IMPORTANT: "Plan B" STOP VA Reptile BAN

VA HB1242 Hits Legislative Deadline in Agriculture Sub-Committee. May be held over to 2013, but NOT GOING ANYWHERE in 2012! Kudos to all those in VA who have worked against it!! Today USARK CEO Andrew Wyatt learned from contacts in the VA General Assembly that Delegate Peace will pull HB1242 and possibly hold it over until 2013. This was confirmed by two separate sources.

SB477 is still alive, but will have a more difficult path to follow witho it's House counterpart. A group of citizens and USARK members opposed to the bill will lobby door to door on Thursday February 2nd. If you would like to join this group email president@usark.org. There Is Strength In Numbers... Protect Your Rights!

It keeps rejecting my letters. What do I do?

Kernel, make sure the email addresses are correct, ex: district13@virginia.gov so make sure theres no spaces in the address and whatnot

I had just pasted what Rich put, but he put lots of spaces in it. I corrected them and it worked. Thanks mshrmheadcharge.

The one regarding SB 477 was rejected again. Here's the email I keep getting.

Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.

<district14@senate.virgina.gov>:
No MX or A records for senate.virgina.gov

--- Below this line is a copy of the message.

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Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:17:30 -0800 (PST)
From: "cpkernel@att.net" <cpkernel@att.net>
Reply-To: "cpkernel@att.net" <cpkernel@att.net>
Subject: SB 477
To: district24@senate.virginia.gov, district10@senate.virginia.gov,
district38@senate.virginia.gov, district15@senate.virginia.gov,
district14@senate.virgina.gov, district26@senate.virginia.gov,
district09@senate.virginia.gov, district34@senate.virginia.gov,
district06@senate.virginia.gov, district28@senate.virginia.gov,
district37@senate.virginia.gov, district20@senate.virginia.gov,
district13@senate.virginia.gov, district01@senate.virginia.gov,
district30@senate.virginia.gov, district18@senate.virginia.gov
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="-1952832855-206965194-1327947450=:42107"

---1952832855-206965194-1327947450=:42107
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Senator Lucas and Committee Members,

As a resident/stakeholder in the Virginia reptile community I appreciate your concern for public safety. However, your proposed bill is far too over reaching in regards to reptiles. Who ever assisted in the construction of the bill obviously doesn't understand the natural history or economics of reptiles in VA; 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 $25 million annually in commerce in Virginia. 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 SB 477. Thank you.
---1952832855-206965194-1327947450=:42107
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii

<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div>Senator Lucas and Committee Members,<br><br>As a resident/stakeholder in the Virginia reptile community I appreciate your concern for public safety. However, your proposed bill is far too over reaching in regards to reptiles. Who ever assisted in the construction of the bill obviously doesn't understand the natural history or economics of reptiles in VA; nor their relatively simple captive husbandry requirements. Further, there seems to be no understanding of the difference between occupational hazard and public safety risk.<br><br>The reptile industry represents $25 million annually in commerce in Virginia. 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.<br><br>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 &amp; 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!<br><br>Please remove ALL reptiles from SB 477. Thank you.<br><br><var id="yui-ie-cursor"></var></div></div></body></html>
---1952832855-206965194-1327947450=:42107--

You left out the "i"
What you wrote compared to what it should read

district14@senate.virgin a.gov
district14@senate.virginia.gov

Hmmm not sure why it is putting the space in the link.
But the missing "i" and the space will throw it off.

Oops, that was the the message I got the first time it rejected it. I fixed it and sent it again and got this message.

Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.

<district14@senate.virgina.gov>:
No MX or A records for senate.virgina.gov

--- Below this line is a copy of the message.

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Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:17:30 -0800 (PST)
From: "cpkernel@att.net" <cpkernel@att.net>
Reply-To: "cpkernel@att.net" <cpkernel@att.net>
Subject: SB 477
To: district24@senate.virginia.gov, district10@senate.virginia.gov,
district38@senate.virginia.gov, district15@senate.virginia.gov,
district14@senate.virgina.gov, district26@senate.virginia.gov,
district09@senate.virginia.gov, district34@senate.virginia.gov,
district06@senate.virginia.gov, district28@senate.virginia.gov,
district37@senate.virginia.gov, district20@senate.virginia.gov,
district13@senate.virginia.gov, district01@senate.virginia.gov,
district30@senate.virginia.gov, district18@senate.virginia.gov
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="-1952832855-206965194-1327947450=:42107"

---1952832855-206965194-1327947450=:42107
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Senator Lucas and Committee Members,

As a resident/stakeholder in the Virginia reptile community I appreciate your concern for public safety. However, your proposed bill is far too over reaching in regards to reptiles. Who ever assisted in the construction of the bill obviously doesn't understand the natural history or economics of reptiles in VA; 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 $25 million annually in commerce in Virginia. 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 SB 477. Thank you.
---1952832855-206965194-1327947450=:42107
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii

<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div>Senator Lucas and Committee Members,<br><br>As a resident/stakeholder in the Virginia reptile community I appreciate your concern for public safety. However, your proposed bill is far too over reaching in regards to reptiles. Who ever assisted in the construction of the bill obviously doesn't understand the natural history or economics of reptiles in VA; nor their relatively simple captive husbandry requirements. Further, there seems to be no understanding of the difference between occupational hazard and public safety risk.<br><br>The reptile industry represents $25 million annually in commerce in Virginia. 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.<br><br>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 &amp; 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!<br><br>Please remove ALL reptiles from SB 477. Thank you.<br><br><var id="yui-ie-cursor"></var></div></div></body></html>
---1952832855-206965194-1327947450=:42107--

Well, the forum keeps making the message look like that. On my email it isn't missing the "i" or have a space.

Ohk, it needs to be corrected, I had to correct a few of them I don't know why it copies and pastes like this but it only takes a few moments to scan and correct any errors.

This is one response I received:
Thank you for your message regarding SB477. As one of the rare members of
the Richmond delegation, Senator **** Black is a holder of permits to
maintain venomous reptiles. As a young man, he spent a great deal of time
in the Everglades and still takes annual trips there. He is sensitive to
the release of non-indigenous species into the wild and believes it should
be avoided. However, he understands the difficulties of complying with the
many regulatory requirements for those who work and own exotic animals.
Therefore, Senator Black does not support SB477 and will vote against this
measure.

Thank you for taking the time to get involved in the political process.
Your input was very important.

Warm regards,
Michelle Staton
Aide
Senator **** Black, 13th District

That is crazy. I have no idea why the site is adding the space like that. I even went through and looked at the original post and the space isn't there. I copied and pasted it from my USARK update. When I click edit the post is written correctly but I can see the issue when you view the post. What is also crazy is that I copied and pasted the email addies and all but one worked. The one that didn't work, didn't exist. That may be the one because I forget which it was.