Email from me to Howie about Rep. Ralph Poppell

I just got off the phone with former FL Rep Ralph Poppell, who had called to congratulate me on the Florida Trend article (by Mike Vogel on 3/28/16 http://www.floridatrend.com/print/article/19728).  He was the guy who took on the snake trade in FL and assisted us in getting the 10k bond tacked onto it circa 2006-2009.

 

He reminisced about being the first legislator to address the snake owning community and how he had used the threat of budget cuts to get buy in from the FWC, since the legislature clearly does regulate that.  He was saying that in order to get anything done in FL you have to find a legislator who isn't afraid to buck the system and push the rules to the limit in order to get the right thing done.

 

I asked if he still knows anyone like that because I'd like to put an end to the private possession of big cats in FL and need someone who isn't going to back down the minute the FWC says they have constitutional authority.  He immediately suggested Alan Hays https://www.flsenate.gov/senators/s11 and said he'd try to think of someone in the House.

 

I told him that we had done a ton of research and felt like we could make a good case for why the FWC only has constitutional authority over native wildlife and not captive born wildlife and that I'd like to share that with him and anyone he thought might be the person to take up our quest of ending big cat ownership in FL.  He said he'd be happy to look at it and pass it on, if we wanted.  His email address is xxx

 

Later he was talking about all of the environmental bills he passed so I told him that I felt the AG was animal friendly and might consider our research for the issuance of an opinion, but that it was my understanding that only a government agency could ask for such a thing. (I didn't go into detail about why I thought the AG might care nor the Pepin involvement)  I asked him to think about whether he still knows anyone at DNR who might be willing to make such a request, based upon the fact that escaped, non native wildlife cause harm to the environment, when they displace native wildlife.

 

He said he'd think about who he knows, but said that as long as we get the chair of either the House or Senate Appropriation Committees to make the ask, he thinks the legislature can finagle such an opinion.  He said the basis would be on having the AG determine how much money is being wasted on inspecting backyard breeders to put pressure on defunding that, via banning it, in order to better fund native wildlife protection.

 

From the FL Trend article he noted that I was married and congratulated me.  I told him I was married during the time that we were working on the python bill, but that you had spent your early years getting the sanctuary onto sound financial footing so that we could do more of the advocacy work.  I told him that you became far more involved after 2011, so if you want to call him or email him about the constitutional issue, I think he'd be happy to hear from you.

His phone number is xxx

 

For the cats,

Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue

"Judge me by the enemies I have made."  - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Author of Big Cat Care - How to Start a Sanctuary

12802 Easy Street Tampa, FL  33625

Caring for cats ♥ Ending the trade

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Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them