I am going to assume for the moment that he has done nothing wrong and if that is correct he needs to take action. In my opinion he needs to contact the big guys (Petco and Pet Smart). He needs to explain that if they can go after him they can go after them. Then they need to use their money to lobby the government of Alberta or even Canada to change these silly laws.
This has been bugging me for a while.
- Thread starter wild bill
- Start date
Sounds like they have a real axe to grind with this guy, that sucks. Even worse knowing tax dollars are helping to make it hard on the guy. Did he tell them off in the past or something? Why did they single this guy and his lizards out to crush?
I used to work for the HS im not sure about taking store owner licences but they do go in after a complaint or on there own, then give a official order where store owners cant sell fish until whatever so called violation has been corrected in thier eyes. This has been done to one lfs owner here numerous times last time i was in (beltway aquaruims ) who all the dmv people know well the owner was awainting a HS inspection they bust his b***S all the time and the district height petco has been stopped from selling fish until violations were corrected also .The worst part most states give these people free range to due whatever even though they are private owned non profits who make up things as they go with very little government oversite. They way they really get people is they lobby for crazy laws backed by big money donors who like animals more than they like humans, and most all the laws get passed because of no opposition in the courts, very few people will spend the time or money to fight against these people,some will just follow the laws because they want to be seen as cool and down for the same cause as their favorite actor or singer and others just dont know anything about it because they work so low key when it comes to getting bogus laws passed. I tried like the op to tell people years ago they are trying to make it illegal to own animals period of any kind that is their main goal. People belive it cant happen because these trades make big money but its slowly taking place. Thats why i never talk about things like tank size this is the kind of stuff they use as ammunition, they will go to court and say your honor we gathered info from credible fish websites that say this fish shoul be kept in a tank no smaller than 500 gallons, the law will get passed with no opposition. Some would say cool no more red tail cats in 125s but the catch is a year or 2 later after getting a law on the books they come back and say your honor after 2 years of research our experts have found that these fish need at least 20,000 gallons of water, and even a school of guppies need 250 galllons. They will stop at nothing to make laws more and more strict because in their eyes owning any animal is cruel and they claim they only own them to rescue them and that they are treated as equals and not pets. They also get millions of dollars a year with little actually going into the care of the animals a lot of the food we used to use was free or discounted. Meds to my knowledge were also heavily discounted. PETA is even worst they take in millions of dollars a year and were killing over 90 percent of the animals they intake, they were so bad the HSdidnt even like them. A lot of my co workers were crazy we would take a dog because it lived on a 30 foot chain because its illegal to keep a dog chained in dc, the dog could be well feed up to date on shots the dog may just be chaind because he can climb a 10 foot fence. If the dog could not be kept inside or left in the yard without a chain where he could escape and posibly hurt himself of some one else we took it. Then we would in turn kill the dog because we dont have space. And for those who dont belive the HS in dc kills animals evey day at 4:00 because they dont have space, and PETA kills because they dont belive in pets. Sorry for the long post but i could go on all day i have seen some sad and strange things done by these people who claim to love animals. And last for years they have been trying to get their hands on the fish trade but they are so tied up in domestic and exotic animals that fish happen to be at the bottom of their list but they are coming. Just my opinion and things ive seen personally having worked for these people for a few years.
As far as what has been reported it was a customer that reported him but who knows, Last January we lost a reptile display facility due to a disgruntled employee. The sae sort of thing happened there only quicker and more severe. It is my belief that they want this poor LFS owner to spend money on lawyers untill he can no longer afford to fight them. Approaching the big guys is a waste of time.First of all they are getting rid of some cometion. Second there attitude is they aren't bothering us so don't rock the boat.
Part of what bothers me most about this whole issue is that yes if he was found guilty take his business licence and close him. But to just get an order and take his licence that is insane. As well what kind of judges do we have to issue the order. The whole problem is governments believe these crack pot groups are more powerful than what they really are. People in general feel a need to be politically correct no matter how much it offends them.
Part of what bothers me most about this whole issue is that yes if he was found guilty take his business licence and close him. But to just get an order and take his licence that is insane. As well what kind of judges do we have to issue the order. The whole problem is governments believe these crack pot groups are more powerful than what they really are. People in general feel a need to be politically correct no matter how much it offends them.
Thank you sharptoothbass I to have been trying to make that very point. My family fought for 25 years to keep our privte zoo open. Until this April a bunch of haf wit weak minded government beuacratts got together and made it impossible for us to carry on. Who were they appeasing about 16 20 something girls in proviciaal capittal. We would ask others in our business to help us and their answer was you should try harder to get along with the government. Besides they aren't after me. Sadly this is how the public and people choose to live. That and the attitude oh that will never happen.
Hello; We have forum members who have made this very sort of statement.
Hello; This is my interpertation as well.
Hello; I have seen threads on this and other forums about this very issue. We are giving those that oppose our hobby ammunition to use against us. There are also the posts that suggest that fish should not be kept as singletons. I try to keep most fish in groups but have had singletons do very well. Can you imagine some rule stating that you must have X number of fish of a particular type.
Hello; I am a pet owner, they are pet parents.
Hello; Yes, they will get around to us. I do not think they will actually come into our homes, at least not right away. I can picture some sort of license being required and having to concede to right for our home setups to be inspected. We will also have to pay the fees for all of this. The costs of the pets will also go way up due to these tactics. The likely path will be to control the commercial sources and restrict those who collect native species.
Our lunatic government here in Alberta are in the process of making it so you will need a licence to sell your fish. They are also going to ban all snakeheads. Which after the reading I did here only the Northern snakehead could survive our winter. In which case I guess they will soon be in our homes and I have heard of no one here fighting this bill.
I used to deal with this store owner as well, supplied this store with aquatic product for close to a decade, and his store was IMO typically a filth hole. Ever been in the back, BIll? At their previous location downtown the urine and feces smell from the reptile area would be so strong at times that you almost had to run in and out while holding your breath. No exaggeration.
They were warned, more than once. They had animals removed, and I believe were fined, more than once. And HS didn't pull their business license, the city of Calgary did. Also, from what I have heard Wayne sold the store a few weeks ago.
http://calgaryherald.com/news/crime/calgary-pet-store-facing-three-sets-of-animal-cruelty-charges
And to add to that, earlier this month HS removed 300+ animals from that store.
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local...eizes-333-exotic-animals-from-citys-northeast
And its not just HS, but also Environment Canada and the AB Fish & Wildlife that have been watching this store, several years ago numerous FRTs (Carettochelys insculpta) were confiscated from Riverfront, due them being poached (non captive bred) which is a federal requirement.
The last time that I visited this store was a few years back, some friends of mine wanted to stop in, and they agreed with me that the conditions of the fish etc were generally horrendous, and they too would not buy fish here - but buddy was looking for some monster driftwood, and Wayne often had some. I remember looking at a group of mature Discus in a small tank, they looked awful, skinny, sickly, one was laying on the bottom dead, and the other fish had been scavenging on it. Looked like it had been laying there for a few days. Price for those sickly funged up Discus - $250 each.
Personally I will not miss this store.
For anyone visiting Calgary I would highly recommend Gold Aquariums, as well as Pisces.
