Four times a year
\nI understand
\nAn exhibition held
\nAt the DONCASTER Racecourse
\nFor me unparalleled
\nAnd international collection
\nAmphibians and Reptiles
\nStolen from the wild
\nAnd subject to denials
\nStored in plastic boxes
\nFreedom to the wall
\nLight and noise
\nA problem
\nReally for them all
\nDogged and unyielding
\nBrazen and unbending
\nRejecting the rewilding argument
\nThe message that its sending<\/p>\n
At a gambling racecourse
\nAttracting crowds along
\nAll sealed in plastic boxes
\nthat alone is wrong
\nMany nocturnal species
\nSat there in bright light
\nPicked up for closer inspection
\nTo confirm that all is right
\nThere are ample choices
\nThese living souls become
\nSlaves to whims and fancies
\nAnd obviously there are some
\nPeople who believe it\u2019s right
\nTo have pythons in their home
\nAnd a wealth of other reptiles
\nThat probably can\u2019t roam<\/p>\n
The trade in keeping animals
\nAt home
\nIs selfish and unkind
\nIt pays a true disservice
\nAs the animals unwind
\nTheir coils and realise
\nThat they have a tank
\nAnd there in fact
\nThey are expected to stay
\nAnd naturally react
\nIt\u2019s wicked and iniquitous
\nBeing so unkind
\nAnd shows me that the buyers
\nReally expect to find
\nA rare and dangerous reptile
\nA \u201cman\u201d thing so to say
\nSomething really to show the mates
\nAnd frighten them away
\nRaise up curiosity
\nIt\u2019s like a marketplace
\nFor living breathing reptiles
\nBut it is a big disgrace<\/p>\n
Many face sad endings
\nFor our indulgence they
\nAre trapped and caught and shipped by air and sea
\nand in every way
\nIt\u2019s troublesome and freaky
\nCalamitous and wrong
\nAnd Having a reptile supermarket
\nJust does not belong
\nAnd with sales, an uncertain future
\nA deleterious effect
\nIll health a possibility
\nIf sometimes they are not checked
\nInfections insalubrious
\nTorture of a kind
\nOn innocent animals suffering
\nEnough to blow our mind<\/p>\n
Common deterioration
\nContamination might
\nCause crippling disablement
\nWhich is never right
\nDanger of escape
\nA critical problem
\nFor us all
\nThe slither and the creep brigade
\nAre phantoms that may fall
\nAnd present a sword of Damocles
\nMoment which might lead
\nFrom naivety hazarding
\nWhich is ominous indeed
\nThe animals are suffering
\nAnd they jeopardise us all
\nIf they are allowed to escape
\nWho wants a bloody fool<\/p>\n
Handling escapees
\nWe need a caveat
\nIn case the snakes just work themselves
\nInto a right old spat
\nThe cruelty progresses
\nAnd the snakes do suffer so
\nThey actually hiss and become upset
\nAs they begin to grow
\nWe must try to protect them
\nReduce this dirty trade
\nGet the government to issues licence
\nOn their shoulders laid
\nA piece of legislation
\nThat cracks down on them all
\nThat stops this vile trade in its tracks
\nAnd concise and urgent rule<\/p>\n
Being in a state of inactivity
\nMeans they
\nSuffer from the stiffness
\nOf whatever comes their way
\nListlessness and languor
\nAn induced euphoria
\nMustn\u2019t happen every day
\nBut so many are not experienced
\nEnough to get away
\nSo they are suffering immeasurably
\nAnd nobody wants to care
\nTrapped inside these plastic boxes
\nAnd shipping everywhere
\nTaken home put in a glass tank
\nLeft for hours on end
\nAnd woken when they all come back
\nthen unable to defend<\/p>\n
Creating their adversity
\nTheir continual struggle for
\nFreedom light and a lifetime
\nFor release it offers more
\nCaptivity is shackling
\nMind blowing in every way
\nIt\u2019s bondage leading to distress
\nThe creature has to pay
\nConfined detained and corralled
\nUnder house arrest
\nIt gets into ones marrow
\nIt\u2019s really always best
\nFor the wild ones to remain wild
\nIncarcerated they
\nWill all go off their heads they will
\nAnd then if they get away<\/p>\n
They do become more dangerous
\nAnd perhaps then need restraint
\nThe unsuspecting are then at risk
\nFor keepers well we ain\u2019t
\nWe should be able really to prohibit
\nThis affair
\nWhich encourages restriction
\nAnd consents that are not there
\nThe cruelty is enormous
\nIt\u2019s just we fail to see
\nTo hear to understand that\u2019s all
\nHow terrible it be
\nA week into our lockdown
\nAnd already people see
\nDepression coming faster
\nAnd their humanity
\nFighting for survival
\nTheir life patterns on hold
\nBeing under house arrest
\nOn this they are not sold<\/p>\n
International Herpetological Society
\nat the Doncaster Racecourse
\nFour times a year
\nSelling off captured slave animals
\nStolen for the wild <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 … Continue reading