[Drakeflyte]

PLEASE READ IN FULL, THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO ANIMAL WELFARE

When someone mentions the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) what do you imagine?
You imagine dedicated, hard-working, honest, caring people who aim to ensure the protection and safety of all animals under the sun.

Well, I'm afraid you're wrong.

Recently it has come to my attention that the RSPCA is not all what it seems. I used to give a donation per month to them, but after hearing this, I've canceled my donations and have started a personal campaign to bring to light what this (apparently) animal loving society is doing.

Through this link:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
You can learn about what the RSPCA are doing under-hand, hidden from the public to ban reptiles in the UK. Even if you are not a resident in the UK, please take interest as it would only be a matter of time before reptiles could be banned in your home country.

In short, the RSPCA are trying to stop the public keeping reptiles, from several points of view
1. They will not care for reptiles that are brought to them, they are passed on to individuals, or more frequently put down (ill or not)
2. Reptiles are not seen as "popular" pets, most people are afraid of snakes and lizards and the RSPCA are working from this to equate this ban
3. Treatment of unwell reptiles is very expensive, the RSPCA would rather not spend any money on them at all by achieving this ban

This may seem, to some of you, to be a good idea. However, to many people, the reptiles they keep are a huge part of their lives and indeed livelihoods in reptile shops.

This ban would stop:
Imports
Sales
Breeding
and personal ownership

Dont forget, "reptile" isnt just crocodiles, poisonous snakes and such, with this ban there would be no tortoises, no terrapins, no geckos, no snakes, no lizards, no turtles, no iguanas, no skinks, no monitors, nothing.
The vast majority of reptiles are completely harmless, using statistics from USA (as the UK stats are not public) i can show that reptile related injuries are much less frequent than, say, dog related.


4.7 million dog attacks in US 2001 (2percent of the population)

and in comparison:

9873 reptile attacks in the US 2001 (much, much less than 2percent im sure you'll agree)

After looking at this, now remember that the US has a much higher density of reptiles than the UK, so the number of estimated reptile attacks in the UK is much less than the US, while there are less dogs aswell, there are not dramatically as less than the difference in reptiles between Nations.

So I ask this question:
If the RSPCA is allegedly worried about the amount of reptile attacks in the UK, then why arent they worried about the proportionally higher ratio of dog attacks?


So what can I do?
Its easy, be aware and make others aware of the RSPCA's intentions to go against their own policies and, in effect, cull all reptiles in the UK.

I will hopefully be organising some things with a few close friends at home and I will make you all aware of the plans, from online petitions to public awareness events.

I would strongly urge you to try and do the same, the more the public know about this and the more people we get to oppose this ban (in ANY country) the better chance we have to save reptile lives and human livelihoods.

If the RSPCA wont do their job of protecting every animal on this planet, then theres something very wrong, and we owe it to ourselves and the creatures we share the world with to stand up and fight against something so hideously wrong as this.


P.S. As an afterword, if you aren't a reptile lover or not even neutral, please dont flame this discussion and issue, just keep giving your money to RSPCA and enjoy hell when you get there.

[Josun Tomoro]

Im going to say im neutral, but say this.

Once such a ban got put in place, people would fight it. or at least some would fight it. Menaing no offense, but the majority (maybe) might think of it as a good thing, because some of them may think of the dangerous reptiles instead of the ones you find in pet shops.

Good luck with your campaign against them.

[Golden Nightmare]

They can't ban that.....
wouldn't they have to go to your government in order to do so ...

(sorry not familiar with UK politics ^^ )

[Drakeflyte]

Originally Posted by Josun Tomoro

Im going to say im neutral, but say this.

Once such a ban got put in place, people would fight it. or at least some would fight it. Menaing no offense, but the majority (maybe) might think of it as a good thing, because some of them may think of the dangerous reptiles instead of the ones you find in pet shops.

Good luck with your campaign against them.

Would you consider putting your name on a petition against the ban, just for the principles?
I understand neutrality, and the reasons why people dislike reptiles as they get bad press, but as you see by the stats, you're more likely to get mauled by dogs hundreds of times before you (by ratio and proportion) get a scratch from a reptile.

Originally Posted by Golden Nightmare

They can't ban that.....
wouldn't they have to go to your government in order to do so ...

(sorry not familiar with UK politics ^^ )

They have gone to the government, they're petitioning the Prime Minister out of the public eye to have them banned completely, which is why we are fighting to make sure that reptiles stay safe in the UK and that the RSPCA does it's job. If tropical birds suddenly got too expensive and difficult to handle, they would probably try and oust them through a similar ban.

Is it too much to ask the UK's society for the prevention of cruelty to animals to care for a animal group as large and specialised as Reptiles?

[hinarei]

may I just point out that the forum link you posted (originally talking about the ban) was dated 2002?

If this has gone on for more than six years, I am sure we'd have heard more about this by now...

[Drakeflyte]

Thats the point, its a bit of a huge process and government are not quite agreeing with it, however, there is the problem that with more pressure, they will have to bow to it.
Thats why we havent seen it as much of a threat up until now, the RSPCA has been flexing its muscles to the other animal welfare groups and getting their support so the problem is growing.
With all this going on, we need to act as soon as possible and get the word out and people behind us to stop this process.

[Josun Tomoro]

Errr... would me being in the USA and being 17 hinder signing such a petition?