I haven't wanted to be involved in this conversation. I just don't have
the will to fight any more. So, I will endeavour to not write anything
*too* controversial, but try to give the facts as I see them. I'm not
going to get into the live food issue right now.

My reaction to the original post was "You have to be kidding me" You
know the sad thing? It was a reaction to the proposed banning of an
exotic pet (snakes) rather than the situation. Here's why...

If someone doesn't like a specific animal (say, ferrets) they can find
that they have resistance from people in the banning of that animal.
So, they look at other "exotic pets" and see what isn't so "cute and
cuddly". So, they look at pet spiders. Many people are terrified of
spiders. Many spiders are poisonous, even though a majority of spider
owners don't own the venomous ones. Over a matter of time, they manage
to get pet spiders banned. Then, they move on to pet snakes. People
don't like snakes. They aren't cute and cuddly. Many people associate
snakes with venomous snakes, and while most people won't own venomous
snakes, they MIGHT... so, snakes get banned. Then rats. No, rats aren't
venomous, but they have big teeth... and many people are scared of
rats, they associate them with the bubonic plague, illness, and death.
It doesn't matter that the plague was spread by a flea, not the rat,
that the ones in homes aren't killing people by the ton. Rats then
face getting banned. Once they've managed to ban one furry mammal, it
becomes easier. Rats were banned, mice are smelly health hazards, breed
huge numbers in no time, and they can bite too! Speaking of breeding,
look at rabbits! They're a pest in most countries in the world! They
can bite and scratch, and they breed like... well... rabbits! They'll
kill out all the competition for food in the wild! From rabbits, it's
a REALLY short step to ferrets. After all, ferrets kill babies don't
they? Oh, and they stink, and they're just big rats anyway - so
shouldn't they have been banned when rats were? When one species of pet
is banned, you face that being a precedent for the banning of other
species. Ban one breed of dog, and suddenly you're looking at banning
any breed that is seen as dangerous. If you look at the statistics in
certain countries (where all dog bites are recorded and breed of dog
is also recorded) you won't see pit bulls at the top of the dangerous
breeds list, but dachshunds and cocker spaniels! Those two breeds
account for a huge number of serious bites - particularly in children
and babies around the head and face, causing permanent scarring. No,
they don't cause the most deaths, but the sheer numbers of bites and
the severity of permanent scarring in babies and young children is
astonishing. Can you imagine "Lady" (from Lady and the Tramp fame)
being banned? Well... it depends on your meaning of dangerous,
doesn't it?

In New Zealand, the ferret owners didn't believe that the government
would ever REALLY ban their pets. The ferret clubs really stood behind
their owners, even when the owners took their ferrets to wildlife
sanctuaries with highly endangered species - where no predator species
were allowed, and even very few HUMANS were allowed. When the public
heard about it, they were told about how ferrets could kill huge
numbers of species, could make extinct massive numbers of animals, how
they were causing the decline of many native species, and how ferret
owners were deliberately taking their ferrets to places where their
ferrets could cause the most harm. Ferrets were facing a total ban
within months of that fiasco. The current pets were grandfathered in,
allowed to be kept, but not transported, sold or given away. All were
to be desexed. Within six months ferret toys, bedding, and food were
all removed from the pet store shelves. Think it can't happen? It did.

Ferrets are still being kept in New Zealand. It's harder to get them.
The main ferret breeders have shut down. One that remained open was
only allowed to do so under a special permit on the proviso that they
only sold animals overseas. From my understanding they have shut down
also. The sad part is, with the laws the way they're written, you can
still legally keep ferrets. Only, now the only way to "legally" acquire
them is to catch them in the wild. The last I checked people weren't
being prosecuted for keeping ferrets... but it doesn't mean that there
won't be a "first person" who faces having their ferrets euthanised,
and have them facing hefty fines and/or jail time for breaking the law.
Ask the Californians how they feel about the situation there.

Start a wholesale banning of animals you don't like, and you face
losing the ones you DO like. There are even people within New Zealand
now trying to get cats banned as pets. That will be a long term thing,
likely taking decades, but they're actively working on it. The media
are already regularly fed stories about cats (and dogs) who are
ravaging the native wild life. So, not even the so called "normal"
pets are 100% safe long term. After all, looking at the New Zealand
example... there's a situation where ONE CAT managed to kill off an
entire species of native bird. One, single, solitary cat. Just imagine
how, if it was handled right, people could start thinking that cats
really DO need to be banned, or corralled, or just kept inside and
caged... then all desexed, and gradually grandfathered out, just like
the ferrets. People could still keep their cats! They just... couldn't
breed them, buy them, find new homes for them... so once they died
there would be no more cats.

[Posted in FML 6387]