Just say NO

I originally posted this on another site.

I agree with some of what Leigh Ann says: there are just too many “ignorant” people out there that have no clue how to care for animals that have complex needs. But if we were to take Leigh Ann’s logic a step or two, we would ban people from having children because there are people who batter and abuse their children, because they are ignorant and do not know how to care for a child. This is such a poorly constructed bill. It even redefines “importation” and overrides existing US Customs law. It provides no solution for pets other than than euthanasia. No doubt by some of those same ignorant people. The American environment is being decimated but it is not from animals that are being released by pet owners who wake up one day finally getting it that the chimp in the next room can eat their face, or the alligator at the foot of the bed can swallow their leg, or that boa constrictor curled up in the corner can and does squeeze the life out of other animals. And decide to release them so that we can all deal with them. But these animals are nothing compared to other non native species that invade the North American continent every single day. YES, EVERY SINGLE DAY.  And, I am talking here about the seaborne animals that get dumped into the Great Lakes, and our harbors and our ports and our rivers when a commercial shipping vessel dumps the ballast that it picked up in another hemisphere. Nor the other VERY poisonous animals that come in with cargo like that huge, poisonous spider that was recently found with the bananas in a food store. This ill considered bill would do nothing for the Brown Tree Snake that decimated the island of Guam where the honorable congressional delegate comes from. But it does make provision to kill our so called “exotic” pets, which frankly are no longer exotic anymore as Leigh Ann says. They are, however, critically endangered and vulnerable. And as long as man continues to destroy and decimate their native environments, we are their last best hope for continued existence at all. This bill gets voted on April 23. PLEASE make your thoughts and comments known to your congressional representative. Visit  <a href=”www.capwiz.com/naiatrust/” target=”_blank”>Capwiz </a> and say not just NO but HELL NO! I am not even going to address HSUS or PETA. This bill has enough wrong with it that it does not need the addition of these two organizations. But, note well, that if this bill becomes law in any way, dogs and cats just became bigger targets on the horizon.