F
FAY
Guest
Herp Societies Combined Meeting NSW - Proposed Reptile Code Of Practice
Dear Members,
I would like to invite you all to a combined meeting of the Australian Herpetological Society, Macarthur Reptile Society and The Hawkesbury Herpetological Society. The meeting will take place at the Conference Room at Parramatta Leagues Club at 7.30pm on Wednesday the 11th November.
At this meeting the Draft Code of Practice for the Private Keeping of Reptiles (the Code) will be presented by Dr Miranda Gott and Dr Daniel Van Dyk from the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water NSW (DECCW).
The Code establishes a set of minimum care requirements that will help to ensure the welfare of reptiles held in captivity. These requirements will apply to anyone who holds a licence to keep reptiles under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974, and as such, is of great interest to most people in our three societies.
This meeting is free to attend for members and friends. You do not need to be a member of a society to attend. The meeting offers an opportunity for members from all three societies, as well as members from the public, to hear what is in the code and to ask questions to Miranda and Daniel. Please note that DECCW will not be presenting this information at the usual AHS, Macarthur or Hawkesbury meetings; ie this combined meeting at Parramatta is your only chance to hear the presentation in person and the best chance you have to get questions answered by DECCW.
If you are unable to attend this important meeting, a copy of the draft code, and a questionnaire is available online at: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/wi...leDraftCOP.htm
Further to that, the AHS, Hawkesbury and Macarthur will use the next calendar meeting after the 11 Nov to discuss the draft code, consult their members and compile a formal submission in response to the draft. For those people who would like to make individual comments a questionnaire is available at the website listed above. You may comment on any part of the Code and you can choose to answer the questionnaire and/or provide a separate submission. This period of consultation closes on the 18 December, 2009.
It is worth noting that, in order to produce this code, an advisory group was invited by DECCW to assist. That advisory group consisted of herpetologists, exhibitors and representatives of the major reptile societies: Dr Glenn Shea, represented the Australian Herpetological Society, John Weigel the Macarthur Herpetological Society and John Mostyn the Hawkesbury. Other members of this panel well known to the three societies hosting this meeting, were Anthony Stimson, Jason Flesch, Michael Duncan, Andrew Melrose and Gerry Swan. While the need for a code was initially debated, the code was prepared in partnership with each our societies and I would like to thank all the experts who have represented us on the advisory panel.
I would also like to point out that the combined meeting at Parramatta Leagues, is in recognition and support of this partnership with DECCW and should be seen as an endorsement of the work.
On behalf of the Presidents of the three Societies, I urge you to pay close attention to the detail in this draft, and to consider the impact on the direction hobby and the welfare of the animals. I hope to see as many of you as possible at the Parramatta meeting and at the following Australian Herpetological Society meeting (Wed 25 Nov) where we will prepare our own consultation report.
Matthew
Matthew McCloskey
President
Australian Herpetological Society
Dear Members,
I would like to invite you all to a combined meeting of the Australian Herpetological Society, Macarthur Reptile Society and The Hawkesbury Herpetological Society. The meeting will take place at the Conference Room at Parramatta Leagues Club at 7.30pm on Wednesday the 11th November.
At this meeting the Draft Code of Practice for the Private Keeping of Reptiles (the Code) will be presented by Dr Miranda Gott and Dr Daniel Van Dyk from the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water NSW (DECCW).
The Code establishes a set of minimum care requirements that will help to ensure the welfare of reptiles held in captivity. These requirements will apply to anyone who holds a licence to keep reptiles under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974, and as such, is of great interest to most people in our three societies.
This meeting is free to attend for members and friends. You do not need to be a member of a society to attend. The meeting offers an opportunity for members from all three societies, as well as members from the public, to hear what is in the code and to ask questions to Miranda and Daniel. Please note that DECCW will not be presenting this information at the usual AHS, Macarthur or Hawkesbury meetings; ie this combined meeting at Parramatta is your only chance to hear the presentation in person and the best chance you have to get questions answered by DECCW.
If you are unable to attend this important meeting, a copy of the draft code, and a questionnaire is available online at: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/wi...leDraftCOP.htm
Further to that, the AHS, Hawkesbury and Macarthur will use the next calendar meeting after the 11 Nov to discuss the draft code, consult their members and compile a formal submission in response to the draft. For those people who would like to make individual comments a questionnaire is available at the website listed above. You may comment on any part of the Code and you can choose to answer the questionnaire and/or provide a separate submission. This period of consultation closes on the 18 December, 2009.
It is worth noting that, in order to produce this code, an advisory group was invited by DECCW to assist. That advisory group consisted of herpetologists, exhibitors and representatives of the major reptile societies: Dr Glenn Shea, represented the Australian Herpetological Society, John Weigel the Macarthur Herpetological Society and John Mostyn the Hawkesbury. Other members of this panel well known to the three societies hosting this meeting, were Anthony Stimson, Jason Flesch, Michael Duncan, Andrew Melrose and Gerry Swan. While the need for a code was initially debated, the code was prepared in partnership with each our societies and I would like to thank all the experts who have represented us on the advisory panel.
I would also like to point out that the combined meeting at Parramatta Leagues, is in recognition and support of this partnership with DECCW and should be seen as an endorsement of the work.
On behalf of the Presidents of the three Societies, I urge you to pay close attention to the detail in this draft, and to consider the impact on the direction hobby and the welfare of the animals. I hope to see as many of you as possible at the Parramatta meeting and at the following Australian Herpetological Society meeting (Wed 25 Nov) where we will prepare our own consultation report.
Matthew
Matthew McCloskey
President
Australian Herpetological Society
