I too picked up on the football analogy
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote
To pick up the ball and go home" as James so eloquently put it is probalby opposite of what should be done if you have real concerns with the industry
I see it very differently, which I discussed with james privately, so I will only post what I wrote.
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>I understand your football analogy. I would say it is not taking the ball and going home with but deciding that the team I am a part of has made a call I can not endorse and do not want to be a part of a team that is making the same mistake that many other people who are in a place of influence in a field that determines life and death of species. Your web site has become a resource that many have come to use. I am sure that there are many who use it that are not members.
I have seen the damage that has been done by unethical Importers and because of this many organizations have kept Importers at arms length to minimize the effect that the importers that have no moral compass can do. If Mary had the insight to take losses by seeing when regulation is necessary it would still be a horrible call to put Importers in a place of influence because you are endorsing the unethical importers at the same time.
I am sure you will remember when New York was putting the dangerous Animal ban together, Mary had not even read the piece of legislation and posted on the board that we must defeat this bill. She did tone it down after she actually became knowledgeable of this ban but it is this type of uneducated knee jerk reaction that can do so much damage.
Your board is fast becoming a place that will have a significant role to play in the keeping of very rare and endangered species. You must chose very carefully who you will assign leadership to. I think the record is unbelievablely clear from the past who pays the ultimate price when Importers play too large a role in the leadership of the animals they trade. You have given rise to a conflict of interest that most people try to avoid, one were lives of species hang in the balance when that trust is broken.
Everyone should have a voice but not everyone who clearly has a conflict of interest should have influence, even more so when the history is clear.
Dave<hr></blockquote>
I am not asking anyone to do anything. I just gave the reason I will not be a part of this board.
I beleive That any business has the right to do what the want to under the law. It is just very clear in the history of the sale of animals that whenever importers have to much influence in the trade business, the animals suffer for it. The history of this is painfully clear.
Having a moderator that has such a gross conflict of intrest is something that I cannot be a part of.
