important read trying to take our exotics agian

[fauxbird]

H.R.669 non-native wildlife invasion prevention act-bans most non-native species kept as pets help take action-http://www.capwiz.com/naiatrust/home/

[Lisa B]

yep, its time for people to get up off thier duffs and do something...before its too late.

[tamaran2]

I copied it for you, just in case someone wants to read it but doesn't want to click the link....THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!


H.R. 669 Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act.
Bans most nonnative species kept as pets!

NAIA Trust | For the protection of animals, animal owners, and animal enterprises

April 6, 2009

HR 669 bans import, export, transport, breeding, sale or barter of ALL nonnative species unless they are placed on an Approved List established by the USFWS after extensive study. This law would affect most pet owners of non native species.

Most pet birds, ornamental aquarium fish, reptiles and small pet mammals are nonnative species and would be ILLEGAL under this act, unless placed on the Approved List!

Any company manufacturing or selling product for these pet species would be affected by this act. This means hundreds of thousands of pet birds and animals, reptiles and fish would be affected

Thousands of small businesses involved in any aspect of the pet industry, from breeding, selling and transporting animals to manufacturing and selling products for animals, such as foods, toys, and equipment.

HR 669 was introduced by Del Madeleine Bordallo of Guam, the Chair of the Subcommittee of Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife of the House Natural Resources Committee with the purpose of preventing the import of nonnative species which might be harmful to humans and to the environment or a nuisance to agriculture or horticulture.

Click here to read HR 669. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-...h669ih.txt.pdf

Most of the nonnative invasive species introduced into the U.S mainland or islands were inadvertently introduced through ballast water in ships or as stowaways in cargo shipments (which is how the Brown Tree Snake entered Guam). Most nonnative species that are causing problems in the US mainland were NOT imported animals; domestic cats gone feral are likely the most common exception.

At the present time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Lacey Act is required to demonstrate that a nonnative species is injurious or harmful to humans or the environment before it can be prohibited.

HR 669 would require that nonnative species are prohibited until the USFWS proves that the nonnative species is not a threat. Such a process would be extensive, costly, take a lot of time. It would waste taxpayer money since it would apply to many thousands of nonnative species which have historically existed as pets in the US and have not been demonstrated to be a threat to humans or the economy or the environment.

HR 669 requires the USFWS to do a risk assessment on each species and then place it on an Approved or Unapproved list. Since the timeline, staff and financial resources for doing this is in short supply, the USFWS will be unable to accomplish the task for most nonnative species already in homes. All species that did not appear on the Approved list would be banned: import, export, transport, barter and breeding would not be allowed. There are no exceptions for pet owners!

Most of the nonnative species kept as pets in the US have never posed a problem to humans or the environment. Yet all these species would have to be evaluated and approved or they would be ILLEGAL to possess, breed, import, export, transport, and barter or sell!

While it is important to protect our environment and analyze whether or not a specific species poses a risk, this bill as presently written does not provide a realistic and achievable solution to the problem.

Enhancing and enforcing present regulations under the Lacey Act would be more cost effective and save time and taxpayer dollars while protecting our environment and economy.

PLEASE CONTACT THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES and voice your opinion using the capwiz below where you can send your opinion and include talking points provided if you wish.

Also use faxes, emails and phone calls to YOUR Congressperson, and where possible, visit their local office. Legislators are in recess until April 14 and many are available to constituent visits. Personal face to face contact is very effective.




If you received this email from a friend, be sure to sign up HERE to receive NAIA Trust alerts in the future about important animal legislation in your state -- and nationally.

[Chief's Mom]

Here's a link I received this morning from the Windy City Parrot Blog too...
WindyCityParrot.com Blog

It's got some more info and some updated contact information for the repesentatives hearing the bill. Please, please, please, even if you don't think this will happen, just email or fax a form letter to these folks

[extremefire]

I wrote a message against it and got it sent of to my Reps & my Senators.

I can understand why the lady is trying to get it passed, but its just the wrong way to do it. Like they say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". We already have the Lacy Act which requires the wildlife services to evaluate possible invasive species. Just lumping everything non-native basically as invasive is just naive.

For the US crowd here, with all of the real problems we are facing now, Congress is going to spend their time instead considering this.

[Alyx]

One more link for y'all : ) It shows what status the bill is at and when the debates and hearings will be if any. If there is anything we can do from Canada let me know!

H.R. 669: Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act (GovTrack.us)

[Hollywoodskeeper]

I just receivied a email about this

[Abby]

We have the exotic bird Guidelines here in Australia and it's actually not that bad. Major pain in the bum for those who have a stack of Class one species that they need to keep records for but really it's just more paperwork. This is not the first time that this has occurred. We had what was called NEBRs so EBAG was really a revamp of the original. Just some info on the background of EBAG if anyone wants to read.
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiv...rds/about.html

The quick read I just had sounds similar to what we went through a few years ago. The main reason behind the Australian one (I believe) is to pick up on the illegal trade of exotics. Gives the government a reasonable idea of what birds are here in Australia and the numbers.

Reality is that an amnesty would need to be called so people can come forth with all exotics without fear of legal repercussions. After a certain amount of time then things can get tightened.

I fill out yearly paperwork for my amazon and grey as they're class 1 birds. This then gets sent into Canberra (Australia's capital). My conures, quakers and IRN are all class 2 so it's advisable to keep records and give and receive transfer papers. This is more important with the mutations as apparently there's some coming out in Australia that shouldn't really be here.

On the natives, if I want my major mitchell 'too (leadbeaters) pair then I need to have a basic keep sell licence through my state parks and wildlife unit. Paperwork needs to be filled in yearly (I think it's just yearly). If I decide to move onto black 'toos (I am looking at gang gangs down the track) then I need a specialist permit. This means that I have to have had the basic permit and be able to physically show that I have the appropriate facilities as dictated by Parks and Wildlife to care for these birds. Friend and I were discussing that my large aviaries at 3.5m long per individual aviary are 50cm too short for me to have black 'toos. Just as well I didn't want the noisy sods.

Private individuals are not allowed to own exotic reptiles here. Now that kinda sucks 'cos I absolutely adore leopard tortoises.The reasoning is that if (in the case of theoretical leopard tortoise) my guy got out and the ones who live about a 3 hour drive away at a wildlife park got out they may meet along the highway somewhere, breed and decimate the environment for the locals. Ok it sounds completely insane but there it is.

We are very regulated here but you know what, it protects the unique environment that we have here in Australia. Introduced species (cats, foxes, rabbits etc) have caused total extinction for many of our natives. Other are precariously on the edge. If I need to fill out a bit of paperwork and deal with not being allowed to have everything I want in order for our natives to survive then I can deal with that.

Ok now I've said what has gone on in Australia. The studies that are about to take place will take a long time. Reality is that if you end up being the owner of one of those furry, feathered, fin or scaley on the list of no no then you should be able to have a special permit to still keep that "creature", but not be able to sell or breed. (This happened with chimps here years ago. There are a few private people who still have chimps legally, however they had them before the laws came in and were granted special status.)

Just my thoughts and experience based on what we have here.