Don't Wait! Do Something NOW!
March 30, 2006
Not Registering - walterj 6:32 am
When they find out about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) some people say to me, “I just won’t register.” Yes, you might get away with that but I would not suggest taking that as a policy. The reason is quite simple. The fines can easily be $1,000 or even more per incident per day. Each unregistered animal you have could count as a seperate incident. How many chickens do you have? 10? Well, that comes to $10,000 per day in fines. Lets say they wait and enforce the rule on you after three months. That is 93 x $10,000 = $930,000 in fines for non-compliance. They will take your home, your land, your livestock, your vehicles, your savings, everything. Without a home you won’t have a farm or a place to come home to after work. You probably won’t have a job - few homeless people can keep their jobs. You would be destitute. Ask yourself, “Do you really want to start over from scratch at this point in your life?”
Simply thinking, “I won’t register” is not good enough. You must fight NAIS now while you still have the chance to have an effect. Leave comments with the USDA. Write Neil Hammerschmidt, the USDA Animal ID Coordinator. Write your state department of agriculture. Write your legislative representatives at both the state and federal levels in the House and Senate. Write your governor. Write the President or call him at 1-800-696-6322 where you can leave comments with a live operator. Write letters to the editor to your your local newspapers. Put a bumper sticker on your car. Hang up posters. Pass around handouts.
Spread the word. The more people who know about the harmful effects of NAIS the more people who will get upset and do something about it. Don’t be lazy and think you can just get away without registering. Sticking your head in the sand won’t make the NAISties go away.