28 



merits even our government couldn't do and may have to try to do 

 to allow the export of box turtles under Appendix II. Most impor- 

 tantly, U.S. Government would impose these requirements and pos- 

 sibly effect the sovereignty of some of these foreign governments. 

 No foreign captive breeder, no foreign government, no U.S. im- 

 porter will make the substantial investments in light of the high 

 probability of denial of Fish and Wildlife Service by the risk of run- 

 ning afoul of overly aggressive, overly zealous Fish and Wildlife en- 

 forcement. 



It should be emphasized we are not asking and have never asked 

 for repeal, and I say that again. But I also don't want the commit- 

 tee to be misled by departmental protestations regarding criticism 

 of proposed regulations and claims that such criticism is pre- 

 mature. No matter what excuses or cloak the Department wraps 

 around its actions by characterizing the regulations as tentative, 

 conceptual or ideas published for public comment, the 

 underpinnings clearly indicate a different departmental philosophy. 



Conclusion is simple. We must carefully scrutinize the events of 

 the past three years, including the language of the regulations, and 

 then look at what the Act has failed to do. And the bottom line is 

 also simple, that adopting unobtainable criteria is nothing more 

 than a smoke screen. It is an effective ban, not a conservation tool. 

 We are willing to work with this committee and with the Depart- 

 ment to try to get these regulations out and to make this an effec- 

 tive conservation act, but we must have regulations to be met, not 

 impossibility of compliance. Thank you. 



[Statement of Marshall Meyers may be found at end of hearing.] 



Mr. Saxton. Thank you very much. Dr. Clubb. 



STATEMENT OF SUSAN L. CLUBB, DVM, ASSOCIATION OF 

 AVIAN VETERINARIANS 



Dr. Clubb. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I 

 appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today. I am Susan 

 Clubb and I represent the Association of Avian Veterinarians, a 

 professional association of some 3000 veterinarians. The AAV has 

 a strong commitment to conservation of wild and captive birds. Un- 

 like any other veterinary organization, we donate one percent of 

 our net income to support conservation projects every year. We 

 support the WBCA and we feel that the Act should be reauthor- 

 ized, but with amendments. Some recommendations for amend- 

 ments are contained in my written testimony, and we support the 

 amendments proposed by AFA. 



My written testimony is before you, but I would like to speak to 

 you today from the heart. As a point of introduction, I worked as 

 a veterinarian for a large importation company for 11 years. I know 

 firsthand the problems of the trade and I personally worked toward 

 resolution of these problems and reasonable legislation to solve 

 them. I was a member of the cooperative working group on bird 

 trade representing AAV. I continue to work and live as an avian 

 veterinarian and an aviculturist. 



Mr. Chairman, an exemption is not an exemption if it is unat- 

 tainable. Being unattainable may be real or it may be conceptual. 

 We are here today because many people affected by this Act feel 

 that some sections of the Act and the regulations promulgated by 



