One of the side effects of the recent legal issues is that people are talking about education--not just lobbying. This is a good thing, and HAS to happen for us to survive (and frankly needs to be part of our lobbying efforts).
I've done (admittedly) intermittent public education with herps. Not hard core, non stop, but I have done some. I've spoken to Scout groups back when I was younger (and still involved in Scouts).
I've done volunteer work at our local zoo, where I can educate people about herpetofauna and sometimes let them touch and handle a snake, while being told how beneficial and harmless most of them are. I've tried to answer questions at pet stores, even when I don't work there.
It's not enough, but it is something.
The long and short of it is that lobbying will not, by itself, save us. We have to garner some sort of public acceptance of us, and for our animals. The most successful lobbying groups (like the NRA) all seek to EDUCATE the public--why their issues matter, why their take on it is right, and how to participate. You don't have to agree with the NRA to recognize it is an immensly successful organization--in part because it seeks to educate people about firearm safety and encourage people to try shooting as a hobby.
We have to do that. We have to educate people to realize:
Reptiles aren't on the whole particularly dangerous.
Many reptiles can be good pets.
Reptiles as pets are a responsibility you can't undertake lightly.
Reptiles are an important part of nature.
Reptile people come from all walks of life and can look like the guy next door--sometimes I think the most damaging stereotypes the public holds are about US not our animals.
You don't do that by writing letters to your state representatives (although you should also do that). You do it by giving talks at libraries, schools, scout meetings, things like that.
Doing this properly can help lessen the public perception of us as weird---and trust me, people still think it's weird to keep herps as pets. We spend enough time around each other we forget that, but I was recently told "but you seemed so normal!" when my new boss found out I had snakes at home. And she's an educated, early 30s, woman, with a masters degree, not some ignorant yokel.
People still have frequent misconceptions about reptiles and what they can and can't do--a poster on a conservation message board I'm on, who is ALSO educated (a botanist) was convinced that reticulated pythons posed a threat to the US ecosystems. I tried (perhaps not as nicely as I should have) that they can't handle any place that regularly freezes.
I still see people that are convinced bull snakes and rattlesnakes hybridize, that reptiles won't grow past thier enclosure, all sorts of awful myths that should have died 50 years ago. We have to combat the dual dragons of misinformation (about the animals) and stereotypes (about both the animals and US). The only way to do that is to dress nicely, speak correctly and politely, and present our animals in a factually accurate, non threatening manner. We HAVE to do this or we will fall.
Education and talks, hopefully, swell our ranks--and moreever, get the new members of the club off on the right foot.
There's a lot to doing public talks well, but that's the subject for a different blog.
