Phil Goss

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.