 +0000
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