I don't know if you guys have heard, but Congress has drafted a new bill, HR669; a ban on all non-native animals. ANYONE who owns pets, will be affected by this if it passes. They are voting on it on the 23rd of this month.

Please, go to this link @rallycongress.com and input your zip to send a letter to your congressmen (you have the choice to edit it or put entirely your own). They also offer the option to deliver them via actual mail, for $3/letter, which makes much more impact as they get many many many emails.

Opposition website: here
Facebook opposition group: here
The official full bill: here
Pet hobbyist site in regards to: here

PLEASE take action against this, it is hugely important!

Thank you.

You must of missed the part about specific exceptions for small mammals.

the link to the offical bill doesnt work for me. what exactly is the bill proposing?

The bill is proposing that all non-native animals of the US be banned. This includes a vast majority of reptiles, hamsters, ferrets, turtles, parakeets, snakes, certain frogs, etc etc. Anything that isn't native to the US will "get the boot."

Sorry, I don't know what happened to that link, this should work, I think. There are links near the top for "summary" and "full text" of the bill.

This is just retarded. I mean what are they going to do with all of the "non -native" pets? Kill them? Eat them? I call BS on this so called "new law". :-/

Actually most people who own pets won't be affected, there's a list of animals not affected at the end of the bill.

D) does not include any cat (Felis catus), cattle or oxen (Bos taurus), chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), dog (Canis lupus familiaris), donkey or ass (Equus asinus), domesticated members of the family Anatidae (geese), duck (domesticated Anas spp.), goat (Capra aegagrus hircus), goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus), horse (Equus caballus), llama (Lama glama), mule or hinny (Equus caballus x E. asinus), pig or hog (Sus scrofa domestica), domesticated varieties of rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), or sheep (Ovis aries), or any other species or variety of species that is determined by the Secretary to be common and clearly domesticated.

Now it doesn't say anything about reptiles so people that own exotic snakes or lizards may need to be worried, but any cats and dogs are fine, as well as anything that is "clearly domesticated" so I would think that includes most small rodents as well.

Actually TONS of people own snakes and other herps and they WILL be affected. And given that rodents are one of the things that breed like crazy and can do immense damage, and are not on the list(!!), no, they are not going to just overlook them.

will this mean keeping animals such as big cats will finally be banned?

This is so ridiculous.
What are they planning on doing with all the animals, if the bill gets passed?
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i just talked to my vet about this (i'm weird i know) but she says she hasnt heard anything about this. which is weird bc about 2 years ago when they tried to pass a bill to ban all reptiles the AVMA was on top of it with petitions to stop it, so you think they would do the same for this.

when you read the full article, it looiks like they are mainly talking about non native pets that can be harmful the wildlife, the envirnment, or humanity.
i bet it stems from the incidence when the lady had a pet chimp that maulled (sp?) her friend.
i could be wrong, but it seems to pertain (sp... i really cant spell) to wildlife that really shouldnt be kept as pets. large cats, chimps, etc.

No, that's what it should pertain to. But as -kay said: The bill is proposing that all non-native animals of the US be banned. This includes a vast majority of reptiles, hamsters, ferrets, turtles, parakeets, snakes, certain frogs, etc etc. Anything that isn't native to the US will "get the boot."

"from the incidence when the lady had a pet chimp that maulled (sp?) her friend" The chimp's trainer was feeding him xanax...

Oh man. I know. My Syrian Hamster is probably wreaking complete and utter havoc on the United States! Better get rid of it! *eye roll*

There's a difference between not allowing someone to have a Cheetah as a pet, but a non-native hamster or frog? For Christ's sake. Do you really think they'll let this pass without revising it to make it SUPER specific like diminishing beauty had interpreted? I sure as hell hope they wouldn't be that stupid.

I would hope so too, but this IS our govt we're talking about, how many ridiculous things have they passed before??

The damage it would do to the pet industry (not to mention all the pet owners) is insane. All the places & people selling, housing, breeding the animals, the places selling pet products that would go out of business due to so few people with pets they could actually legally have, they'd all close, and then no one would be able to get shit for the few pets they could have, it would be horrible. Like that is really what this country needs right now.

The point of it though, is not about the couple morons having illegal pets, but the people who have released pets into the wild because they didn't want/couldn't care for them anymore, a lot of herps, like in Florida where it has become a big problem. And yes, something should be done to restrict jackasses from getting pets, and to keep people from owning pets that could EAT THEM and then tossing them out when they realize this. However, an outright ban on anything "foreign," is beyond absurd.

oh noes! Better disguise my Siamese cat as a tabby!

My dads cousin owns all sorts of non-native pets.. Including a Serval (African Wild Cat).

Um. Why?

She wanted it, she has a liscense to own them, and she makes money off them. She breeds them and sells then babies for 2000 dollars. They are legal to own with a liscense. She lives on a farm.

They can have my "non-native" pets after they get in my house and take them. Of course that would mean killing me in the process.... cause I will defend my home.

Me too

I better disguse my teddy bear hamster as a mouse

omg! Homo sapiens are not on the list! Have we effectively banned ourselves!?
Oh wait humans are "special" because we're the idiots, not the pets... makes sense...
There go my dreams of being shipped back to Africa....