VFT smuggler for the last time
Sean Barry (sjbarry@ucdavis.edu)
Sat, 2 Mar 1996 21:38:58 -0800 (PST)
Good heavens--I forward a notice about the arrest of an accused smuggler
for everyone's information, with no intention of starting an argument, and
all hell breaks loose. Worse (for me), I've been everything from gently
chided to torched, particularly in private, ever since. One, count-em,
one person thanked me for posting the release from FWS, and many others
who cared to comment (I was _not_ inviting responses), again, especially
in private, took it as a personal affront. Most of the rest defended the
smuggler, ridiculed the laws, and generally made it clear that they sided
with the _crime_ (not just the accused). A little bit of reassurance and
wisdom here and there (especially from Phil S. and from "sportman") helped
ease the postoperative pain. I can only hope that Nixon's silent majority
is out there, but I guess I'm assuming that the silent majority doesn't
agree with the tone of the responses I've been receiving. I could be
wrong, either way. My personal feelings about CITES and endangered
species law were not the issue (and they still aren't), but I guess the
thought that crosses my mind here is that the old ways of doing things
with wildlife (including plants) are gone, and it is largely because of
the past excesses of hobbyists and their suppliers that the laws are now
so restrictive. [Again, I apologize for speaking out of turn about museum
loans of type material--some years ago I tried unsuccessfully to borrow
herpetological type material for UC Davis (a long-recognized educational
institution) from three large US museums (the consistent response was
"museums do not loan type material, even to other museums"), so I
incorrectly assumed that this was true of all museums and all situations]
I shan't be leaving the list--there's too much really good information
here from all sorts of people for me to give this addiction up (I have
especially learned a lot about Darlingtonia biogeography and museum loan
policies). I shall definitely think thrice before forwarding anything
potentially controversial, though. Somehow, I didn't believe that the
attempted theft from the US and from the community of CP enthusiasts of
9,000 Venus flytraps would be controversial...
Regards to all,
Sean Barry