The following information was posted on another list and Cindy has
given me permission to post it on the FML. We all need to keep the
pressure on since the first battle has been won, but the war is not
won yet.

Ferret hugs,

Kathy Fritz, Executive Director
Ferret Nook Shelter / Adoption Center
www.ferretnook.org
Co-Director/Treasurer, International Ferret Congress
www.ferretcongress.org

  From: [log in to unmask]
  On Behalf Of Cindy - PHFaust
  Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2009 11:20 PM
  Subject: Fw: VICTORY over HR669!!!

Here is an update.  I hope this comes through on the lists.  This is  
not over yet.  I'm quite sure a new proposal is coming.

Cindy Rampacek
Small Scale Reptile Rescue and Education
Help Support Small Scale Reptile Rescue and buy Cool Stuff
www.smallscalereptilerescue.org
www.cafepress.com/winiad

Chicagoland Bully Breed Rescue
www.chicagopitbulls.org
Being Homeless is the Pits...Adopt one today!

VICTORY over HR669!!!

WE DID IT FOLKS!!!! Victory over HR669! You can thank yourselves and
the Reptile Nation, for a hard fought Victory! Our nearly 50,000
grassroots letters and 1,000s of phone calls to the offices of the
subcommittee members clearly prevailed at today's Insular Affairs
Subcommittee hearing on HR 669. HR 669 in it's current form is
finished. For anything to go forward it MUST be re-written from the
ground up....and USARK will have a seat at the table along with other
stake holders.

Delegate Faleomavega from Samoa said, "The letter and phone campaign
hit the subcommittee like a BUZZ SAW". Harry Burroughs, of the
subcommittee staff said, "I haven't seen a letter writing campaign like
this in 30 years! You should be proud of yourselves." Take heart in the
fact that the Reptile Nation stopped HR669 in it's tracks!!

We also need to thank Congressman Henry Brown, SC for helping us to
focus our fight on the Subcommittee as opposed to the full House of
Representatives. He is the one who instructed us to write real letters
to be truly effective. He said emails are fine if that is all you can
manage, but they can be filtered and deleted. There is no denying the
weight of thousands of paper letters from American citizens. The
Reptile Nation was responsible for 49,229 letters delivered to the
Subcommittee in less than two weeks. Congressman Brown's staff made
sure they all got in the door. 38,000 of those letters will be entered
into the permanent record. Thank you my friends!

Credit should also be given to Bill Martin, a witness who testified at
the hearing. He is the President of Blue Ridge Aquatics, a large multi-
state Tilapia farming operation. They farm Tilapia as a food fish. He
had some serious problems with the bill and the ear of much of the
committee. His plain talk of how this bill would destroy hundreds of
families hit home. What they do and the impact this bill would have on
them parallels the plight of the Reptile Nation.

Senior Democrat staff from the House Committee on Natural Resources
advised Subcommittee Chair Madeleine Bordallo that if she wants
something to go forward she will have to go back to square one and
draft a new bill. Then have another subcommittee hearing. When and if
she does, USARK will be there to represent the interests of the Reptile
Nation!! They probably will try, and that will be our challenge for
another day. But Today VICTORY is SWEET!...... Celebrate today and
rest, because tomorrow we must get ready to fight again.

Thank you Reptile Nation! Thank you Tom Wolfe. Thank you everyone who
did their part.

Stay tuned... This fight has only begun!

USARK

A note from Tom Wolfe:

"The good news is, USARK engineered a significant victory which caught
the attention of the entire membership of the Subcommittee and their
staffs.

The bad news is this is just the first step in the process. Members of
the Reptile Nation should be jubilant with this victory. However, our
success should be measured, because the proponents of HR 669 will be
back soon with another version of the same legislation. They will not
rest, so we must not rest either.

Take satisfaction in a job well done and a victory well deserved, but
know we all must rise up again to fight on because the battle has just
begun!"

[Pictures don't appear on the FML, but here's what you WOULD be
looking at :-) BIG]

( pic above ) - USARK President, Andrew Wyatt presents Republican Staff
Director Harry Burroughs the 38,000 letters that were admitted into the
record of the official proceedings of the Insular Affairs, Oceans &
Wildlife Subcommittee hearing on Thursday, April 23, 2009.

( pic above ) - Partial view of the 14 boxes and 11 USPS mail bins
containing the 38,000 letters delivered to the Insular Affairs, Oceans
& Wildlife Subcommittee.

( pic above ) - Insular Affairs, Oceans & Wildlife Subcommittee
Ranking Republican Henry Brown, (SC-1) accepts one of the 25 containers
comprising of over 38,000 letters from THE REPTILE NATION delivered to
the subcommittee hearing on April 23, 2009.
Left to right, Andrew Wyatt - President USARK, Congressman Henry Brown
and Tom Wolfe - Washington representative for USARK.

[Posted in FML 6313]