And beyond the mandate of the animal rights groups, there are offenses under the Canadian Criminal Code. Such as the following offenses...
Kill, maim, wound, or injure an animal without lawful excuse.
Cause unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal.
Abandon an animal in distress or wilfully neglect or fail to provide suitable and adequate food, water, shelter and care for it.
And just like the HS, law enforcement agencies
act on complaints.
And speaking of complaints, I suspect that a good portion of those complaints come from none other than fellow hobbyists. That's right, do you recall the store in RD that used to sell reptiles? Another former customer of mine. lol
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95958
Check that thread out, including this comment;
I get a least a call or 2 a day with complaints about the store. I even had calls from the SPCA the first week it was opened because of all the complaints they have gotten.
or this one .....
Go there. See for yourself. Take pictures. Report him to the ALBERTA SPCA (not local SPCA or Animal Society [catsndogs only]) and I am not stopping here, so you can join my facebook group called "Help Shut Down Red Deer Reptiles!" to post your stories to the general non (necessarily) reptile community that would be appreciated. Keep dropping in there and keep calling the AB SPCA with anything you find disturbing or suspicious. If it's illegal please contact the Red Deer RCMP immediately.
thank you for your time.
Those comments are from reptile owners, yep, fellow hobbyists turning on the very stores that supply the animals to them. Not tree huggers, but herp huggers. Imagine that. The thread above is 74 pages long, and spanned 5 years. Point is, the people pointing the finger may in fact be the person shopping next to you at your LFS. You just never know where it might be coming from, and maybe, just maybe, sometimes that's a good thing.
No worries Bill, it's all good. I attempted to return your call, now I have to head out again.
Have a good one.