This day, while we are honoring those that fought for our freedom, lets not lose sight of the fact that the fight for freedom continues everyday, both abroad and domestic.


The Future

As you wake up with the morning , the sun on your face, your stomach growls with hunger so you get out of bed and make your way downstairs to the kitchen to make some breakfast. You pull some ingredients out of the fridge and begin to prepare and cook. As you smell the aroma of the slab of garden burger with soy cheese, sizzling in the pan and banana muffin in the toaster oven, you begin to reminisce about a breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, and a tall glass of milk…none of which you can ever eat again. As you sit and eat your drab breakfast, you grab your tablet to read the latest news. You still find it difficult to navigate through the local news webpage on this thing and just wish you could hold a printed newspaper again. The headline article you see show’s a picture of a squadron of law enforcement cars in front of a house, a man laying face down with his hands behind his head in the front lawn, surrounded by what looks like a swat team, weapons drawn and pointed at the man. Another person you see walking into the house, thick with body armor from head to toe. The caption reads “Man found harboring illegal canines, now faces life in prison”. You look over to the counter and see the picture of you with your dog, Chewy, from years before and tears fill your eyes as you remember your companion of 10 years that was taken and euthanized, well before his time. You try to choke down your breakfast but find it difficult between the plain food and the lump of emotion in your throat.

Well, it’s time to get ready for work…so you go get dressed in your synthetic fiber pants and shirt with your wool-free socks and sweater, grab your synthetic non-leather briefcase, get into your Karma hybrid, leather-free car and head off to work. Luckily, you are driving very slow and cautious to avoid the wildlife on the road. You see flashing lights up ahead and proceed with care. As you drive by, you notice a car off to the side of the road with the front end damaged and windshield cracked. You see a dead young deer about 50 feet in front of the car and the driver is handcuffed in the back of the police car. You think to yourself, glad that isn’t me because it is a minimum 1 year in jail and $5,000 fine for injuring or killing an animal on the roadway.

You arrive at work and because you didn’t eat most of your breakfast, you can’t wait till lunch time. Fast forward, It’s lunch time and your starving so you leave immediately. You decide to spoil yourself with a much deserved treat, and head over to a local restaurant that, if you know the right people, will sell you a hamburger. Of course, that hamburger will cost you $60 because they are illegal. As you drive into the parking lot, you notice that it is empty. You walk up to the door where you see a big notice posted stating that this establishment has been condemned and is scheduled for demolition after being found in violation of the Animal Consumption Act. The ACA makes the consumption of all Animal parts and byproducts illegal and violation of any part of the act is a felony. The ACA is a measure that was proposed by SHELA, (Society for the Humane and Ethical Liberation of Animals, a collaborative organization comprised of multiple Animal Rights Organizations). This measure was controversially passed and is enforced by SHELA-LE, a federally mandated, law-enforcement branch of this organization staffed with government appointed officers from all branches of law enforcement and the military.

Well damn, It looks like it is off to a fast-food drive thru for another Tofurky sandwich with tomato, lettuce, and Vegenaise.

By the end of the day, your body aches from sitting in front of the computer all day, your head hurts and your eyes strained from looking at the monitor. Sometimes, you just wish you could work with a stack of papers again instead of this blasted computer, but paper is now a very rare commodity due to the heavy taxation put on it thanks to environmental groups.

You had to work late and know you have a long, cautious drive home due to flourishing deer populations, now that hunting is banned in the United States.

You finally make it back home and your stomach is in knots from hunger so you go straight to the kitchen. You are sick of eating fruits and vegetables and tofu, but you have no choice. You walk over to the counter to grab an apple in the bowl right next to that picture of you and Chewy your faithful canine companion. Your face turns red from anger as you remember the details of the day that SHELA-LE pulled into your neighborhood with their caravan of “Death Wagons” as most people referred to them. You are outraged knowing that you had registered Chewy with your local Animal Control, like a good responsible citizen. Once the federal laws were passed outlawing the captivity and enslavement of all living creatures, you knew it was only a matter of time before they came for your best friend. They came and knocked on your door, you sat there holding Chewy, praying they would leave if they thought you weren’t home. Chewy let out a bark….and then you heard the man at the door request the battering ram to enter the premises. You reluctantly opened the door and began to berate the people standing on the front step, calling them soul-less monsters and the devils minions. They were not even fazed by your outrage and ordered you to step aside or be arrested for obstruction. They barged their way into your home to seize your pet. You hear the screams and cries of your neighbors as other SHELA-LE teams are forcing their way into homes and taking their animals too. Chewy, barking at the strangers entering his domain, is violently noosed and dragged out of the house, to the vehicle waiting in front. You were frozen at the thought that anyone could so coldly break the bond you built with this animal for 10 years and emotionlessly kill another living creature. You were so overcome with rage and fear, you couldn’t even speak to say goodbye to Chewy. Before you know it, he’s loaded into the back of the wagon and you know that he is dead before they even drive off to the next house.

The pain is just as real now as it was then. You feel a puncturing, stabbing pain, you feel light headed, sick to your stomach, and a hot flush rushes through your body as though you had spontaneously combusted. As the tears stream down your cheeks and the ache envelopes your heart, you wonder to yourself…how did the world come to this? How did these organizations come to such great power and the government become their puppets? You think back to 15 years ago, when you saw posts all over Social Media of people with exotic animals begging for help to defeat laws banning exotic pets which, if passed, would force them to give up their beloved pets. Did the same things happen to them as happened to me and my Chewy? Could they possibly have felt the same pain when their exotic pets were taken away and destroyed? They said they would be coming after our dogs and cats next, and after agriculture and hunters, but you didn’t believe them. Instead, you believed all the scary news reports and articles telling you that they are trying to protect you and save the animals from horrible situations, the same things they said later about my Chewy which couldn’t have been farther from the truth. You realize that you have no one to blame but yourself for believing all the hype of these extremist organizations, and for not doing something more to stop it back when you still had the opportunity.




J. Potash

Regardless of your thoughts or feelings while reading this, please read it in its entirety. The conclusion may hold some surprises.

There is a call to action for the United States Fish & Wildlife Service along with the Department of the Interior to take action against a major wildlife threat looming across the country. Due to their threats against natural ecosystems, Domestic cats (Felis catus) need to be regulated or banned!
*An estimated 117 to 157 million exotic predators in the form of free-ranging domestic cats (Felis catus), are estimated to kill at least one billion birds every year in the United States. Cats have contributed to declines and extinctions of birds worldwide and are one of the most important drivers of global bird extinctions.

Every year, thousands of cats are abandoned, released, or escape into the wild, and many of these turn to their feral state and form feral colonies. These colonies pose a real and severe threat to wildlife and natural ecosystems everywhere. A single cat can easily kill hundreds of wild, native animals in a year. Multiply this by a colony of 20 cats, then again by the number of colonies in township, which can easily number over 20, and you can see just how widespread of a problem this is. Typical prey items for cats include songbirds, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. Their primary instinct and prey items are songbirds and small mammals. All songbirds except for 2 in the entire country are protected by federal law, and many of these are even endangered.

Cats are natural predators that have an amazing ability to adapt to a wide range of living circumstances and have the ability to establish colonies everywhere in the United States. In many places, they have few, if any, natural predators which allow them to flourish. They are also prolific breeders and a single female can produce 20 babies in a single year. *Because of their ability to overwhelm existing native species and natural ecosystem processes in environments in which they have been introduced, domestic cats are moreover classified as invasive species. **Due largely to impacts resulting from its predation on other species, the domestic cat is listed by the IUCN as one of the “100 of the world’s worst invasive alien species”.

By listing these environmental hazards as injurious under the Lacey Act, they can prohibit the importation and transport across state lines. Further legislation should include orders and local funding to eradicate populations and legislation to prohibit ownership or implement permit processes to own these animals.

Feral Cats have established breeding populations in every state in the union and have caused significant damage to wildlife and they continue to pose a great risk to many native species, including threatened and endangered species. ***Historically, cats have been specifically implicated in at least 33 bird extinctions, making them one of the most important causes of bird extinctions worldwide.
Millions of dollars have been spent on efforts to fight this massive problem, and yet it only continues to grow.




Conclusion:
Now I’m sure many of you were getting more and more upset as you read through this, and some may even be downright furious inside. This was written to give you an understanding of how reptile enthusiasts and python keepers/breeders throughout the country are feeling today with the announcement that 4 species of Boids are being added to the Lacey Act. Think of the love you have for your cats and know that many people love and care for their pythons just as much. The interesting thing is, this article is not made up of made up statistics, false reports, and fake science like the python legislation is. It is entirely accurate and true to the best of my research and knowledge. Feral cats are a tremendous problem in the entire US, however nothing is being done to control it. And the government doesn’t dare attempt to do so based on the massive backlash they are bound to receive. On the other hand, the large snakes being added to the Lacey Act are an issue only evident to a small region of South Florida and CAN NOT become a problem anywhere else in the contiguous United States despite their falsified data stating otherwise. This federal action punishes every owner of these animals throughout the country due to a small local issue that affects less than 1% of the country. Much effort was made by reptile enthusiasts to prevent this, but unfortunately, there just aren’t enough reptile people to fight this. I wrote this in hopes of enlightening all Americans to our loss of liberties and freedoms. Today it’s pythons, tomorrow its lizards, hamsters, and birds, and before you know it….this article will become reality and you will be fighting for your rights to keep your dogs and cats. So please, even if you are not a big fan of reptiles, help take action against unjust regulations like the python ban because before you know, it will be affecting something you love.

This was written to increase awareness so feel free to link, cross-post, and re-post.


*NICO DAUPHINÉ1 AND ROBERT J. COOPER. Proceedings of the Fourth International Partners in Flight Conference: Tundra to Tropics
http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/pdf/impacts_of_free_ranging_domestic_cats.pdf

**ISSG. 2008. Invasive Species Specialist Group Global Invasive Species Database. [Online.]
Available at: (20 September 2008).

***NOGALES, M., A. MARTÍN, B. R. TERSHY, C. J. DONLAN, D. VEITCH, N. PUERTA, B. WOOD, AND J. ALSONSO. 2004. A review of feral cat eradication on islands. Conservation Biology 18:310–319.