Ohio House Bill 643

[stevo]

I'm a fellow Boa breeder from the beautiful state of Ohio. I have over ten years invested in building my collection and would hate to lose everything I have worked so hard for because of the Ohio House Bill 643. We all need to take a stand for our freedom and rights and make sure this Bill gets stopped dead in it's tracks. This issue cannot be overlooked, even if you don't live in Ohio. Your state could be next.

[denny_rimes]

Hey stevo,

I can understand how you feel. You might try contacting the folks at NCARK, a North Carolina organization. They were pretty much in the same situation as you are. They have organized and defeated the most current legislation aimed at restricting their rights to keep reptiles.

http://ncark.org/index.htm

I think you will find some very useful information there!
Best of luck to you, keep us informed as to how things progress!

[polacan]

That ~~~~s!!!!!!! Good luck to you dude!!

[cahrens]

You got a link for a petition or e-mail addresses we can write to? I hate to see this type of thing happen anywhere. -Chris

[stevo]

Thank you Denny, Polacan, and Cahrens I very much apreciate your help and sincerety. This is an issue that could change my life and jeapordize what I've created over the years. The pictures that have been posted over the years have been beautiful, and memorable. It seems that this is not such an issue to the people that don't live in Ohio. Anyone that is willing to help, instead of posting pics, stand up and help a state that may affect the rights in your state in the years to come. It's been many nice years on this forum. Goodbye.

[cahrens]

Come on man, you gotta give us some more info. Who can we write to to voice our opposition to this and where can we go to read more about it? Is there an online petition somewhere? If you post the info on here and half the people that read it post it somewhere else it will become a much stronger opposition. This community is bigger than you can imagine and with the help of the internet things move very fast. I know you're bummed out about it now so instead of getting depressed, do something about it. Write some letters and get us addresses where we can write to and perhaps more importantly we can pass those addresses and this info on to other herpers. Lets get this ball rolling before it's too late. -Chris

[Randy_T.]

More info needs to be provided. To post about a bill without any info on it other then the name and expect some help with it is unfair. I've personally called around 50 different legislators around the Country to voice my opinion and try to get action stopped in similar instances like this, along with emailing in excess of 400 more.

If you are wanting to build up support against this bill you should at the least have a link to the Bill so people can read it. Many times a proposed bill is passed around with hearsay building up a stink to later find out it was only going to put permitting systems into place on animals such as wolf hybrids, big cats, crocodilians etc.

Regardless, good luck.

[dberes]

Here is the link for the bill:

http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=126_HB_0643

Later,
Drenton

[LordZeal]

They have Green Iguanas on that list?!?! Who came up with that list and what qualifications did they even have? I swear our goverment is run by morons.

[rockstar]

yep, they wanna take away our snakes, take away our guns, crank up the cost of living...... theyll be hauling train cars off to concentration camps before you know it.......... this bill is simply unconstitutional..... its under the mask of a permiting system but the permits will be nearly impossible for the average boa or ......iguana....... owner to obtain. i have personally written to every congressman pushing this thing... my arguement is that a permiting system for a 33 ft retic, or burm is good sense, but a boa and a green iguana do not belong on the same list for any reason.

[Jason Dowell]

Is there not an online petition going on somewhere, so folks who live outside of Ohio can sign/get involved?
I really think there needs to be an "American Herpetaculturists Society" so ALL of us in the states can join one group. We would have a website where everyone could sign up. We could elect representatives; folks who have been in the buisness a long time. Peter Kahl, Jeff Ronne, Rich Ihle and the like. Be represented by folks who pay some serious tax money from their REPTILE buisness. That way, when one of these bills comes up, the whole of American herpers can join together in opposition, instead of just the few folks currently being hurt by it. Our opposition would carry a lot more weight that way, you know what I mean?
We need to band together as one, to show the country just how many of us there are! With one voice we oppose these bills loudly!

[cahrens]

Rockstar,
Great job! I've also written to each of the "representatives" that sponsor this bill. When I started reading your post I thought you were gonna be 1 of those people who whines about something but does nothing about it. Thanks for proving me wrong.
Jason,
There is a link provided a few posts back. From there you can find e-mail addresses and regular addresses for all those who support this bill. By all means, write to them and voice your opinion. Just be sure to be civilized if you want to be taken seriously. You're right about joining together, if we could get more organized, and people show support even when it's not in your state, we'd do much better as a whole. -Chris