The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has proposed a blanket National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) exclusion for itself under the Lacey Act. What does that mean?

NEPA requires USFWS, and all federal government agencies, to prepare environmental assessments and environmental impact statements. In other words, scientific and procedural due diligence must be completed before any species can be listed as injurious. An exclusion from this process would essentially make it much easier for USFWS to list species as injurious, which would end importation and interstate commerce for any species listed.

Currently, FWS can declare a categorical exclusion for anything it likes. That doesn't mean a court will agree the action is exempt from NEPA analysis. However, this adjustment to the Department of the Interior’s Departmental Manual would strengthen the legal basis for using a categorical exclusion.

This affects much more than large constricting snakes and much more than herps. This would affect many segments of the pet industry, especially the aquatic (fish) segment.

The negative economic impact could be huge. Just imagine if interstate commerce was illegal for ball pythons, boa constrictors, Pacman frogs, White’s tree frogs and Crested geckos.

It takes just a few minutes to express your opinion. After you complete the actions, share it with others in the herp community and pet owners. USARK has made it very easy to make your voice heard. Surely you have just 5-10 minutes to support your herp community, your friends and your colleagues.

USARK Action Alert can be found here.

Responsible herpers in the West Fargo have been working for twelve months to rewrite a city ordinance prohibiting large constricting snake species.

The ordeal began in July of 2012, when a man brought his 8’ Burmese python into a public park and the police informed him it was illegal for the snake to be in the city. This triggered a reaction that brought to light an unregulated ordinance that banned “any poisonous, venomous, constricting or inherently dangerous member of the reptile or amphibian families.” The city’s police chief stated than he was not a fan of snakes and the mayor has similar feelings. The city officials were initially against changing the ordinance but the reptile folks have won the fight.

The python owner originally addressed the city council at the first open meeting following the incident and failed to receive a majority vote. At the next city meeting, dedicated reptile keepers and members of the Fargo Herpetological Society, with assistance from the National Herpetological Congress, addressed the ordinance in a professional manner and began the process of revising the ordinance with the city officials.

After months of work with an anti-reptile city board, the largest species of snakes are now allowed in the city on a permitted system. The herp community in West Fargo could have been inactive and left the original ordinance in place, but by educating the city officials and putting forth some effort, they now have the opportunity to keep large constrictors.

Can herpers fight back and win against unfair legislation targeting our animals? Yes, if you do it right!

Scott Snowden faced new legislation that would have made his pets illegal. A city ordinance was proposed concerning dogs with language attached that would have banned all constricting snakes.

Scott stepped up, addressed the issue and was successful by educating the city officials. His professionalism and dedication were rewarded. Thanks to everyone who supported Scott and thank you, Scott, for being an inspiration to the herp community.

A personal letter from Scott Snowden:

My family and I cannot thank USARK and its members nationwide enough for coming to the aid of responsible snake owners in the Montana town of Laurel. I first contacted USARK on February 28th after learning that our city council was attempting to put language that would ban all constricting snakes within city limits to a proposed dog ordinance. USARK President Phil Goss greatly supported my efforts and spoke with me several times via phone and email. USARK responded with a national alert and a link that sent emails from all across the nation to our town’s elected officials. I also spoke before city council, stating our case and asking them to simply follow the existing state laws that govern prohibited species. I spoke to the head of the safety services committee last week and learned that the ordinance has been sent to the legal advisers with NEW language that complies with the state law and does not put a blanket ban on all constricting snake species. He cited the significant public outcry as playing a key role in their decision to modify the ordinance’s language. Thank You! We won’t be totally out of the woods until the ordinance is presented back to the city council, ratified, and signed by the mayor, so we are staying vigilant in our monitoring it. That said, we are taking a moment to celebrate and say thank you to everyone that has supported us!

Sincerely,

Scott, Mandy, & Kiara Snowden

Thomas Cobb's snakes: Many of us have followed the Thomas Cobb situation in Utah in which Cobb was unaware of a city ordinance requiring a permit to keep exotic animals. The language of the ordinance was ambiguous, and although some citizens wanted officials to enforce that Cobb only be allowed one pet, Cobb prevailed and was granted 29 permits for his 29 boa constrictors.

Cobb did a remarkable job representing the herp community, remaining professional and level-headed at all times. Not enough can be said about his dedication to present herp keepers in a positive light.

Thank you for being a responsible and dedicated herper, Thomas. Thank you to everyone who supported, and continues to support, Thomas, as well.

Shipping news: Legislation has been introduced to solve an interstate transport issue for exporting certain snake species. Under current ruling, if a shipment must stop anywhere in the U.S. after departure, it is considered interstate commerce even though the plane is merely stopping to refuel or add freight before leaving the country.

The proposed legislation will allow for export even when the shipment must pass through intermediate airports that are not designated ports. The ruling that listed several snake species as injurious under the Lacey Act has resulted in many headaches for anyone exporting these large constrictor snake species.

The snakes included in this bill are: Burmese python, Indian python, Northern and Southern African pythons and Yellow anaconda.

Photo of Thomas Cobb and son, Caiden Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

California AB 339 (the "swap meet" bill) has been amended to exclude reptile and aquatic trade shows. The bill has been amended in Assembly, read a second time, and re-referred to Committee on Appropriations. Thanks to your voices through USARK's action alerts and collaboration between PIJAC and USARK, reptile and aquatic shows will now be safe.

This was a crucial amendment as all reptile shows, not just shows held more than six times per year, could have been affected. Thank you, Reptile Nation, for your support and action!

The new bill text can be viewed here.

If you have not already done so, you can still contact USFWS to voice your opinion concerning the unfinished rule possibly adding several snake species as injurious under the Lacey Act. Details and steps for action can be found here.

USARK has an Action Alert at USARK.org to make it easy to contact your legislators concerning H.R. 996 (The Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act of 2013). Let’s “work smart” and show that USARK wants to be part of the solution and not the problem. Let your voice be heard! The alert can be found here.

USARK's legislative prospect statement concerning H.R. 996: H.R. 996 is essentially identical to H.R. 5864, a bill of the same name in the previous Congress that died last year with no action beyond referral to various committees. This year’s version of the bill is very likely to meet the same fate. There is little chance this legislation will pass the U.S. House of Representatives or the House Natural Resources Committee. Even passage in the Democratically-controlled Senate is extremely unlikely. There is also an analysis of H.R. 996 here.

Connecticut H.B. 5832 Update: The JF Deadline (the date by which each committee must report out bills or resolutions for further consideration by other committees or the full General Assembly) was April 3. The bill is now dead as it did not leave committee. This bill would have banned boa constrictors and Burmese pythons in Connecticut. Thanks to everyone who used the USARK Action Alert to voice their opinions!

Earlier this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced it would suspend all inspection and clearance of wildlife imports/exports during overtime hours.

The lack of inspection services would likely have caused needless death or injury to live animals, as many international flights arrive during overtime hours and also encounter delays. The herp community acted swiftly, and on March 15, just two days after the announcement, USFWS lifted the restriction of overtime operations. Thank you to everyone who supported the herp community by participating in efforts to reverse this action. This was a team effort. Special thanks to Marshall Meyers of PIJAC and everyone who utilized the USARK Action Alert campaign.

USARK and our D.C. legal team are currently analyzing HR 996 (a reintroduction of HR 669: Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act to summarize), corresponding with assigned committees and building an appropriate plan of action. It is prudent to develop our strongest strategy. USARK will keep you updated on noteworthy happenings. (View a summary of the bill here.)

NARBC Tinley Park, March 16-17, was another great show. The auction demonstrated amazing generosity to support Rico Walder and his fight against brain cancer by raising $10,200 for Walder. Amazing generosity was displayed by Timberline, Marc Bailey Reptiles, Ozzy Boids and others by bidding well over retail prices on items donated by iHerp.com, kingsnake.com, Living Art Publications, Rodent Pro, PM Herp/BARRS, Timberline, Goss Reptiles, and others. Several cash donations were added to the pot, including contributions from Marc Bailey and a group of Australian herpers who see the importance of supporting the entire global herp community. Not enough can be said about the strength and support of the herp community. USARK wishes Rico well.

A donation from Reptiles by Mack raised $500 for the Ohio Association of Animal Owners, thanks to a strong bid from Shay Hamper. The Saturday night auction also raised $17,645 for USARK and PIJAC. A huge thank you to everyone who donated and attended the auction.