The problem is not as bad as they say. But if this passes the only fish that you will be able to have for an aquarium is goldfish. This is just going to hurt the reptile owners, but all pet owners. I know a person that has a dog that is part dingo. She has had this dog for 15 years. She will know longer be able to have the dog. How many people have had a hamster when they were a kid. If this passes your kids will not ever be able to own one.I do own reptiles and will be the first one to say they need to change some of the laws that are out there, but this is going way to far.
I read through the legislation, and any pets already owned would not be affected, so your friend with the dingo could keep her dog. I didn't see anything in the bill that would affect dogs or cats, for that matter, because if you think about it, unless you own a wolf, coyote, puma, panther or bobcat, none of our current domestic dogs and cats are native species!
While I think something needs to be done to control the release of non-native species into the wild, I don't think this is the way to go about it. When it comes to the government deciding who gets to own something and they also make up the list of what is acceptable, I don't have any faith in them. They always manage to assign the folks with an alternate agenda to be on these committees, never the people who really have everyone's best interest in mind. And with the Congress we have today, and the people sponsoring this bill, I'm even more inclined to believe this is a bad idea.
There was a big to do yesterday about if they were going to let people keep what they owed. The founder and co-founders of the bill were trying to make is so you would have to surender your pet.
