Doncaster reptile Expo

Four times a year
I understand
An exhibition held
At the DONCASTER Racecourse
For me unparalleled
And international collection
Amphibians and Reptiles
Stolen from the wild
And subject to denials
Stored in plastic boxes
Freedom to the wall
Light and noise
A problem
Really for them all
Dogged and unyielding
Brazen and unbending
Rejecting the rewilding argument
The message that its sending

At a gambling racecourse
Attracting crowds along
All sealed in plastic boxes
that alone is wrong
Many nocturnal species
Sat there in bright light
Picked up for closer inspection
To confirm that all is right
There are ample choices
These living souls become
Slaves to whims and fancies
And obviously there are some
People who believe it’s right
To have pythons in their home
And a wealth of other reptiles
That probably can’t roam

The trade in keeping animals
At home
Is selfish and unkind
It pays a true disservice
As the animals unwind
Their coils and realise
That they have a tank
And there in fact
They are expected to stay
And naturally react
It’s wicked and iniquitous
Being so unkind
And shows me that the buyers
Really expect to find
A rare and dangerous reptile
A “man” thing so to say
Something really to show the mates
And frighten them away
Raise up curiosity
It’s like a marketplace
For living breathing reptiles
But it is a big disgrace

Many face sad endings
For our indulgence they
Are trapped and caught and shipped by air and sea
and in every way
It’s troublesome and freaky
Calamitous and wrong
And Having a reptile supermarket
Just does not belong
And with sales, an uncertain future
A deleterious effect
Ill health a possibility
If sometimes they are not checked
Infections insalubrious
Torture of a kind
On innocent animals suffering
Enough to blow our mind

Common deterioration
Contamination might
Cause crippling disablement
Which is never right
Danger of escape
A critical problem
For us all
The slither and the creep brigade
Are phantoms that may fall
And present a sword of Damocles
Moment which might lead
From naivety hazarding
Which is ominous indeed
The animals are suffering
And they jeopardise us all
If they are allowed to escape
Who wants a bloody fool

Handling escapees
We need a caveat
In case the snakes just work themselves
Into a right old spat
The cruelty progresses
And the snakes do suffer so
They actually hiss and become upset
As they begin to grow
We must try to protect them
Reduce this dirty trade
Get the government to issues licence
On their shoulders laid
A piece of legislation
That cracks down on them all
That stops this vile trade in its tracks
And concise and urgent rule

Being in a state of inactivity
Means they
Suffer from the stiffness
Of whatever comes their way
Listlessness and languor
An induced euphoria
Mustn’t happen every day
But so many are not experienced
Enough to get away
So they are suffering immeasurably
And nobody wants to care
Trapped inside these plastic boxes
And shipping everywhere
Taken home put in a glass tank
Left for hours on end
And woken when they all come back
then unable to defend

Creating their adversity
Their continual struggle for
Freedom light and a lifetime
For release it offers more
Captivity is shackling
Mind blowing in every way
It’s bondage leading to distress
The creature has to pay
Confined detained and corralled
Under house arrest
It gets into ones marrow
It’s really always best
For the wild ones to remain wild
Incarcerated they
Will all go off their heads they will
And then if they get away

They do become more dangerous
And perhaps then need restraint
The unsuspecting are then at risk
For keepers well we ain’t
We should be able really to prohibit
This affair
Which encourages restriction
And consents that are not there
The cruelty is enormous
It’s just we fail to see
To hear to understand that’s all
How terrible it be
A week into our lockdown
And already people see
Depression coming faster
And their humanity
Fighting for survival
Their life patterns on hold
Being under house arrest
On this they are not sold

International Herpetological Society
at the Doncaster Racecourse
Four times a year
Selling off captured slave animals
Stolen for the wild

About Rex Tyler

I love animals. I enjoy writing poetry and delivering speeches.I like to mentor people who need help in preparing speeches and evaluations.I enjoy travel although it is much harder for me these days.I so enjoyed the Andes Mountains and Volcanoes and the Quichua people who live and thrive there.I have lots of friends around the world.
This entry was posted in Abandonment, activism, amphibians, Animal Rights, Captivity, Crocodiles and serious reptilia, live exports, Snakes and reptiles, Toads, TORTOISE, turtles. Bookmark the permalink.

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