Death of the hobby part 2

[Bushviper]

Some news. Two herpers have been included in the list of people who are being invited to a workshop to discuss the final alien invasive list. The rest are mostly people who would not know the difference between a burmese and rock python. Some of them hate the pet industry and we will have our hands full to change their minds.

The meeting will be on the 20th of October in Cape Town and everybody's expenses are being paid for by the state EXCEPT mine.

Requests to include more herpers or scientists who are more herper friendly have been turned down. This is also called rail roading and we will be fighting all the way. This is possibly our last fight before the title of this thread becomes a reality. It might get very, very ugly and some skeltons may come flying out of closets which certain people will prefer to have kept closed.

I will let you know the preliminary results when I get back.

[animalfanatic]

Thanks BV and good luck!

[hunter1]

Good luck!

[LeglessDragon]

Good luck.

[Boadicea]

@ BV. Please can you make sure these two herpers have a copy of the document I did some time back and are familiar with its contents. They need to fight this one tooth and nail and need to understand all of the possible arguments in our favour. Why is the meeting taking place in Cape Town? Is it to prevent people from other provinces from attending due to travel costs perhaps? After all this affects some provinces such as KZN far more than the Western Cape. Even if these lists become law they can still be challenged on constitutional grounds. Government should bear this in mind.

[Bushbaby]

After enquiring why BV, nor myself were invited to this "workshop" they told me they have limited space. They tried to sneak it through again!!! BV will be there, and he will take a copy of the documents with (will print it for him). They are also refered to in the documentation they sent to BV regarding the workshop, so they have acknowledged them.

[Rishaad]

Good luck. Take the bull by the horns.

[Bushviper]

Boadicea they did try to sneak this one through without including any reptile keepers. I have contacts who warned me and after Bushbaby sent them an email inquiring about the "rumour" then only was I invited. I know people like Bjorn have indicated they would like to attend and have been told that they want to keep it a small scientific group so "sorry for you" seems to be the order of the day.

Not only did they ignore the recommendations you/we supplied them with they took it a step further and included two other provinces. I am going to have one hell of a fight on my hands.

The theme was "we must make sure we have a case when they take us to court" so the intentions are clear. They hope to win the cases in court instead of being legally compliant from the beginning. Their exact words were "as the Department of Environment have asked for a list of reptiles that is scientifically defensible so that if they are taken to court they would have a reasonable chance of defending the case." This makes me think the list does not need to be correct, but just defensible if someone has the time and money to take them to court.

[shamroth]

If there is any hint of them letting the public in please let me know..i would be very interested in attending this

[Bushbaby]

Apparently they will have a public participation session some time in the future. We'll see if that actually does happen!!

[Reptard]

Just want to say, BV, BB and the other herpers who are fighting this, Im holding thumbs!

I really dont want to give up my reptiles, for a cat or bunny... Im not a big fan of the furries!!!
So, please, if there's anything that can be done from the general public, let me know.

[Bushbaby]

The meeting will be on the 20th of October in Cape Town and everybody's expenses are being paid for by the state EXCEPT mine.

I was wondering, since BV is technically unemployed, and he is going to be fighting for our right to keep the reptiles we so love, possibly we could get some money together to pay for his ticket down to Cape Town. The Total cost was R2200.00 Any amount would be appreciated. I pledge the first R100!!

[Mitton]

I was thinking the same thing, please let us know where we can transfer some money to and I'm sure the forum members will be able to help BV help us all.

[Bushbaby]

The account details are as follows:

Standard bank.
Account name: Mehelya trust
Account type: Current account
Account number: 20-094-760-5
Branch: Boksburg
Branch Code: 011842

Ref: BV Cape Fight (and your name)

[Mitton]

Do you have a branch code?