Make the voice of the hobby heard
How to join in with the “HANDS OFF OUR HOBBY” campaign
We need to make politicians understand just how important our hobby is to all of us.
As we approach the General Election on the 7 May 2015 we want all exotic pet owners to share their passion for their pets as we need the incoming politicians to fully understand why we do what we do. We need them to know about all of the time and effort that hobbyists put into researching the proper requirements of their pets and the resulting pleasure that they get from seeing their animals live long healthy lives.
We also need the politicians to fully understand just how much hobbyists spend on their animals in order that they fully realise how keeping exotic pets helps to support the economy, both in the UK and abroad.
You can follow these six simple ideas from the Federation of British Herpetologists to show your support for the “Hands Off Our Hobby” campaign and help us protect and support your hobby.
Six things you can do to make the voice of the exotic pet hobby heard:
- Sign our “Hands Off Our Hobby” campaign at change.org and encourage all your friends and family to do the same.
- As we approach the General Election on Thursday 7 May 2015 MP’s and prospective parliamentary candidates (PCC’s) will want to know that they can count on your vote. Write to your local MP/PPC to tell them how important your hobby is to you and ask for their assurance that they support the “Hands Off Our Hobby” campaign. Ask them to commit to opposing any future attempts to ban exotic pet ownership or attempts to introduce draconian unscientific legislation controlling the import, export, breeding and selling of exotic species and urge them to sign our petition.
Use our draft letter. We’ve given you some suggestions about how you can personalise the letter to your MP /PPC (it will mean more and be more effective if you personalise it), so include information about yourself, your pets and your personal feelings about your hobby. You can either download, rewrite and print out the letter and send it through the post or copy the main body of the letter (with your additions) into an email. You can find your MP and send your message on the write to them website. Don’t forget to write to your PPC’s as well, as some will become your next MP. Find the main PPC’s for your area by checking out the relevant party websites for your region (Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem, SNP, Plaid cymru, Democrat Unionist Party, Green Party, UKIP).
You could also download our Campaign Briefing page and hand it to any candidates who come knocking.
- Please send us any replies you get from MP’s and PCC’s so that we can share them on this web site and our other social media channels. Let’s make MP’s realise that constituents like you keep exotic pets and if they don’t support the “Hands Off Our Hobby” campaign it could cost them votes. We also really want to build up a list of MP’s and PCC’s who promise to oppose future attempts to ban or restrict exotic pet ownership in order to create a list of MP’s we can remind about their promise when any such legislation comes to parliament. This is really important so please send any replies you get via our email address.
- Who’s your best friend? We want to see your exotic companions and hear all about them. Share your photo’s and tell us why you love them, tell us how your pets are just as important to you as a traditional pet, such as a dog or cat. Email them to us and we’ll share them with everyone on this web site and also on Twitter and Facebook.
- Join our online flash mob in spring 2015 by signing up to our “THUNDERCLAP!” This ingenious online website will help us share the “Hands Off Our Hobby” message all at the same time, spreading it across Facebook and Twitter simultaneously. Sign up to have our message posted on your Twitter time line or your personal Facebook profile on a particular day. Interested? Keep checking back for more information.
- Follow our campaign on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and share our “Hands Off Our Hobby campaign updates on your social media accounts. Also use the #handsoff?? hashtag If you have your own web site, why not add a link to this website so that your followers can find out more about the “Hands Off Our Hobby” campaign. You can use our logo to do this if you want.
Hands Off Our Hobby!! 