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H.r. 669

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882 views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Hippopoctopus  
#1 ·
Has anyone seen this yet? I read it once and thought this is totally absurd. Then I read it again sympathetically as someone living in a country where the winter doesn't kill off most foreign organisms and diseases that find their way into the environment. I then saw the method behind the madness. It still seems like hunting a ant with a bazooka but something needs to be done. A logical compromise seems to evade this problem. Even in Canada with our cleansing cold winters we still get some hardy non-native invaders creating a nuisance in our lakes, fields and forests.

"What is HR 669?
H.R. 669 stands for House Resolution 669 and is titled "The Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act". It is a bill currently before Congress that if passed will change the way that the US Government classifies animal species that are not native to the United States. H.R. 669 will make it illegal to breed and sell many animals that are very common in the pet trade."

http://www.nohr669.com/
 
#5 ·
Bans in different states is the only way to fairly address the problem. I believe that they do that already and it still doesn't solve the problem. They just do not allow pet stores to sell pets or plants that are invasive or people to have them. Most of the time it is like closing the barn door after the horses have run off. There will be no solution to this problem as long as the potential threat is there as pets do get lost intentionally or not into the wild. Fish fry can live in amongst wet bird feathers long enough to make a short hop. Ducks and other water fowl distribute organisms from pond to pond along their flight path. Unfortunately I see this as a no win situation.
 
#7 ·
the law and attempt is WAAAAY too late. As stated, the horses are out. There is no point in closing the door.

btw. Tropical houseplants tend to bring a lot of geckos and anole's up to that garden center I got Ich from. In other words, they'll find away to travel.
 
H
#8 ·
I think there's a few facts that can't be ignored if this bill passed.

- The salt water hobby would virtually disappear
- The reptile trade would shut down
- The bird trade would be destroyed

With the state of the economy in mind, what are the odds the government is going to commit economic suicide like this?

Governments are, more often than not, reluctant to consider environmental laws. It costs them profit, it makes businesses look bad, it forces them to spend money to enforce the law, and it always puts pressure on them from different sides of the public. I suspect that the government has been under pressure to pass this law for quite some time and they're using the state of the economy as an excuse to present it with reasonable assurance that it will silence the activists but wont actually have a chance of being passed.

Consider though that the real problem with collecting these species isn't their potential to invade our native habitats. Collection for the pet trade does, and has damaged/killed habitats by damaging the ecological balance. Most of these birds are collected from densely planted ecosystems. When the birds are removed, bugs thrive. When bugs thrive, plants die. When plants die, the ecosystem disintegrates. The fact is that you can't even remove something as basic as soil in large amounts from an ecosystem without upsetting its balance and harming its wildlife. Taking the animals is no different. Ignore this bill and put your attention towards supporting captive breeding instead.
 
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