"what do you think nat con will do with 50 000 tarantulas?" Haha, they can donate them to the spca so that they may feed their euthanasia frenzy...
Its a joke people, laugh!!!
I agree with what Ceratogyrus says. It would be too hard for them to outright ban the hobby. They could however enforce much stricter laws, but then again, we only have ourselves to blame for that. I have to agree that the hobby got totally out of hand, and some form of control or revision is needed. This said, it is still our right, and very much needed, in my opinion, to be able to keep animals. Be it dogs or a "pet" snake. If it was not for keeping tarantulas for instance, I probably would still have though a baboon spider is a baboon spider is a.... get my point? Not everyone is fortunate enough to go climb the alps, or explore the rainforest in Brazil. This puts us closer to nature, giving us a much better understanding of how everything works. I highly doubt we would have been able to know so much about some species (very vital info) if it was not for keeping these interesting animals. Many a time keepers have unlocked the secrets of some species where almost nothing was known previously. Everyone today knows what a Gooty Ornamental is, and thus it has created awareness around this rare animal. Fair enough, also mainly BECAUSE of the hobby they are threatened, but in reality people are like rabbits, breeding as if there is no tomorrow, and we will eventually clear out their natural habitat for houses, wood, food etc.
Back to the point, this is seriously a catch 22, and very difficult issue to address. My first reaction was to attack them, and to be angry, but in the end I think if we REALLY want to save our hobby, the key is to work with them, and in a sense FOR them. For the lack of a better word, they (meaning the "entities" we are fighting, well most of them atleast) are stupid and very uninformed! We need to be more proactive! Very few people are actually really involved in making a difference, although everyone has something to say (sad to say, but it includes me...)