Urgent, your support is needed! Please sign this petition!!!

Hello all!
Please forward the message to as many people as you can. Put notice on your website, contact friends, family, co-workers, clients whomever! This is urgent and needs attention now! If you would like a copy of my banner for your website or e-mail signature let me know. You can see it on my homepage.

NOTICE:
PLEASE READ

Prairie Dogs and Misc. African Rodents Banned for Good informs the FDA, Written by Ken Walker

Due to the Monkey Pox outbreak in late Spring 2003 it will no longer be legal to purchase or offer for sale or trade any Prairie Dogs or miscillanious african rodent species.

Ok, lets look at the facts here. You have Prairie dogs bound for the pet trade that are housed too close to an imported Gambian Pouched Rat that happened to be infected with Monkey Pox. The Prairie Dogs went to their new homes, many harboring the Monkey Pox virus. Well, you guys don't really need me to go into the details on who had what and when.... so lets go back to where the virus came from.

The Monkey Pox virus was brought into the country via a shipment of animals from Africa that was delivered to a broker in Texas. One of the infected animals found it's way into the hands of a Chicago area breeder/broker which infected his Prairie Dog livestock. By the end of this ordeal a few domestic rabbits had aquired the virus as well.

This brings us to the now.. which has the FDA and CDC now enacting a permanent ban on the sale of all Prairie Dogs and misc. African rodent species as well as the importation of these african rodents. Doesn't this seem a tid bit extreeme, all things considered? Why would you ban Prairie Dogs due to their ability to transmit Money Pox if expossed to it such as rabbits and other animals not covered by this ban if you are cutting off the source of possible infection by prohibiting the importation of african rodents capable of harboring this disease? Further more, why would the FDA ban Prairie Dogs but not the other KNOWN animals such as rabbits that are also known to be suseptable to this disease?

These are interesting questions. First of all, if you ban the importation of the animals that would be the only means of the Monkey Pox virus to enter the states then why would you need to ban Prairie Dogs? You wouldn't would you!

I'm going to jump straight to the chase. Pet Prairie Dogs should NOT be banned! If the FDA is banning Prairie Dogs because of Monkey Pox why are they not banning domestic rabbits that also are capable of transmitting this disease to humans "IF" exposed to it. In addition, I feel that the banning of importing potential Monkey Pox carriers are adequate measures to ensure that this disease does not make a reappearance into the USA. The sale of domestic bred African rodent species does not pose a threat to pet owners....so why go to the extremes that the FDA has enacted?

The FDA is taking comments from the public until January 20, 2004. This is our last chance to prevent these animals, specifically Prairie Dogs from being banned from the pet trade. You can go to the following website to leave a comment with the FDA.

MORE AND MORE EXOTICS ARE BEING BANNED ALL OF THE TIME, ACT NOW OR LOOSE YOUR RIGHT TO OWN PETS. FERRET OWNERS KNOW THIS BETTER THAN ALL OF US! PLEASE HELP!

OUR RIGHTS ARE BEING VIOLATED! TIME TO FIGHT BACK! TELL THE CDC WHERE THEY CAN STICK THEIR NEW LAW! IF YOU DON"T FIGHT BACK THEN DON'T COMPLAIN WHEN THE NEXT ANIMAL THAT THE FEDS BAN ARE HAMSTERS, FERRETS OR REPTILES (don't laugh, in 2003 Chicago proposed an ordinence that would ban reptiles, fish, amphibians, ferrets, hedgehogs, sugargliders and so much more from being kept as pets... with no grandfather clause).

To Sign Petition #3626, to protest this ruling, Click HERE
http://gopetition.com/online/3626.html