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Hi all,
I have had this emailed to me and as it involves the word inverts i think it also applies to spiders.
Mark if you think i am out of place posting this here by all means delete this thread.
Please fill in the survey on the web page at the end of the posting, copy and send to any one you know keeping "exotics".
Subject: Reptile Keeping Survey
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 19:30:07 -0000
Dear Keeper,
As you may be aware, preparation of the Animal Welfare Bill (AWB) is in
progress and this will be the most significant shake up of animal welfare
legislation in the last 100 years, setting the future of animal welfare
legislation for decades to come. As you are also undoubtedly aware, the
reptile industry/hobby is under unprecedented pressure to be banned or
severely curtailed by a whole raft of organisations, not least of which is
the RSPCA.
It now appears that the original intention to make no distinction between
domesticated and non-domesticated species may have changed. It would
appear quite possible that we will see a category for so-called 'exotics'
which will require some form of licensing in order to be kept. This
licensing could be of similar form to that of the Dangerous Wild Animals
Act (DWAA), if you remember the RSPCA demanded all snakes capable of
reaching two meters must be listed under the DWAA (included all harmless
species), and it is probably no coincidence that the current review of this
legislation has stagnated. DEFRA stated that we would see the final round
of consultation on the DWAA in mid summer last year but this has not
happened and no date has yet been set. It may well be that many species set
to be removed from the DWAA, as per Andrew Greenwood's recommendations,
would then be caught under the auspices of the AWB.
So what is the hobby facing and what implications could it have for you as
a keeper? What would happen if reptile and amphibian keeping was banned, or
severely restricted by the introduction of licensing & perhaps insurance?
What would happen if minimum standards for keeping these animals were
imposed and who would set these standards? Do you think measures such as
these would adversely affect your hobby?
In the worse case scenario ALL so called "exotics" would be banned from
private ownership, but this fortunately is exceptionally unlikely. What is
likely is some form of licensing for the keeping and trading in what might
be termed "sensitive species". Candidates identified by the RSPCA, however
nonsensical to us, might include: chameleons, certain geckos, iguanas,
monitors, some pythons & boas, uromastyx, tortoises, crocodilians and many
others.
Under the AWB the government has signaled its intention to implement a
system of issuing 'improvement notices', currently in use only for farmed
animals. In essence, the objective of the improvement notice is to prevent
potential suffering. Under farmed animal legislation the state veterinary
service has powers of entry to farms and can issue an improvement notice
when they believe the manner in which an animal is being kept could
ultimately be detrimental to the welfare of that animal. The notice sets
out what is needed to be done to rectify problems and gives a statutory
time period to comply. This is compulsory - failure to comply is an
offence. This is now expected to be applied to all animals and the RSPCA
have already asked DEFRA for this power. At this time it is certain they
will be given it unless immediate action is taken to prevent this.
In 1999 the RSPCA wrote to every local authority in the country and for
this first time in writing set out their opposition to selling animals in
pet shops. I quote from the letter:-
"The RSPCA is opposed to the sale of animals in pet shops. This opposition
is based on our experience of the public buying pets on impulse and also on
the poor welfare standards our staff witness in some shops themselves".
"The sale of exotic species is cause for particular concern as staff may
not be well-versed in how to care for them and consequently new owners
often have less knowledge of the animals complex requirements"
The RSPCA have been running a ruthless campaign against reptile keeping for
over a decade, culminating in the report 'Morbidity & Mortality in Private
Reptile Husbandry' published in 2001 and calling for the banning of private
keeping of nearly all species of CITES listed reptiles, a précis of this
was sent to all local authorities in 2002. If the RSPCA are handed this new
power then they will almost certainly get powers of entry to commercial
properties, i.e. pet shops, wholesalers, commercial breeders etc. This
could be disastrous for the pet industry (and indeed pet keeping) so we
must act now and give strong opposition.
The RSPCA are also opposed to any form of reptile show/fair, even private
members meeting, and are calling for these to be banned under the AWB. If
they are opposed the sale of animals from specialist pet shops, and they
are opposed to breeders meeting, is not the logical conclusion that are
simply opposed to the sale and therefore keeping of reptiles? Or perhaps
they will suggest they should only be sold from your home!
So what are we asking you to do? Simply help us to collect data for a
report on the size, nature and structure of the reptile industry, and data
pertaining to the keeping of reptiles in captivity. The objective of this
survey is to collate, for the first time, and present to the government a
comprehensive survey of the reptile hobby and industry. In order to do this
we need your assistance in asking as many of your customers as possible to
complete the attached questionnaire. This is entirely anonymous.
The questionnaire is available to be completed at:
SurveyID=1
Yours sincerely,
Chris Newman
Editor Reptilian Magazine www.cviewmedia.com
Chairman Federation of British Herpetologists www.f-b-h.co.uk
E-mail: chris-newman@cviewmedia.com
I have had this emailed to me and as it involves the word inverts i think it also applies to spiders.
Mark if you think i am out of place posting this here by all means delete this thread.
Please fill in the survey on the web page at the end of the posting, copy and send to any one you know keeping "exotics".
Subject: Reptile Keeping Survey
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 19:30:07 -0000
Dear Keeper,
As you may be aware, preparation of the Animal Welfare Bill (AWB) is in
progress and this will be the most significant shake up of animal welfare
legislation in the last 100 years, setting the future of animal welfare
legislation for decades to come. As you are also undoubtedly aware, the
reptile industry/hobby is under unprecedented pressure to be banned or
severely curtailed by a whole raft of organisations, not least of which is
the RSPCA.
It now appears that the original intention to make no distinction between
domesticated and non-domesticated species may have changed. It would
appear quite possible that we will see a category for so-called 'exotics'
which will require some form of licensing in order to be kept. This
licensing could be of similar form to that of the Dangerous Wild Animals
Act (DWAA), if you remember the RSPCA demanded all snakes capable of
reaching two meters must be listed under the DWAA (included all harmless
species), and it is probably no coincidence that the current review of this
legislation has stagnated. DEFRA stated that we would see the final round
of consultation on the DWAA in mid summer last year but this has not
happened and no date has yet been set. It may well be that many species set
to be removed from the DWAA, as per Andrew Greenwood's recommendations,
would then be caught under the auspices of the AWB.
So what is the hobby facing and what implications could it have for you as
a keeper? What would happen if reptile and amphibian keeping was banned, or
severely restricted by the introduction of licensing & perhaps insurance?
What would happen if minimum standards for keeping these animals were
imposed and who would set these standards? Do you think measures such as
these would adversely affect your hobby?
In the worse case scenario ALL so called "exotics" would be banned from
private ownership, but this fortunately is exceptionally unlikely. What is
likely is some form of licensing for the keeping and trading in what might
be termed "sensitive species". Candidates identified by the RSPCA, however
nonsensical to us, might include: chameleons, certain geckos, iguanas,
monitors, some pythons & boas, uromastyx, tortoises, crocodilians and many
others.
Under the AWB the government has signaled its intention to implement a
system of issuing 'improvement notices', currently in use only for farmed
animals. In essence, the objective of the improvement notice is to prevent
potential suffering. Under farmed animal legislation the state veterinary
service has powers of entry to farms and can issue an improvement notice
when they believe the manner in which an animal is being kept could
ultimately be detrimental to the welfare of that animal. The notice sets
out what is needed to be done to rectify problems and gives a statutory
time period to comply. This is compulsory - failure to comply is an
offence. This is now expected to be applied to all animals and the RSPCA
have already asked DEFRA for this power. At this time it is certain they
will be given it unless immediate action is taken to prevent this.
In 1999 the RSPCA wrote to every local authority in the country and for
this first time in writing set out their opposition to selling animals in
pet shops. I quote from the letter:-
"The RSPCA is opposed to the sale of animals in pet shops. This opposition
is based on our experience of the public buying pets on impulse and also on
the poor welfare standards our staff witness in some shops themselves".
"The sale of exotic species is cause for particular concern as staff may
not be well-versed in how to care for them and consequently new owners
often have less knowledge of the animals complex requirements"
The RSPCA have been running a ruthless campaign against reptile keeping for
over a decade, culminating in the report 'Morbidity & Mortality in Private
Reptile Husbandry' published in 2001 and calling for the banning of private
keeping of nearly all species of CITES listed reptiles, a précis of this
was sent to all local authorities in 2002. If the RSPCA are handed this new
power then they will almost certainly get powers of entry to commercial
properties, i.e. pet shops, wholesalers, commercial breeders etc. This
could be disastrous for the pet industry (and indeed pet keeping) so we
must act now and give strong opposition.
The RSPCA are also opposed to any form of reptile show/fair, even private
members meeting, and are calling for these to be banned under the AWB. If
they are opposed the sale of animals from specialist pet shops, and they
are opposed to breeders meeting, is not the logical conclusion that are
simply opposed to the sale and therefore keeping of reptiles? Or perhaps
they will suggest they should only be sold from your home!
So what are we asking you to do? Simply help us to collect data for a
report on the size, nature and structure of the reptile industry, and data
pertaining to the keeping of reptiles in captivity. The objective of this
survey is to collate, for the first time, and present to the government a
comprehensive survey of the reptile hobby and industry. In order to do this
we need your assistance in asking as many of your customers as possible to
complete the attached questionnaire. This is entirely anonymous.
The questionnaire is available to be completed at:
SurveyID=1
Yours sincerely,
Chris Newman
Editor Reptilian Magazine www.cviewmedia.com
Chairman Federation of British Herpetologists www.f-b-h.co.uk
E-mail: chris-newman@cviewmedia.com
Its about time some one is finnaly standing up to that morron group that uses the word royal as if it means law and god i hope this works and they fall flat on there face.
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