Newspaper Article for the FVHS show

[Leviathan]

This is an article from our Abbotsford Newspaper that I will be replying to. I can add 50 more words if anyone can think of anything the should be there.

The article

Reptiles not your average pet

I find it absurd that abbotsford has a bylaw preventing the city dwellers from owning an exotic pet, yet the reptile expo is allowed to host an event not only displaying exotic reptiles but selling them.

This event has nothing to do with the welfare and love of exotic animals: it's animal exploitation at it's best.

Not only are exotic pets potentially dangerous, but they can pose a serious risk to human health.

The reptile refuge in Surrey is overflowing with unwanted and abandoned reptiles and can no longer accept new animals. As a result, so many unwanted pets get dumped, as is the probable case with a potentially dangerous snake now on the loose in New Wesminster.

Many of the reptiles that were at the Reptile Expo will end up spending the rest of there lives in plastic containers, likely suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and illnesses because there owners do not know how to look after them. If reptile enthusiasts really appreciate and care for exotic animals, they wouldn't be selling them.

Allowing the reptile Expo to take place in Abbotsford only goes to show how weak and meaningless some bylaws actually are.

Jane Thomsing
Coquitlam


My Reply so far

Reply to ‘Reptiles not your average pet’

I found this article quite hurtful and offensive to myself and the rest of the reptile community. ‘Knowledge is power’ and it seems the people making these statements towards exotic animals just aren’t taking the time to research what they can so easily disregard and put down.

This event is everything to do with the love of these animals. If you go into a petstore and buy a lizard or snake you are given very little info on them and most of it isn’t correct. The majority of the people at that show, including myself, have spent most of our lives researching reptiles and are more than happy to share that knowledge with enthusiasts like ourselves. It is not our goal to sell reptiles to become unwanted pets but to share these amazing creatures. We can only give people the means to care for them properly and hope that they do.

Calling reptiles dangerous and harmful is so absurd and such a ridiculous reason to want them banned. I have held hundreds of snakes and lizards in my lifetime. Funny that I have not one single mark on my body from these dangerous animals I am in contact with everyday. I do, however, have bite marks from dogs, cats, rabbits and hamsters and my mom has been attacked twice in the last 3 years from dogs. Funny that we continue to welcome them into our homes and neighborhoods daily. Yes reptiles are known to carry salmonella but with precautions it is avoidable to transfer to people. Hamsters on the otherhand carry ecoli and are nasty biters but we have no problem giving them to our children. Reptiles also offer healthy, fun alternative to children with asthma or allergies that cannot enjoy life with a more ‘furry’ friend.

As for the over populated refuge center. There are two maybe three reptile refuge centers in all of the greater Vancouver area and the lower mainland. Yet there are hundreds of shelters overflowing with dogs and cats. People through bags of unwanted kittens and puppies into our rivers, or dump them off on doorsteps. Reptiles are not the problem, people are. All the same complaints people have with reptiles are, at least, 10 times worse in the household pet world. Should we ban dogs and cats for the EXACT same reasons that we have tried to strip exotics out of our communities?

Alecia Tennant
Abbotsford



Thanks guys