Imagine the hypothetical scenario of picking up your weekly town's Tribune one lazy morning on March 2nd and coming across a headline or legislative agenda item for your town council on March 6th reading something to the effect of:

*Board Agenda item 3333333- Final Reading of An Ordinance to prohibit the keeping and sale of Wild, Exotic Animals

No doubt your mind will probably be racing at this point as will your heart rate and blood pressure . What should you do? Is it too late to rally the troops? Is it time to move to another area and/or surrender your animals?

Luckily, the above situation can be prevented or avoided if one becomes organized and proactive in a myraid of different ways in which I shall describe below. The purpose of my wanting to write this post are two fold: one; to serve as a simple and easily understood guide, or resource for many of those who may not be experienced or familiar in the art of grassroots activism, or what to do and when should a ordinance, bill, or amendment to prohibit the keeping of reptiles and other exotic animals arises in your area. And secondly, the purpose of this post is also largely intended to compliment and follow up on a previous posting on the subject by Cindy Steinle, which can be viewed Here

First off, we all need to adopt the mindset of expecting legislation and ordinances coming down the chutes not *if*, but *when*. In other words, we need to expect it coming. As I have previously mentioned, it takes very few catlyists to initiate consideration of these ordinances on the local level. If one is considering moving to an area, please do not specifically inquire to your police department or local lawmaking body about reptiles or exotic animals and certainly please do not keep animals where they are not legal. Case in point: the City of Middleton Wisconsin, whose License and Ordinance committee, along with recommendations from the police chief, began considering an ordinance when an individual with American alligators from Madison WI (where they are presently illegal) requested to keep the animals when moving to Middleton. Having had correspondence with the head animal control officer of Dane County WI following a Dane County Environment, Agriculture, and Natural Resource committee hearing, this particular individual had been implicated in multiple prior incidents of keeping the animals illegally in Madison WI, which was the catlyist that spurred the situation in Middleton, and subsequent involvement, time, manpower, and resources of the Madison area Herpetological Society, of which I serve as Education and Events Coordinator.

Having said that, lets examine some of the simple yet proactive steps everyone can and should do to help fight for our animals locally.

Get to Know Your Local Government Inside and Out

I believe this is one of the most important ones of all. If you are unfamiliar with it, or rusty on the mechanics of local government since last studying it in grade school or middle school, now, prior to anything coming down the chutes, would be an excellent time to referesh yourself as well as others you may wish to network and get involved with on how it works. Among the things I recommend that everyone familiarize themselves with on their local and county governments at a minimum, is how are bills, amendments, or ordinances typically introduced, navigated through the legislative process, and passed. What boards or committees does your local or county government have? How are agenda items typically advertised? Are they printed or broadcasted in the local newsprint or media, posted on city hall's bulletin board, or advertised on the city or county's website? Is there an email subscribe feature to be put on a mailing list for notifications of upcoming agendas, minutes, public hearings, and other legislative activity? Who currently sits on these boards and what is their contact information?

One subject I cannot stress enough is that when the time comes where correspondence with your elected officials is necessary, PLEASE be courteous, knowledgeable and respectful towards them. While it is completely understandable that our hobby and our pets (Got it Right there, Cindy) is a passion and life's work for many of us, please do not shout, badmouth, our use vulgarities or profanities towards them. This is simply unprofessional conduct, and will not carry any weight or result in any progress for our cause. Please be polite and courteous, and provide facts, statistics, and personal examples of how such an ordinance relates to you, your friends, or your family.

One thing we must understand, is most elected officials are barraged with a variety of topics and issues daily, and cannot possibly be knowledgeable or up to date on everything currently before them. We must also understand that most of the time on a local and county level especially, the crafting and consideration of these ordinances by our elected officials are NOT intended to serve as direct attacks against responsible pet owners, keepers, and breeders and should not be viewed as such. In the case of both Middleton WI and Dane County WI, their stated intent of having an ordinance was to simply address those few instances where negligent and/or irresponsible owners do create a health or safety issue with their animals. Does this mean I am in support of the legislation as it is currently written and proposed? Of course not!

Instead, what it comes largely down to a matter of public education, which should include our local elected officials, on the matter. Case in point: one representative on the Dane CO Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources board hadn't even known that stores in the Madison WI area sold reptiles or that people kept them in such great numbers! Instead of attacking and alienating one's local elected officials, identify what their main concerns are for proposing the legislation and what problems they are attempting to address with it. If you are involved with reptile rescue, a herpetological society, or any other business or entity that conducts outreach and education for the public, try offering your assistance and input on the matter by directly addressing their concerns and work towards finding a mutually agreeable solution. You may just be surprised at how much further this approach will take you.

Organize! Joing a Local Herp Society!

The second most important factor (actually tied with the first) to proactively fight for your animals on the local level, is to organize now!!! Do not wait until the last hour or minute to locate and subsequently assemble the troops. If there is one already present, joining any of the education, outreach, and community based local, regional, or state herpetological socieites (or herp socities for short) is also an excellent way of networking with other passionate, motivated, like minded individuals in your area on a variety of subjects pertaining to reptiles and amphibians including legislative matters. In my area of Wisconsin, I am very proud and fortunate to be able to serve as education coordinator and as an active member for the Madison area Herpetological Society (MAHS). Over the past several months, we have been tirelessly engaged and involved with legislation at the local level, all of the way on up to the federal level regarding the python and boa rulemaking. The herp society I am a part of may only be approximately one year old, but in that time, we have managed to become the largest and most active herp society in the state of Wisconsin, and I have little doubt that we will continue to grow and experience the legislative successes we have been having at the local level due to the perseverance and dedicated teamwork all of our members have contributed thus far.

If no herp society currently exists in your area, identify any and all locations where individuals who keep or enjoy reptiles may frequent. You may know of some in your area already. Otherwise, make informal inquires around town for contacts and/or networks at any and all local pet or specialty stores, veterinary clinics, schools, universities, museums, nature centers, fairs or pet shows, or others. Even if one resides in a small town, I suspect that it would not be overly difficult to locate at least a dozen, if not more, interested and dedicated individuals to stand behind you in the cause.

Assembling such a successful and focused grassroots network in such an uphill battle is certainly no small undertaking, and it will undoubtedly require large amounts of time, motivation and energy (and not to mention missed sleep) for successes to happen, given the seemingly daily barrage of legislation coming down the tubes. However, the simple illustration I would like to make, and conclude with, is that legislative victories for us in the herp community CAN and DO happen if we organize, network, and stay aware of legislative happenings.

The involvement of MAHS in fending off and/or influencing both the Middleton WI and Dane Co WI bans thus far are proof positive of the shining star efforts we can all make on local communities.
When these ordinances come up, especially on the local level, they are almost always passed unanimously under our radar simply because very few, if any residents in those respective communities have taken an active role in paying attention to and involving themselves in their local government. That is what will kill us if many more people do not start paying attention. Board members or other local governing bodies operate on the assumption that if they do not hear from their residents and constituents, that the measures they propose will not apply to anyone, or to only a very tiny few. SPEAK UP!!! Make your Voices Known!!