History of the Organization
The history of NCARK is the story of young children growing up with a fascination and love of reptiles. We are just average people, living average lives, who have had a love and passion for these amazing creatures since childhood. Many of us started out catching snakes, turtles and lizards around our neighborhood ponds and streams. We read everything we could so that we could learn to properly house and care for our newfound charges.
As we grew into adulthood our passions and desire to learn everything we could about these animals grew as well. Some of us branched off into exotics and captive breeding projects. We became aware of conservation issues and sought to educate any that would listen to the plight of these magnificent but misunderstood animals. Our knowledge and husbandry methods grew proportionately in scope and sophistication. We came to realize that with issues of rapid habitat destruction being largely ignored, many of these animals might not survive outside captive breeding projects.
In the spring of 2005, animal rights activists saw an opportunity to exploit tragic circumstances involving two big cat mauling incidents in the central and western part of the state to push forward their agenda to get animals out of private hands. Through the NC Zoo at Asheboro, a bill written and endorsed by the Animal Protection Institute (API) and PETA, was submitted to, and sponsored by, state Senator John Garwood. That bill was SB1032, a blanket ban on the ownership and captive husbandry of dozens of different animals including many reptiles. This bill was put forward as a solution to a public safety crisis that the facts showed did not even exist. Using fear and cultural bias against many of these animals the AR movement attempted to make inroads into our state. Once they are established what will they want to ban next… livestock farming, hunting, fishing, and traditional household pets?
Being faced with the loss of our beloved reptiles, a small group of friends started calling and writing our senators in opposition to SB1032. We looked into how to leverage our efforts and increase the number of people petitioning the Senate. We contacted and enlisted the help of some of the top reptile experts from around the state and country. At the NC Reptile and Exotic Animal Show in Raleigh in March 2005 NCARK was born. We see this as an opportunity to defend our right to keep and breed reptiles, affect a change in the negative stereotypes that surround these animals, upgrade the husbandry standards and safety protocols around the state, and to promote the conservation of these animals. We are currently filing for Non-Profit status and hoping to recruit thousands of citizens from around the state to assist in our efforts.
Who We Are
We are North Carolina residents. We live and work in North Carolina. We are engineers, mechanics, teachers, accountants, plumbers, etc. A few of us breed and sell reptiles as a full-time occupation. This is our field of experience and expertise and, for some of us, our only means of providing for our family. Like farmers who produce and sell livestock, we sell our surplus animals around the country and even export them internationally. Most of us have full-time jobs in North Carolina and work with reptiles as a hobby. In some cases, our hobby provides an important source of supplementary income. Unlike more traditional farmers in North Carolina, we are not responsible for any documented illnesses or injuries due to our activities. We don’t see any reason for being treated differently from other citizens keeping more traditional pets as well as farmers keeping and breeding more traditional animals. Dogs and cats have well documented responsibility for a significant number of injuries and deaths each year in North Carolina. Unwanted dogs and cats are a significant problem in North Carolina. Farming of traditional livestock has created vast problems related to waste management. Our reptiles are not causing injury, death, management problems, or pollution. Our animals stay indoors, take up little space, and eat comparably little food. We are normal working citizens who behave much like any farmer who is trying to raise and reproduce living things whether it be tobacco or hogs.
|
