Have I missed it or has there been no mention of the proposed ban on the importation of ANY amphibians into the UK?

I haven't too many details but after speaking to a couple of the largest 'herp' importers in the UK they are both pretty confident that a ban could be in place soon, perhaps within the next 6 months!

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Email any questions..DO NOT PM, Prices coming soon. (add the word PYTHON to message title to beat my spam filter!) scott@captivebred.co.uk

also Chris, any comments on this? Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred :: View topic - *FBH - IMPORTANT - Chris*

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Email any questions..DO NOT PM, Prices coming soon. (add the word PYTHON to message title to beat my spam filter!) scott@captivebred.co.uk

There are two issues at present, once concerns a UK ban on all amphibians, the other is a prohibition of trade in wild caught reptiles and amphibians.

The former issue, a ban on import of amphibians into the UK is possible, but unlikely, certainly not in the foreseeable future. However, what is a major threat is the prohibition on the important of wild caught reptiles and amphibians, as this is EU legislation. The same mechanism as used for the bird trade. The major problem with this is it COULD actually ban imports of ALL reptile and amphibians, not just wild caught animals.

As yet neither issue has gone out for public consultation.

Scary stuff...

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Chris,
No matter how many times the FBH ask for support and for people to write to their local mp's or other agencies the actual number of people that do so is tiny!

Everytime I can almost guarantee you the reason why is that people DO NOT KNOW how to respond. Again everytime I suggest that the FBH give an example of how and what to write but I don't believe this to happen at all.

Look at this link, this is in response to the proposed ban of boids in the USA. It bascially allows ANYONE to send off a letter and feeling confident they won't look silly etc Kingsnake.com - Herpforum - Time To Reply to FWS - Here Is How!

Isn't it about bloody time we were able to do something similar???

DEFRA's thinking of introducing a cost recovery on the CITES application process...that would be a good start!!!

Then there's the potential TOTAL BAN on amphibian species being imported, this is a reaction to the fungal virus that is wiping out wild populations elsewhere in the world....AGAIN..should we not be addressing this?

What about our concerns with the RSPCA? a mass of letters to the charity commision may open peoples eys?

I'm sure there's many issues that if enough people wrote in then it can only help our cause.

If you AREN'T capable Chris, then isn't it about time you stopped running the FBH like a one man band, there's MANY people out there that can get involved and WANT to get involved.



Scott I have chosen to answer your criticisms here, rather than on the other forum as I simply do not have to chase around different forums.

Firstly as far as I am aware there are no proposals to ban important of boids into the UK or the EU, so there is no point in following the lead set by Kinsnake.com. Should such a situation arise then it would be worth while considering. Having said that, however, considering the numbers of petitions started, and the number of people who have responded, it has been very disappointing!

Regards to the possible amphibian ban, I have responded above. However, now this information is in the public domain our opponents will now be aware of the issue and our good friend Mr Clifford Warwick will now be a world authority on Chytrid fungus, not overly helpful.

I agree that a getting people to write to the Charities Commission re the RSPCA would be helpful. However, it would be even more helpful if we actually has a specific issue to complain about! Simply saying that we don’t like them very much is unlikely to carry much weight! For the passed few years the RSPCA have backed off reptiles, therefore we need to enact this at the appropriate time. Nevertheless it is a good idea.

Certainly people need to get more involved, but we need to get people motivated at the right time.

Chris, if you read the post carefully you will see that I'm not talking about the actual threat facing our American friends but rather the professional way in which they have provided the information and what the 'everyday' hobbyist can do. Not just a 'the end is nigh' type post that we get over here.


As for suggesting that me posting the potential amphibian ban will make Warwicks work easier, that just stupid. Surely the many 1000's of amphibian keepers that visit the various forums should know about such a threat, again MOTIVATING them into taken positive action and IF we were organised like the Yanks we would be able to point them into the right direction on what they can do.

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Email any questions..DO NOT PM, Prices coming soon. (add the word PYTHON to message title to beat my spam filter!) scott@captivebred.co.uk

Scott, the system here in the UK is very different to that in the US, it is also fair to say that the US have not suffered a fraction of the issues (at a national level) that we have here in the UK.

Most decision making here is done behind closed doors, what you see by the time you get a ‘public consultation’ is what you get, there is very little change. Cast you mind back over the last few public consultations which affect keepers and you will see what I mean!

What you need to bear in mind is that the pro lobby in this country is not strong, if you take all the trade organisations, PCT, OATA, PFMA, PPRA, REPTA etc our combined income (strength) is less than £1 million, Animal Aid alone have an income well in excess of this! If you just take the top ten Animal Rights organisations there annual income exceed £250 million!! The RSPCAs budget for parliamentary lobbying is five times greater that the pro trades entire income!

In effect what this means is if you want to take these fights into the public domains we will get slaughtered – full stop.

Not sure how many of you browse the american forums, so thought i'd post this clip,

YouTube - US Fish & Wildlife Service NOI Response Video

Looks simple and effective. You mentioned that if we found ourselves in a similar situation copying the americans might be a situation worth considering.. so figured i'd share a video they've made.

If we would get slaughtered due to funding then i fail to see how we're benefiting from the pro-keepers point of view. I agree with Scott, all we seem to hear in the UK is doom and gloom, there's never anything positive to say. Most of the time when the keepers make a suggestion, the suggestion is blanked like in this thread and then we get the sob story that it's not worth fighting for - the anti's will beat us. It really doesn't makes it worth while having any debate with average keepers/breeders if mostly everything is reduced to the "we are going to lose" kind of attitude.

I'm far from the most knowledgable on this topic, so i'll just leave it for you lot to discuss, i just thought i'd express my thoughts.

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Perhaps you could point out exactly what we have lost!

Did the Animal Welfare Act prohibit reptile keeping – no
Did the review of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act go against us – no
Did the By-Products Regulations go against us - no
Did the Animal Transport Regulations go against us – no
Did the use of CITES Article 8.2 go against us – no
Has the Non-Native Species policy gone against us – no.

Perhaps you have noticed a theme!

The above are just a few of the issues that had potential huge implications for keepers and trade, all have eventually had satisfactory outcomes. Sure for some of us all we see is dome and glum, as soon as one piece of cr*p is cleared off you desk two others land. But as our American friends say ‘sh*t happens’ - you just have to learn to deal with it! If you want good news, well the good news is there is no bad news today, at least.

As for alerting our opponents to issues they are not aware of, sorry I think it is not a partially sensible thing to do – but hey what do I know!

Isn't this Ban on importing amphibians to do with the disease (fungus) that is wiping out millions of species of amphibians?and to date there is no cure for it...so therefore to prevent the spread of the disease then they are putting an ban on imports (i'm sure as a temporary thing until they know more) to protect the UK amphibian population! It has nothing to do with the Cp going round about stopping people from keeping reptiles.

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