Hello Marcus and Everyone on this thread,

I have had considerable experience with U. S. Fish and Wildlife and their
interpretations of the Lacey Act. Unfortunately the wildlife portions are
not clearly written and are subject to the interpretation of the individual
wildlife officers and inspectors. Some officers are excellent and others are
poorly educated bureaucrats. Fortunately, the former is usually the case.

I spent many years working with reptiles, including captive breeding and
exporting captive bred offspring. Reptiles seemed to be the first target for
the application of the Lacey Act. Much of the rule making by Fish and
Wildlife is driven by organizations such as HSUS, The Humane Society of the
United States, and PETA (people for the ethical treatment of animals. Both
of these organizations are extremist vegan oriented and operate on emotion
rather than scientific fact. They pull at the heart strings of animal lovers
and run TV ads that generate funding in the hundreds of millions. HSUS
basically uses their name to make people think that they will help to rescue
abandoned animals; however, they do not own or operate any shelters or
rescue facilities. Both organizations are loosely linked to other more
extreme organizations that can best be described as eco-terrorists. In my 42
years in the fire service and 23 years as Fire Chief, I have seen arson and
terrorist activity committed by the ALF, ELF and other organizations who
have received funding for legal work from PETA and others. It is important
to note that HSUS and PETA wish to ban all use of and/or human interaction
with animals, period! This includes food, research, and anything else you
can think of, except for dogs and cats. This is somewhat of a testimony to
their ignorance as they protect populations of feral cats and dogs, even
though they present the greatest hazard to the existence of certain species
of wildlife.

Another problem with the Lacey Act involves the abuse of political power by
certain politicians, especially members of Congress, who propose legislation
to ban certain species in order to direct funding to a pet project or to
enrich their supporters. The most recent example was a professional looking
report authored by Gordon Rodda under the authority of the USGS, (U.S.
Geological Survey). The report claimed that the Burmese Pythons that had
established a population in extreme South Florida were found as far north as
the foothills of the Himalayas and could potentially inhabit the entire
southern half of the Continental United States as far north as Tennessee.
Mr. Rodda failed to realize that Mt Everest in the Northern Himalayas is at
the same latitude as Orlando, Florida and the normal range of Python
bivitattus is about the same as the Everglades. In any case, as our normal
cold cycle returned during the past two years, almost all of the pythons in
extreme south Florida froze to death and no longer appear to be a problem.
Two control colonies that were established in contained outdoor conditions
in North-Central Florida and South Georgia experienced a 100% mortality due
to freezing. The bottom line is that many politicians and bureaucrats are
not above giving credibility to false or misleading reports to further their
desires.

The application of the Lacey Act to people who legally purchase cleaned
seashells overseas on vacation and bring them home with their luggage will
create thousands of felons who may be prosecuted and serve hard jail time.

It is up to us to educate the powers to be, politicians and wildlife
officials. If we just sit by and let this happen, not only will we lose our
ability to follow our passion, whether it be to collect a few specimens or
to do valid research and/or to discover and describe new species. Even more
importantly if all activities with animals and nature are banned, who will
be the scientists and researchers of the future?

I may try to make it to Boston and I intend to offer to put together a
program on the USFWS rule making and enforcement program as well as an
overview of the Lacey Act and how it can be interpreted or misinterpreted to
meet the desires of the inspector or enforcement officer.

This probably doesn't answer many questions but hopefully we will not stand
by and let this pass.

Good luck to all of us,

Dennis Sargent

ADDENDUM: It is interesting that USFWS

-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Marcus Coltro
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 6:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Shell Collectors will be soon extinct in USA!

And I guess this part would exclude us, right? I do not speak Lawyerish
language....

(4) Nothing in this subsection shall restrict the importation of dead
natural-history specimens for
museums or for scientific collections, or the importation of domesticated
canaries, parrots (including all
other species of psittacine birds), or such other cage birds as the
Secretary of the Interior may designate.


From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bill
Fenzan
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 6:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Shell Collectors will be soon extinct in USA!

Gregory,

Are you sure you are interpreting this law accurately?  It seems to be aimed
at preventing the importation of harmful animal species
that are on a specific list rather than a blanket ban on importation of the
shell portion of the molluscs we study.  It does say
that parts of animals can be prohibited, but the intent of the law seems to
point in a different direction.  Wonder what a lawyer
would say?

Regards,

Bill Fenzan
Norfolk, Virginia
----- Original Message -----
From: Gregory Nielsen <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Shell Collectors will be soon extinct in USA!

Marcus,
F&WL doesn't need to have regulations for the shell trade, they can do this
under the Lacey Act. You cannot bring in plants or
wildlife from another country where it's prohibited. I think that includes
most South American countries. Here's a link:
http://www.fws.gov/le/pdffiles/lacey.pdf



From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Marcus Coltro
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 10:44
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CONCH-L] Shell Collectors will be soon extinct in USA!

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