Thank you for visiting this website. Reptile enthusiasts this is your time to stand up and let your elected leaders know you position on proposed laws. This is for all of you who love reptiles from the keeper to the breeder, your elected representative needs to see YOU.

There have been call ins, fax & email campaigns, but just like a job interview the lasting impression is a face to face interview. You need to walk into your Senator’s & Congressman’s office and talk with him/her or their aids. I do not mean the person sitting at the phone. You need to get into the office, sit down and talk to the person who reports to the Senator or Congressman. Be prepared with the facts. This is an easy thing to do. It will take an hour of your day for some and a few more for others. I realize some of you do not live close to where your representatives offices are located, but I urge you to take the time and go. It is actually a very rewarding experience. Being a part of the process is a great feeling. Acting in the process instead of standing on the sidelines and being acted upon is where all Americans should be.

We have organizations like PIJAC and USARK working in our behalf. But they cannot do it alone. It takes a grassroots effort. This site is just that a tool for us all to use to get a visual of how we are doing. It may seem a little thrown together and it was, but time is of the essence here. So here is what you need to do.

Put this web address – http://www.saveoursnakes.org – in all your emails, on your website, facebook, twitter & Myspace. Everywhere you can think of plaster it over the internet. Then find your Senator and Congressman listed here and go to their office. You do not need an appointment. There are people there during business hours. Be presentable and courteous and ask for a few minutes of their time. On this site you will find what you can say about these proposed bills. Take a picture of yourself in the office next to the flags if you can or grab a business card to show you were there. Send it to us in an email and we will show that your reps were visited in person.

This is the purpose of this site. If everyone else feels like someone else will do it, it may never get done. So this is the visual for us to see how we are doing. As people send in pics and report they have done the visits the map will change colors. We need to cover this map this week. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we need you to go do your visits. Remember both the Senators and the Congressmen need to be seen by you. It would be great if they had a line of people in the office waiting to talk with them about the same issue.

I hope to be able to post your name and picture you get in the office if you give permission under your reps name. Please go out and let your voice be heard.

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The Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works (EPW), Subcommittee on Water & Wildlife held a Hearing on S373 aka the Python Ban today at 2 PM. Senator Ben Cardin, Chairman, presided. Senator Bond and Senator Levine were the only presenters. Senator Bill Nelsen, the Bill sponsor, was not in attendance to present on S373. The Hearing was brief and more of a formality in order to move 9 different bills forward quickly.

Some of you that are following USARK on Twitter got the blow by blow during the hearing. Dan Ashe, Deputy Secretary of US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), testified on S373 recommending that the Bill be amended to include all 9 snakes addressed in the recent US Geologic Survey (USGS) Report on large constrictors. Chairman Cardin indicated that USFWS should approach Senator Nelson regarding amendment. Robert Bendick of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), while acknowledging problems with the science in the USGS Report, also recommended amending S373 to include the 9 snakes.

The representative of the Humane Society of the United States was seen urging USFWS to ask Senator Nelson to amend S373 to include 45 species of Boa and Python.

The Burmese Python is being used by politicians and special interests to railroad the Reptile Nation!

S373 as written would add ALL 40 species of python to the Injurious Wildlife List of the Lacey Act; the entire python genre. If amended as recommended by USFWS and TNC it would add all 4 species of anaconda and Boa Constrictor to the list. That would be 45 species in all. Although the Bill Sponsor is from Florida this is not a Florida Bill. This is federal legislation that would affect the entire country. Including, but not limited to, Ball Pythons, Chondros, Blood Pythons, Carpet Pythons and Boa Constrictors. If passed S373 will destroy the Reptile Nation!

It is time for a gut check. Have you done everything you can to keep this nightmare scenario from happening? If you have we greatly appreciate your support!! If you have been sitting on the sidelines hoping others will take care of this for you please stand up and help now. We need members and money to fight this legislation. You can make excuses or you can take action! There is Strength in Numbers Protect Your Rights! In the coming days USARK will ask a lot from the Reptile Nation. This is it. It is now or never. Live or die. This industry and hobby has NEVER been so close to annihilation. Please don’t go quietly into the night.

Next Thursday, December 10, 2009 S373 will go to ‘Mark Up’ before the Senate EPW Committee. This is where the Bill can be amended. USARK has submitted several amendment proposals. We have one week to have an impact! Get involved and get ready to take massive action. We have worked too hard and come too far to let it all go now! ONE WEEK! Don’t Sit This One Out!!!