Public Outrage halts states execution of Snake head ...
- Thread starter Red Devil
- Start date
thats what they are saying that he should have been.... so i quess that is one chance...bfhslilred93;2850209; said:
From the following link; Rocky the snakehead has feelings, too - syracuse.com
Rocky the snakehead has feelings, too
Monday, March 02, 2009 JEFF KRAMER
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST
This morning Rocky the snakehead is still swimming in his 200-gallon tank in Chris Deverso's kitchen, or he's a fish Popsicle.
However the weekend went for Rocky, we're left with a distinctly fishy odor from the state Department of Environmental Confusion, whose trained bureaucrats know a major bio-threat when they find one in their code book.
DEC officials had planned to apprehend and cryo-euthanize the illegal fish last Thursday. They backed off when the threat of bad publicity posed by assembled news crews at Deverso's home in Clay apparently proved more daunting to the department than its paranoid scenario that this family pet of 10 years might somehow escape its aquarium and stomp through the countryside devouring local fish stocks, cattle, even Wegmans pizza. Never mind that Deverso purchased the fish legally well before the state snakehead ban took effect in 2004.
Never mind that this species of subtropical snakehead cannot survive an Upstate winter (or fall or spring, for that matter.) Rules are rules, right?
What a perfect refrain for the chronically lazy. I should invoke it more often myself - not that a whole lot of mental effort is required in this case.
Rocky could be implanted with a microchip, so he could be swiftly recovered in the almost unfathomable event of his escape.
DEC officials could set up a webcam to monitor the fish 24/7 if they're so worried.
Rocky could serve as a teaching tool at a DEC facility. Or his execution date could be pushed to say, 2020, so Rocky could live out his limited days in peace.
But why not just kill the thing? It's so much easier.
In California, my former home, state wildlife officials were going to destroy a brown bear that had fallen into the habit of rollicking in a backyard hot tub. A public outcry resulted in a stay of execution by the governor. A small zoo in Orange County accepted the bear. Money was raised for an enclosure that included a waterfall and a pool.
The bear became the zoo's star, and the story became a children's book, "Samson the Hot Tub Bear." It's one of my kids' favorites. Somehow I doubt they'd love it as much if it were called "Samson the Hot Tub Corpse."
It strikes me that maybe I'm sensitive to this issue because, like Rocky, I, too, am an invasive, non-indigenous species with a voracious appetite. And I know what it's like to be netted, bagged and dispatched to a deep freeze. How do you think I ended up in Central New York?
My point is that fish have feelings. Or at least their owners do.
"Some people think a fish isn't a pet, but he's something you have to take care of," Chris told me as Rocky, dark from all the stress, glowered in the background. "Ten years is a long time."
When I was 10, our family acquired a goldfish and named him Fred. I was 34 when Fred finally expired. Sometimes, like now, I think about him. He was slimy and boring, but I've had worse friends.
Jeff Kramer's humor column runs Mondays in CNY. Reach him at jeffmkramer@gmail.com.
Rocky the snakehead has feelings, too
Monday, March 02, 2009 JEFF KRAMER
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST
This morning Rocky the snakehead is still swimming in his 200-gallon tank in Chris Deverso's kitchen, or he's a fish Popsicle.
However the weekend went for Rocky, we're left with a distinctly fishy odor from the state Department of Environmental Confusion, whose trained bureaucrats know a major bio-threat when they find one in their code book.
DEC officials had planned to apprehend and cryo-euthanize the illegal fish last Thursday. They backed off when the threat of bad publicity posed by assembled news crews at Deverso's home in Clay apparently proved more daunting to the department than its paranoid scenario that this family pet of 10 years might somehow escape its aquarium and stomp through the countryside devouring local fish stocks, cattle, even Wegmans pizza. Never mind that Deverso purchased the fish legally well before the state snakehead ban took effect in 2004.
Never mind that this species of subtropical snakehead cannot survive an Upstate winter (or fall or spring, for that matter.) Rules are rules, right?
What a perfect refrain for the chronically lazy. I should invoke it more often myself - not that a whole lot of mental effort is required in this case.
Rocky could be implanted with a microchip, so he could be swiftly recovered in the almost unfathomable event of his escape.
DEC officials could set up a webcam to monitor the fish 24/7 if they're so worried.
Rocky could serve as a teaching tool at a DEC facility. Or his execution date could be pushed to say, 2020, so Rocky could live out his limited days in peace.
But why not just kill the thing? It's so much easier.
In California, my former home, state wildlife officials were going to destroy a brown bear that had fallen into the habit of rollicking in a backyard hot tub. A public outcry resulted in a stay of execution by the governor. A small zoo in Orange County accepted the bear. Money was raised for an enclosure that included a waterfall and a pool.
The bear became the zoo's star, and the story became a children's book, "Samson the Hot Tub Bear." It's one of my kids' favorites. Somehow I doubt they'd love it as much if it were called "Samson the Hot Tub Corpse."
It strikes me that maybe I'm sensitive to this issue because, like Rocky, I, too, am an invasive, non-indigenous species with a voracious appetite. And I know what it's like to be netted, bagged and dispatched to a deep freeze. How do you think I ended up in Central New York?
My point is that fish have feelings. Or at least their owners do.
"Some people think a fish isn't a pet, but he's something you have to take care of," Chris told me as Rocky, dark from all the stress, glowered in the background. "Ten years is a long time."
When I was 10, our family acquired a goldfish and named him Fred. I was 34 when Fred finally expired. Sometimes, like now, I think about him. He was slimy and boring, but I've had worse friends.
Jeff Kramer's humor column runs Mondays in CNY. Reach him at jeffmkramer@gmail.com.
oh thats a wonderful story... brings tears to my eyes... i will write him and tell him.... thanks for adding this .....
Public aquariums are like zoos,they have the credentials and permits to acquire certain creatures for display purposes.I dont know if anyone already brought this up or not but does the snakehead owner have any proof that he has had this fish since before the ban went into effect?In a perfect world that would be one way to get them off of his back.MN_Rebel;2851304; said:
Let peta know. I don't agree with everything they do. But the fish may get more publicity and more protesters to this. Just an idea
