_SL_

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/080609/ap/d916m6uo2.html

i don't like the idea of BSL at all, so i was happy to see this

matclone

What is BSL?

_SL_

oh, sorry. Breed Specific Legislation -- so bans on pitbulls, German Shepherds, etc. Non-legislative stuff such as insurance having blacklisted breeds bothers me as well.

matclone

I assume your objection then is limited to dogs, and not to wild animals (I believe most gov'ts in the U.S. prohibit these).

_SL_

Yes. "Breed" is a word I believe is limited to domesticated animals, where as "species" I believe would be the word used to describe banning the capture of wild animals.

For what it is worth, though, i do feel pulled both ways (pro and con) about keeping some wild animals captive merely for hobby. For example, as long as the species is not threatened in anyway, I would not object to people capturing a wild snake and breeding it if it had a unique pattern or something and no great harm was done in the process. Of course if many people did this and there was environmental damage I would want to ban the practice altogether.

FloggingSully

I know it's nit-picky, but from a biological perspective (which could differ widely from the legislative perspecitve) a breed is a subset of a species. A species is a group of animals which can produce viable offspring, so since a lab and a retriever can have puppies they are the same species but different breeds.

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There's no such thing as a pretty good aligator wrestler.

ISU2008

The article says the government is lifting a 25-year ban that began in 1993. Hmmm....

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I think all radical muslims should skateboard. After all, they are radical.

_SL_

i was not sure about this, b/c for example I could breed different (at least I thought) species of snakes to produce viable hybrids. I cannot think of an example for mammals, so maybe things are different for herps.

_SL_

good catch

matclone

From a legislative perspective, the concern about wild animals and certain breeds of dogs is that they are inherently dangerous and someone will be hurt--hence that govt's prior ban on pit bulls.