TARAS Rant from the TARAS President

[Greg West]

TARAS has been a staple in the Alberta Reptile community for over 25 years now. It has put on educational seminars, presentations, yearly reptile show and sales, and donate money to worthy causes just about every year. It is with great volunteer help that we are able to put on these events every year. Without the society in existence, many of you would not be able to legally keep the reptiles that you have today. All of this could never have happened without the help of many volunteers and reptile keepers alike who help keep the society running.

Right now we are faced with a very small group of people who are trying to keep TARAS up and running and the number of volunteers who are still actively helping the society are limited. Without more members to help with the monthly meetings, and all the minor stuff in the society, the society will not live another year.

I have been the president for 2 years now, and as such I have felt that it was my responsibility to make sure everything that needed to get done got done. Now with this mind set I found myself taking on the majority of the work, whether it be doing the bulletin, advertising for shows etc. Right now we have a more active board and I am not doing all of the work, but we still need more people to help out if the society is going to prosper.

Usually every year we try and have winter and summer socials for the members around the area to gather and socialize, sometimes having guest speakers and presentations. These have never been well attended and we hoped to change that. Last fall we organized a symposium with 6 great speakers with big plans of finally getting a decent turnout. With all of the planning that was involved and all the work that went into putting it on, we were all very disappointed with a turnout of maybe 6 members who were not board members. We get some complaints about not doing enough in the reptile community, and then when we do have something planned and do all the advertising that we can with our limited resources, even the people who seem genuinely interested in coming do not show up. Sometimes I wonder if there is any point being part of a society that as a group doesn’t really seem to care.

I put it out to all of the TARAS members and reptile keepers in Alberta to start getting involved in the society to help it prosper or there will be no more society at all. Some people might think that it wouldn’t really matter, but to me that means less public education about reptiles, less money being put out into conservation like ducks unlimited etc, and possibly no spring and fall shows in Calgary. I myself do not want to see this happen, and I have tried my hardest to make things run smoothly. The only problem is that there is only so much that I and the rest of the board can do. I hope that this little rant will help people see that a little bit of effort from a few volunteers can lighten the load of the existing board members and make the work a little easier to bear.

Our meetings run once a month and with more volunteers the workload could be more evenly distributed and take less time to get done. All in all we need people to run our website, and do our newsletter as the person doing this seems to have disappeared, people to help with advertising our shows (handing our posters), people to help set up and take down tables etc at the shows, volunteers to help with class presentations and club presentations, and help at the monthly meetings. All this may sound like a lot and it is when only a few are doing it, but with added help this wouldn’t seem like much. Hopefully we can get a few more people to be active in the society before its too late. Without your help TARAS will no longer exist, and that is something that I hope doesn’t happen. Reptile laws and restrictions in Canadian provinces are becoming more and more common place. Without having a unified voice such as TARAS or any society for that matter it is a lot harder for us to be heard. Without a society to fight restrictions and new laws, you might not be able to keep that corn snake or bearded dragon or boa. I would hate to see that happen but if we lose the society that could be what happens.


Greg West
TARAS President

[tonyj]

If there were just a few more people who were willing to contribute just a fraction of the time and effort that Greg West and a few other hard working individuals have provided to this society over the last few years, then TARAS would not be in the tenuous position that it now finds itself in.

There is an extremely vibrant and thriving herp community in the Southern Alberta region, with many nationally prominent herpers located in this area.

Many of those successful herpers can claim in part to have reached their goals by attending some of the many reptile shows put on by TARAS and others, either as an exhibitor or as a visitor.

Perhaps like so many others they first became interested in reptiles by attending one of those shows and in some cases buying their first reptile at such a show.

Unfortunately the TARAS scene is changing, with fewer people willing to become involved. We have now reached the point were the very existence of the society is now in serious jeopardy and the opportunity for others to attend a TARAS show is becoming increasingly slim.

There are a number of reasons for the current state of affairs; apathy, possibly stemming from the 'infighting' of previous administrations, to the volunteers themselves who drop out when it is realised there is nothing in it for themselves and to those people who for whatever reason are unable to attend a once monthly meeting or don't carry out assignments they have agreed to carry out.

As an example, the last board meeting was almost cancelled before it began as we did not have the required quorum of seven members present, until 25 minutes after scheduled starting time. Fortunately a couple of board members phoned in just after 7 pm to tell us they were held up, otherwise there would not have been a meeting.

Where was the rest of the committee? This incident alone seems to show a lack of respect for fellow board members, who had made the effort to attend.

I, for one, am sorry to see this once proud society having to air its problems out in the public domain, but if this is the only way to save this society from extinction then let's hear from all TARAS members.

Now is the time for all TARAS members to stand up and be counted whilst we are still hanging on, even though it's only by a thread.

Let's hear all those suggestions or ideas from those who care; let’s hear from those wishing and able to volunteer their time and talent; let's save this society.

Tony Platt
TARAS Board Member