There is breaking news about the Claxton Rattlesnake Roundup in Georgia. This is what Jim Ries of One More Generation and Rise Against Rattlesnake Roundups had to say:
"Beth Grant, Bill Matturro from PALS, Collette L. Adkins Giese from the Center for Biological Diversity, Dr. Lock from the ATL Zoo, Dr. Michael Black from GSU and the OMG Team just got off a conference call with many other folks about the Rattlesnake Round-ups, and we learned truly amazing news!
The Claxton group has decided to convert their March event to the Claxton Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival without a round-up!!!!!! The folks at P.A.L.S, especially Bill, Carter and Olivia from One More Generation, as well as DNR staff all deserve big kudos for bringing the issues to the Claxton group's attention and helping them come to the conclusion to change their events!
We all need to support them in this for their own sake and also to serve as an example for Whigham. More ideas on this to follow, but to begin with, we all echo the Georgia DNR Chief, Non-game Conservation Section Wildlife Resources Division Georgia DNR, who writes:
I encourage you to contact Bruce Purcell and offer support for his work to change the event to the "Claxton Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival".
Bruce Purcell 912-282-4052 qkutdist@bellsouth.net
Evans County Wildlife Club
P.O. Box 292
Claxton, Georgia 30417"
Deciding to confirm this, I called Bruce Purcell at the number listed. After a lengthy phone conversation Bruce confirmed that all of this is true. It should be noted that the festival did not have to change but it wanted to and they are hoping for a successful reformation. The last part of this message cannot be emphasized enough: call him, write to him and tell him that you fully support his decision! He is getting some negative feedback and it is the utmost importance that we counter this.
I will also encourage people to visit this reformed festival if at all possible, this may be a victory for rattlesnakes but we cannot abandon the battlefield at such a critical hour! Roundup proponents will push back and it is our duty to stop them in their tracks.
When I found out about this a few minutes ago via an email, I was thrilled. Chalk one up for the rattlesnakes and their proponents!
ReplyDeleteRight on, Shelly, but it's not over yet, we have to stay on this constantly because we are expecting a serious push back from roundup proponents who do not want this change!
DeleteUpdate from Jim Ries:
ReplyDeleteBTW, I just got another call from Bruce at Claxton thanking us for the many phone calls he has been getting with words of encouragement. He did say that we should all take a moment and send an email to their community Chamber of Commerce who ultimately coordinates the events. He mentioned that they still have a few folks who are skeptical of the changes and if they were inundated with emails of support for their decision, it would certainly help everyone. Here is their general email address:
info@claxtonevanschamber.com
Please also send out as many invitations to participate in the event so they can show other communities that making such a decision is the right thing to do.
Thanks again for all the support from all of us at OMG ;-)
This is great news! A huge thanks to all involved.
ReplyDelete