Now Illinois

[kernel]

Illinois now joining in...

- Illinois proposes Dangerous Animals Act SB3264 (http://www.kingsnake.com/blog/archives/803-Illinois-proposes-Dangerous-Animals-Act-SB3264.html)

[Nismo89]

I'm not trying to sound rude but I don't think we need anymore ban threads. Instead of wasting the time to post about each individual state everyone needs to start donating to USARK. They are the only ones who can really help now and they need a lot of money. I've donated have you? (thats meant as a general question to all readers)

[marvelfreak]

OMFG! I will have to get a permit for each animal i already own plus get $100,000.00 liability insurance on each one.That's freaking insane. Pet stores might as well close down. You have to get a permit to buy any kind of animal, but domestic cats or dogs. These is by far the most detail ban to come along. Hell i believe i even seen rats on there. I have to get a permit to by food for my snake= WTF.

They are trying to ban all pythons and boas this suck. So much for this being a free country. Welcome to Nazi America!

[kernel]

I know it's absurd! I have 6 ball pythons and a carpet python, so if I lived in IL I would have to pay $1750 in permits and get $700,000 in insurance :shocked:

[Jenn_06]

it is getting out of hand :(

[kernel]

It IS out of hand. This was posted by a admin on another forum.

As posted in the last USARK alert, Illinois has introduced SB3264 Dangerous Animal Legislation which erroneously lists dozens of reptiles. It lists harmless ball pythons and Boas as dangerous; calling for a defacto ban on all of Boa, Python and Eunectes. Ironically, this is continued fallout from the incident in Zanesville Ohio that didn't even have any reptiles involved. The Humane Society of the United States is continuing their propaganda campaign and scare tactics state to state in order to stop as much animal ownership as possible. They have a long standing policy position against reptiles in captivity. It is common knowledge that captive reptiles are responsible for less than one death per year nationwide; while dogs account for 25-35 deaths every year. By no objective measure can reptiles be view as dangerous in the context of traditional pets and livestock that result in dozens of deaths per year.
Please help USARK educate the Illinois Senate Assignments Committee as to some of the facts about reptiles and the people it would hurt in this state. Take action now! Send a letter to the Illinois Senate!!
Click here to send a letter to Senator Steans and the Senate Assignments Committee: USARK (http://usark.org/campaign.php?id=33)


***DO IT NOW!!!***
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Some peoples letters to Illinois Senate Assignment Committee are being filtered out as spam. You can try to send the letters to email addresses individually. Cut and paste sample letter and email addresses below.
Senate Assignments Committee:
hsteans@senatedem.ila.gov, dharmon@senatedem.ila.gov, jclayborne@senatedem.ila.gov, klightford@senatedem.ila.gov, kdillard@senaterep.ila.gov, drighter@senaterep.ila.gov

Sample Letter:

Senator Steans and Committee Members,
As a resident/stakeholder in the Illinois reptile community I appreciate your concern for public safety. However, your proposed bill is far too over reaching in regards to reptiles. Illinois is already highly regulated. Over-regulating harmless pets lacks common sense. Who ever assisted in the construction of the bill obviously doesn't understand the natural history or economics of reptiles in IL; nor their relatively simple captive husbandry requirements.Further, there seems to be no understanding of the difference between occupational hazard and public safety risk.
The reptile industry represents $30 million annually in commerce in Illinois. Thousands make their living in this State because of this business. To cavalierly destroy this non-traditional agricultural interest because of a fundamental lack of understanding is unacceptable. As written, this bill will hurt me and my family. It is bad idea to kill jobs in this kind of economy.
Working with certain reptiles entails a moderate occupational risk, but historically and statistically, reptiles represent virtually zero public safety risk. Dogs account for 35 deaths a year in this country. Captive reptiles less than one per year. Traditional livestock and pets have proven much more of a public safety risk than reptiles. According to US Fish & Wildlife and US Geological Services studies, the rare event of a death as the result of a captive reptile falls into the category of occupational hazard. There is no record whatsoever of a captive reptile creating any measurable risk to the public... NEVER!
Please remove ALL reptiles from SB3264. Thank you.

[millertime89]

Called it... we're bound to see more in the coming months.

[ianbasher]

that's ridiculous I am just so glad that's not here well at the moment anyway

[kernel]

Called it... we're bound to see more in the coming months.

Yea, unfortunately.

[millertime89]

Yea, unfortunately.

believe me, I'm not happy about being right.

[kernel]

believe me, I'm not happy about being right.

I didn't mean it that way.