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SAMPLE LETTER



To: PENNSYLVANIA GAME COMMISSION
2001 Elmerton Avenue
Harrisburg 17110-9797



By Fax to: (717) 772-0502



By Email to: pgccomments@state.pa.us



From:



Re: Game Commission Meeting January 27 - 29, 2008 - PLEASE VOTE NO on the proposal on the Agenda to amend 58 Pa. Code, §137.1 to prohibit the “importation, possession, sale and release of all non-human primates and the “Conure-Nanday, Nandayus nenday, sometimes referred to as the Black-hooded Parakeet”



Dear Sirs,



I understand that at the January 27 - 29 meeting of the Pennsylvania Game Commission the Agenda of Commission includes a proposal to “amend §137.1 to prohibit the importation, possession, sale and release of all non-human primates and the Conure-Nanday, sometimes referred to as the  Blackhooded Parakeet, in response to human health/safety and wildlife habitat health purposes”.



The Nanday Conure does not pose a threat to either human health or wildlife habitat in Pennsylvania, or anwhere else in this country.



Laws should be based upon provable facts, not on hypotheticals.  The concerns stated in the Agenda are not based on fact.  Nanday Conures have been bred and kept as pets for decades, both in Pennsylvania and across this country, and they have not been shown to pose a threat to human health or safety, or to pose any threat to wildlife habitat, either in Pennsylvania or elsewhere in this country.  This is demonstrated by the fact that after decades of Nanday Conures being kept in  Pennsylvania, there are no groups or colonies of feral Nanday Conures in Pennsylvania.



In the rare event that a Nanday Conure might escape from its owners, it is unlikely that the bird would survive long enough in the Pennsylvania environment to reproduce.    An escaped Nanday  would be unable to find food to sustain itself, and even if it did, would not survive the cold winters, and would most likely be taken by raptors.



These same points apply to non-human primates.    They have not been shown to pose a threat to human health or safety, or to wildlife habitat, in Pennsylvania.



Please vote NO when this item comes up on the Game Commission Agenda.



Thank you.




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