NY state moves to ban shipment of almost all animals.

[Chew Toy McCoy]

ALERT: New York State Animal Shipment Ban
New York Assembly Bill 4611 (A04611) has broad sweeping negative impacts on many animal interest groups including farmers, bird breeders, reptile keepers, mammal breeders, pet stores, and more. This bill seeks to ban the shipping of all mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. This includes shipments into and from the state (both import and export). Per the bill, shipping via any “mail carrier” will be banned which includes not only USPS but also the commonly utilized overnight services from major carriers such as FedEx and UPS.

A04611 was assigned to the Assembly Agriculture Committee. Fines can be $1,000 per violation. Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal introduced the bill and she sits on the assigned Agriculture Committee. The Committee members must be made aware of the broad sweeping repercussions of this bill and informed of the many shipping regulations, restrictions, and safeguards already in place.

 

[Clix Pix]

Good grief! That certainly does have repercussions and implications, doesn't it? Many people's livelihood could be instantly ruined. Wow.....

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I get an email newsletter letting me know what potential state laws on animal ownership and import/export are in the hopper. They seem to be all over the map depending on the state. Like in some states you can own a rattlesnake while in others you can't own a hedgehog.

Florida is consistently behind the eight-ball passing legislation on species long after they've already become a thriving invasive species. Currently on the chopping block for them are green iguanas, tegus, and several subspecies of pythons. I wouldn't be surprised to find out Florida has a larger invasive population than their home territory populations. I feel like Florida's population control program has been hoping the alligators can manage things and that hasn't really worked out.

 

[thekev]

Good grief! That certainly does have repercussions and implications, doesn't it? Many people's livelihood could be instantly ruined. Wow.....

Good. You should consider which people this targets. This hits the exotic pet trade, which needs to die in general. This also hits breeders who sell beyond their local markets, and again, good riddance. Breeders who treat their animals well already charge quite a lot and tend to sell locally.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Good. You should consider which people this targets. This hits the exotic pet trade, which needs to die in general. This also hits breeders who sell beyond their local markets, and again, good riddance. Breeders who treat their animals well already charge quite a lot and tend to sell locally.

In general I agree with you and I think you said before you aren't really a pet person for ethical reasons. I respect that.

Butters is a banned export species from Australia because all their animals are across the board. I got her from a well respected breeder in Colorado who specializes in the breed. Their availability is limited, but at the end of the day I'll admit it mostly comes down to who can pay the asking price the quickest. Still I'd like to think who purchases from them has done the research and is able to give them the longterm care.

I probably have said this before, but I like to think I at least give them a better predator free quality of life which I admit comes at the expense of complete roaming freedom. Still, since I got her at about 8 weeks, which was mostly spent making sure she was healthy, I didn't exactly take her away from memories of full freedom.

 

[thekev]

neral I agree with you and I think you said before you aren't really a pet person for ethical reasons. I respect that.

Butters is a banned export species from Australia because all their animals are across the board. I got her from a well respected breeder in Colorado who specializes in the breed. Their availability is limited, but at the end of the day I'll admit it mostly comes down to who can pay the as

I would prefer to see such practices become more de-centralized. Remember that specialized breeders who charge a lot are more likely to be able to pay for specialized shipping requirements, albeit by passing on the costs. Most of this legislation targets unethical practices, which are hard to individually distinguish on a per package basis.

I get you regarding the predator-free quality of life, although a lot of these animals require live feedings, so predator-free for them but not for the feeder animals. Mostly I'm not a fan of taking these animals out of the wild in the first place in most circumstances. Yours was bred in captivity, and you seem to pay careful attention to her. It's not an issue with your specific case. I would just like to see an end to a lot of things that accompany the pet trade, and shipping animals as cargo is one of them.

As for me, I like cats, dogs, birds, reptiles, etc. I wouldn't go out and purchase a cat due to allergy problems and even if I lacked them, I would go with one from a shelter whose practices I agree with, probably one of the meaner less adoptable ones (I'm patient). There's also the issue of suitable care. I have looked into recommendations for birds and reptiles regarding care for a number of these animals. Much of the time, suitable enclosure size, materials, and features are not that similar to what most owners use. Cheaper pet food is also full of garbage, and personally, I wouldn't own one without accepting the cost of caring for it well.

What really gets me is that most people who own pets, particularly exotic animals, don't distinguish between cute behavior and signs of animal stress. For example, I have found videos of hedgehogs trying to burrow into wood flooring on youtube. The pet owners do not seem to recognize that the animal is likely frustrated. They dig due to instinct, but they can't really do so with wood flooring.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I would prefer to see such practices become more de-centralized. Remember that specialized breeders who charge a lot are more likely to be able to pay for specialized shipping requirements, albeit by passing on the costs. Most of this legislation targets unethical practices, which are hard to individually distinguish on a per package basis.

I get you regarding the predator-free quality of life, although a lot of these animals require live feedings, so predator-free for them but not for the feeder animals. Mostly I'm not a fan of taking these animals out of the wild in the first place in most circumstances. Yours was bred in captivity, and you seem to pay careful attention to her. It's not an issue with your specific case. I would just like to see an end to a lot of things that accompany the pet trade, and shipping animals as cargo is one of them.

As for me, I like cats, dogs, birds, reptiles, etc. I wouldn't go out and purchase a cat due to allergy problems and even if I lacked them, I would go with one from a shelter whose practices I agree with, probably one of the meaner less adoptable ones (I'm patient). There's also the issue of suitable care. I have looked into recommendations for birds and reptiles regarding care for a number of these animals. Much of the time, suitable enclosure size, materials, and features are not that similar to what most owners use. Cheaper pet food is also full of garbage, and personally, I wouldn't own one without accepting the cost of caring for it well.

What really gets me is that most people who own pets, particularly exotic animals, don't distinguish between cute behavior and signs of animal stress. For example, I have found videos of hedgehogs trying to burrow into wood flooring on youtube. The pet owners do not seem to recognize that the animal is likely frustrated. They dig due to instinct, but they can't really do so with wood flooring.

Most of the videos on YouTube showing "cute" to us behavior by hedgehogs is either stressful, unnatural, or rare. It in no way shows the reality. At one point I was researching chinchillas as a pet and that's another one with selective picture and videos far from the daily reality.

I was going to type a long boring diatribe about vegetarian or omnivorous reptiles, but I'll just say there are too many owners that think making them a healthy human hipster salad cuts it and they couldn't be further from the truth.

For specific species curiosity I highly recommend Clint's Reptiles Youtube channel which I'm sure I've posted examples of on here. He does pet recommendation videos based on his 5 point scale "which are" handleability, care, hardiness, availability, and upfront costs. He even throws in curve balls like the king cobra and human children, both of which rated extremely low on the scale.