Why does the government hate your canary?

So I'm innocently working away in my office when the phone rings. It's Jeff Barringer, who runs PetHobbyist.com, where I'm an editor.



"Well," he said, "the feds have done it this time. They've written a law that bans cats."



Jeff tends to exaggerate, so I just laughed. "Yeah?"



"And cows," he responded. "And I guess parrots, too. Snakes. Horses. And I don't know, are dogs a native species?"



He had my attention. "What are you talking about?'



It turns out he was talking about a proposed piece of federal legislation known as H.R. 6311, written by House Delegate Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam). I'm sure she didn't mean it this way, but she managed to write a bill that seems to threaten the continued existence of most of the domesticated species of animal in America.



Known as the Non-native Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act, if passed the bill would create two lists onto which every species of animal on the planet would be placed, excepting only those species native to the United States. On one list, the so-called white list, would be species that had been proven not to "negatively impact the economy, environment, or human or animal species' health."



On the black list would be all other species -- as in, literally, every other species on the planet -- and no such animals could be imported into this country.



As Jeff points out, certainly the powerful cattle industry would get cows removed from that black list pretty damn fast, even though cattle are not native to the U. S. and undoubtedly cause all kinds of of harm to the "economy, environment, or human and animal species' health." I'm guessing the horse lobby would get in on the act and get that great symbol of the American frontier de-black listed, too.



I'm even willing to bet that Del. Bordallo could be persuaded to exempt your canary, and maybe even Gina's beloved Clara e Ilario, although the bill as written specifically includes all non-native "species of mammal, bird, fish, reptile, amphibian, insect, mollusk and crustacean, arthropod, coelenterate, or other invertebrate, and.... any egg or offspring thereof," whether raised "in captivity or not."



Of course, none of that's going to happen, and in fact, the bill contains language more or less exempting harmful non-native species already "so widespread in the United States that future import prohibitions or restrictions would have no practical utility." Which would certainly include cats and cows, although those who keep less common pets, such as some reptiles and species of birds, fish, and other animals that might not be able to qualify as "widespread," probably don't feel any such confidence.



No, the problem, in addition to the huge, sweeping, unworkable nature of the law, is something else entirely. While I share Del. Bordallo's concern about invasive non-native species, these two-list systems are just another example of cumbersome and fundamentally unworkable government regulations (imagine that).



New species are discovered and described on a daily basis; other species are re-named or split into multiple species nearly as often. A black list of species known to cause problems, such as brown snakes in Guam, makes sense, as long as it's based on science, but a white list -- especially one that includes only species proven to be harmless, something I certainly can't prove about any species, most particularly that American non-native known as homo sapiens -- is a catastrophically bad idea. (When Texas tried such a system recently, they accidentally banned mice. I'm just saying.)



So before you accidentally make my cat illegal, or my neighbor's tree boa, would you like to try, oh, I don't know... inspecting our food supply on a more than spot-check basis? Figuring out where that salmonella outbreak last month originated? Keeping contaminants out of lifesaving drugs like Heparin?



And if there are species that aren't already present in this country that have the potential to cause harm, by all means, write a scientifically solid proposal to keep them out. But this isn't it.

Comments

[glock]

Here is web-site addressing "non-native" species. Note sidebar on brown snakes in Guam.



http://www.enviroliteracy.org/article.php/40.html

[Caveat]

There's nothing like people who know next to nothing about a subject drafting laws, is there?



Wonder if the AR crowd is behind this one. :>)

[slt]

The Non-native Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act - O my. I believe the barn door is already open. What next?

The Muslim Extremists Hijacking 4 Planes Simultaneously Prevention Act?



The Poisonous Chinese Imports Prevention Act?



The Supreme Court Election Deciders Prevention Act?

[Susan Fox]

I just googled her name and went to her website. No mention of the Non-native Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act that I could find. Maybe this idiotic piece of legislation will just die a quiet death after someone clues her in about the reality of what she is proposing.

[caladohelena]

What next ? non-native humans are not allowed in USA ... basic everyone should be baned ... amazing