| # | Name | Comments |
|---|
| 201 | Harold Neighbors | This is completely ridiculous and based on fear and ignorance. And will ruin alot of people's incomes. |
| 202 | Kerri L. Neighbors | |
| 203 | Brandon L. Breeden | |
| 204 | Jason Decker | I have been keeping herps for years and seen many laws on herps tried to be passed and some even passed. This one however is by far the dumbest one I have ever seen.
Jason
http://www.herpinverts.net |
| 205 | Dan | I hate to think what this will do to the hobby!
Please don't let this happen. |
| 206 | WAYNE MURPHY | |
| 207 | James Breen | There is absolutely no reason to ban the importation and interstate transport of Boa Constrictors or Pythons. These snakes are not a danger to anyone. I have two 8ft boa constrictors and they are housed in my 8 year old son's bedroom. Properly caged and well taken care of, they pose no danger to anyone in my family. |
| 208 | Helen Breen | This regulation is idiotic and the result of uneducated people who fear reptiles. Allow responsible owners / breeders to maintain what they do and target those who are uneducated and causing these problems. |
| 209 | Nicholas Williams | what are we doing so wrong to make them want to ban the importation of reptiles?
of course there are a couple bad apples out there but that doesnt mean all of us are. |
| 210 | Herbert Mizzell | |
| 211 | Seth Meyrow | |
| 212 | Erin D. Webb | Boas and pythons are lovely quiet and graceful pets and should not be banned. |
| 213 | Anonymous | Don't penalize the responsible snake keepers! |
| 214 | Christina Camp | I feel that this would hurt the economy. If you ruin the sale of snakes between states, then many of the reptiles businesses will go under and you will lose jobs. Also you will be ruining the pet shop industries that sell speciallized items for reptile keepers. |
| 215 | debbie stubban | I feel that banning snakes would be too hard of a blow to this indusrty. The federal government is requlatiing small business out of business not just in this industry but many industries in our country. |
| 216 | K. A. Booth | |
| 217 | Debbie Teter | |
| 218 | Gina Townsend | Banning these animals completely is not the solution to the problem; this will only drive the black market deeper underground. Rather than punishing everyone for the irresponsibility of a few, why not require more diligence and accountqability on the part of the breeders, sellers and buyers? I would much rather maintain permits and/or licensing and sales records as a breeder or a buyer than lose this hobby completely. Perhaps if owners are required to register annually and provide proof if/when the licensed animal is no longer in their care as to what/ where it has gone, as well as breeders/sellers maintaining licensing and sales records for traceability purposes this would discourage persons who are not truly dedicated to the hobby from participating. |
| 219 | Darrell Martin | Guns don't kill people,people kill people! That saying means alot. Yes, FL has a problem with their people,letting pets go into the wild to find food. Make FL fix their problem, dont punish the whole world. Hell ,you let cigerettes be sold in stores by the boat load,and we know they kill people. We feed,house,pamper and give inmates an education,and never get rid of them for killing people! You let fish go into our rivers and lakes to rid us of certain things and now they have taken over and are causing problems! So are we gonna bann guppies!? Fix one problem, dont start another. Alot of people will be out of work . You are scared of something you dont understand,and have been told by your parents (and mine) that they are of the devil,and that they will kill us if we touch them. Im 38 and have been touching them since i was about 10. Not dead yet! Banning them will not get rid of them. Teaching people about them will help stop others from making the same mistake |
| 220 | Richard J Cooper | |
| 221 | Melissa | |
| 222 | Joshua Koepke | |
| 223 | David Catrett | Lets stop the child molesters first. |
| 224 | Stephani Catrett | I think we should do away with water. All water. That sounds equally as stupid as a ban on boas and pythons. |
| 225 | John Catrett | A kitten made me sneeze once. In doing so I killed a grasshopper. Therefore lets ban kittens. |
| 226 | Billy Catrett | DUH. |
| 227 | Jesse Catrett | |
| 228 | Virginia Weaver | |
| 229 | David Weaver | |
| 230 | Jasin Chapman | My family and I have been keeping these reptiles for over 16 years. We have not had one incident or problem arise from the keeping and breeding of these snakes. We have spent numerous hours doing FREE educational programs for our daughter's schools and daycare for years, once again, without incident. Though this is not our income, it is for many others. You will be decimating a whole industry, putting thousand out of business, and taking away incomes from families. Please educate yourselves properly, and do not take away our rights to own and work with these beautiful animals. |
| 231 | Paul R. Moody II | I strongly oppose the bill. |
| 232 | Crystal Bell-Everett | |
| 233 | William Bedard | The reptile pet market is an imporant part of many breeders, dealers and owners. Because these animals are not cute and cuddly like dogs and cats they are not understood. The keepers and breeders of today may be boas and pythons only homes left some day due to the lost of habitat. Dogs "man's best friend" cause much more problems than the boas and pythons people keep. Are dogs going to be band next? No, because there is a larger group of people who would stand up and say "NO". Put your time and energy reducing our drug problems a protect our boarders. This is a pen pushers idea who has no interest in keeping a boa or python. That pen pushers beer or wine causes a thousand times more death and destruction, but since the tax revenue is so huge you can buy alchohol all over the country, even with the many deaths it causes. So think twice about limiting someones freedom to own a boa or python. We have much larger hot issues to deal with, leave the cold blooded reptile market alone. |
| 234 | Anonymous | I am a supporter for snakes because I believe they make great companions. |
| 235 | Vicky Mundell | |
| 236 | Jeremy T. | This is insane. There are going to be some bigger problems if they are banned. There are illegal snakes already in certain states, but to make all pythons and boas Illegal, two words come to mind MASS EUTHINASIA...... becuae not everyone is going to want to get permits, and if they are serious about this law then where will all the boas and pythons in the US go?!?!?!?!?!?!?! |
| 237 | Veronica Jennings | Banning the importation of these animals will not solve any problems. Many keepers will just go underground. There are people who keep these animals irresponsibly, but there are many, many more who are willing to go through licensing and registration to be able to keep their animals legally and responsibly. This would be a win-win situation. Not only would snake keepers be able to keep their animals, but the local governments would also collect revenue. Keeping the laws on a local level instead of a national level will help with the sharing of this task.
Keeping these snakes from being transported between states does not make much sense. There are very few states that can support the survival of these animals if an irresponsible keeper should happen to release it to the wilds. Most snakes listed in the proposal are quite tropical and will die during the winters of most states. Because Florida is having issues with a released population, they have made this an issue on a national level where these problems do not, and cannot, exist.
Please think about a lighter proposal for local agencies to share the responsibility of people registering their collections for a nominal fee. Most would not hesitate to pay a yearly registration fee of $5-$10 per animal for small collections and for larger collections a flat registration fee for something over a determined amount of snakes – say over 15+ animals at maybe $150 per year. Heavy fines for those caught without the required permits.
The transportation ban would destroy many small businesses that depend on the sales of these fantastic animals. From custom cage builders, to feeder farms, breeders who make this a living and everything in-between will feel the hit from such a large scale ban.
People will not give up their hobby and lifestyle that easily. To meet somewhere in the middle would better guarantee responsible ownership. |
| 238 | Brendan Saffron | I am a responsible owner/breeder/reptile hobbiest who works very hard to lay to rest common misconceptions created by media and to promote the often harmess and fascinating beauty of certain reptiles. To ban all shipping of boas and pythons is absurd and unwise for the USFW. The economy needs this billion dollar industry to continue. The government should be more concerned with economicaly detrimental issues like gas prices/global warming/ gangs/ etc. |
| 239 | Robyn Bortner | |
| 240 | Darren Dennis Drake | This isn't right at all!!! People should be able to keep these animals if they wish to do so!!! |
| 241 | Anonymous | Please DO NOT take away our rights as owners of ANY creature due to fear and unfounded facts |
| 242 | Isaac Layzod | |
| 243 | Gail Kent | |
| 244 | Danielle Lape | Would be a very sorry state of affairs to say you cannot raise, breed and appreciate these animals. By banning their importation, you are only allowing them to be imported illegally - unregulated - and that is a worse situation where the animals could be injured, killed or diseased. If this is about the animals as it should be, safe regulated importation is the way to go - not banning an industry that will continue regardless. Just look to other areas of the world where illegal importation occurs and how those animals have to suffer. Truly a mistake. |
| 245 | Jennifer Hensley | I am currently the President of the MN Herpetological society. We do educational programs and scientific studies of herpetoculture as well as educational programs to the hobbyist. I believe working with your local Herpetological Society will far better your cause then this proposed ban. There are several Societies in Florida. They can help set up and distribute responsible pet ownership documentation and help educate the public on why release in the wild would not do good for the animal or the eco system.
I believe our society is ruled to strongly by rules, when we should be focusing on educating more. Because one state is having problems does not mean that we should be making a national law. This should be something decided by each state.
For ever wild release there are 50 responsible owners who would never release in the wild knowing what could happen 1.to the snake and 2.to the other animals within that ecosystem. Unfortunately I know throughout our histroy that laws are created by those who break them but we need to find a way to stop this cycle. We should not punish the many for the mistakes of a few. Please think strongly on what direction this is going to end up taking. Where does it stop once you start this cycle? What other freedoms will we be taking away from the American public?
We have become one of the most emotionally depressed societies because we have no down time. One thing that has been scientifically proven is that a Pet does lower stress levels. Do not take away from our pursuit of happiness. |
| 246 | Jenea Wood | This ban is an infringement on my rights to own pets. Being a person with many allergies, reptiles are my only outlet for pet ownership. Dog bite are the #2 reason children go to emergency rooms, why don't you ban large dogs? It makes about as much sense!!!!!! |
| 247 | Justin Morse | These species are "injurious" only to those inexperienced and therefore deemed not suitable to own them. I believe and agree with a degree of regulation being brought forth, but to ban ALL interstate/international transport is just silly. So many people, big and small breeders alike, have based their live on this hobby. A ban of this magnitude is sure to ruin many lives and will most definitely put countless numbers out of business. |
| 248 | Randy McDowell | These people are frightened of this animal's because they don't understand them, and have very LIMITED knowledge about them. They have nothing better to do in their lives except try and hurt others. Our government sucks! |
| 249 | Robert Stone | |
| 250 | William Donald Smith | |