38 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

I was recently informed of some laws some of our California members might not have been aware of.
 
This was taken from an email sent directly from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
 

A-rated pests are prohibited from entering the state, and prohibited from being sold in the state of California due to their potential detrimental impact on agriculture. The only exception is for organisms accompanied by an approved CDFA or USDA live organism permit for contained exhibit or research purposes.

B-rated pests are eligible to enter the sate if the receiving county has agreed to accept them.
 
C-rated pests are under no state enforced action. Regulations are designed to retard the spread or to suppress at the discretion of the individual county agricultural commissioner.

 

Now her text was not totally complete, because as far as I remember from all of this, the A-rated section included "transported", which would mean "moved from their original location." thus making it virtually impossible to collect, keep, or give them away without breaking the law.

 

I have attached the .pdf file listing all of these species.

 

The only prohibited ant species happen to be four A-rated species--

 

Solenopsis geminata, Solenopsis invicta, Solenopsis richteri, and Solenopsis saevissima.

 

What I find funny are the C-rated "pests". It looks like nearly half the fauna in California. I guess every time anyone complains about an insect it must make the list. Maybe we should just eradicate all wildlife in CA.

Attached Files

•  InsectsInvertebrateRatings.pdf   245.17KB   391 downloads

Edited by dspdrew, September 30 2015 - 5:43 PM.

[drtrmiller]

Maybe we should just irradiate all wildlife in CA.

 

Radiation just makes them stronger!  Think about what happened to make Spider Man!

[kellakk]

It looks like Atta mexicana is C-rated, so if any were to make it into California, we could keep them.   Also, there's a lot of native species of ant on the list, strangely.

[dspdrew]

 

Maybe we should just irradiate all wildlife in CA.

 

Radiation just makes them stronger!  Think about what happened to make Spider Man!

 

 

  Damn spell-check.

[dspdrew]

It looks like Atta mexicana is C-rated, so if any were to make it into California, we could keep them.   Also, there's a lot of native species of ant on the list, strangely.

 

Just because they're native doesn't mean they don't pester people.

[Foogoo]

It looks like Atta mexicana is C-rated, so if any were to make it into California, we could keep them.   Also, there's a lot of native species of ant on the list, strangely.

 

I wonder if Atta make it to the city of Bard...

[Gregory2455]

It looks like Atta mexicana is C-rated, so if any were to make it into California, we could keep them.   Also, there's a lot of native species of ant on the list, strangely.

Yes. Including Pogonomyrmex californicus, and then no other Pogonomyrmex besides that single species. Literally just Pogonomyrmex californicus. A species with a relatively mild sting compared to other Pogonomyrmex, it is a bad climber, does not grow as fast or release alates in the numbers of other Pogonomyrmex, and is also relatively passive compared... to... other Pogonomyrmex. I think the list was made by politicians and not scientists.

[awesomezhnathan]

What if odontomachus haemotodus stopped by Cali

[Gregory2455]

What if odontomachus haemotodus stopped by Cali

I wish...

[BugFinder]

 

What I find funny are the C-rated "pests". It looks like nearly half the fauna in California. I guess every time anyone complains about an insect it must make the list. Maybe we should just eradicate all wildlife in CA.

 

They are under no state enforced action, which means legal.  What's wrong with that?

[dspdrew]

 

 

What I find funny are the C-rated "pests". It looks like nearly half the fauna in California. I guess every time anyone complains about an insect it must make the list. Maybe we should just eradicate all wildlife in CA.

 

They are under no state enforced action, which means legal.  What's wrong with that?

 

 

Nothing, but they are still on a list as basically undesirable. Many people think nature is terrible and should be completely exterminated. Look at the way some people will stomp on anything that moves, having nothing to do with it being dangerous or destructive.

[BugFinder]

 

 

Nothing, but they are still on a list as basically undesirable. Many people think nature is terrible and should be completely exterminated. Look at the way some people will stomp on anything that moves, having nothing to do with it being dangerous or destructive.

 

 

That's definitely not the way I interpreted that.  As far as I know, there is nothing on that list, or the website that talks about killing or exterminating anything.  It only deals with what can and cannot be moved because it may be invasive in non-native environments.  What's wrong with that?

[dspdrew]

Do you just argue for fun? It was a joke.

 

I didn't interpret anything, I simply stated the fact that they are on a pest list and went on to talk about people in general.

[Gregory2455]

Its still pretty dumb. Ants that have been everywhere in California at least since the last ice age are on that list as well, Bugfinder. There is no reason to even have them classified as C-rated pests because they are already everywhere, and in most of their cases they have a nearly non existant negative impact on agriculture. Pogonomyrmex californicus and Liometopum occidentale have the same rating as Linepithema humile and Solenopsis molesta. I will restate what I said before now- Pogonomyrmex californicus does not harvest more seeds, does not grow as fast, is not as prolific, does not have as painful of a sting, and does not make as big colonies as some other Pogonomyrmex species. Nor is it the most North, Eat, or South spreading Pogonomyrmex species. Why is it on the lost at all while no other Pogonomyrmex are?

[Foogoo]

I think the list was made by politicians and not scientists.

That's pretty typical of most technical regulations, unfortunately. I'm seeing it first-hand right now...

[William. T]

Where are the Argentines?

[dspdrew]

Linepithema humile.

[john.harrold]

You know one way to interpret the C rating is to remove ambiguity. If it's not on any of the lists, then it leaves the question of weather a specific species has been considered. If it has a C rating then you know how it's considered from a government perspective. I think when dealing with the government I'd rather have things clearly defined than to leave them to the arbitrary musings of a government official. 

 

Granted 

 

Regulations are designed to retard the spread or to suppress at the discretion of the individual county agricultural commissioner.

 

Is still a little ambiguous, but less so

Edited by john.harrold, October 1 2015 - 1:02 PM.

[Huch]

At least they got back to you. I inquired with NY, but they never got back to me.

[Gregory2455]

They did not get back to him. They came to him for selling S.invicta.