How do you plan to punish mother nature(animal loss due to severe weather)?
***Mother nature doesn't abandon pets. Of course I'm not talking about natural disasters that people have no control of. Don't be silly. I'm talking about people who dump the pet snake, lizard, fish, whatever "setting it free" when they get tired of it rather than doing the responsible thing and rehoming it or euthanizing it.
Insurance takes care of dog breeds. I live in the biggest or 2nd biggest Nanny state (Ca) and home owners insurance 9 out of 10 times will ask if you are a dog owner, what breed. I always ask and declare because I own German Shepherds.
****Not sure why you think this--other than you are a responsible person. Insurance is for responsible people Irresponsible people are the issue. Irresponsible people don't get insurance so they aren't influenced by the rules or stopped by legislation etc. The only people who pay for the irresponsibility of others are responsible owners.
Cats - that is news to me although the Bengals are odd just has the wolf/malamute dog mixes. But see, I view that has a issue just because you can should you sort of deal. Much like keeping fish and corals. Just because you can, should you?
***There are far more than just bengals, but the point is this. Who is going to decide who owns what? And where is the line drawn. Having been involved in dogs for over 20 years I've seen every excuse in the book when it comes to "protecting people" "protecting animals" etc, etc, etc, for reasons to push prohibiting ownership of (insert animal here). In the end the only people who suffer are the responsible persons. If you get right down to it there is no reason, no real logical reason for us to own any animals, fish, cats, or dogs, except for the sheer fact we can and we want to. So we need to be very careful when someone proposes to "ban" one animal or another. It only doesn't affect us because it isn't our turn yet.
Wise @ss initial response aside about punishing Mother Nature it gets back to my original comment. Hobbyist are sometimes the enemy within. Go figure.
***You are right. But I wouldn't call anyone who dumps or "sets free" pets, exotic or domestic, as hobbyists. They are irresponsible persons who should be punished.
All the nuances aside, the real enemy is ignorance. From all sides. Education is the first and foremost weapon we have. Dog clubs have been doing this for years through large all breed registries, and while it has been slow it has paid off. Breed rescue groups have made relinquishing certain breeds into the hands of knowledgable people easier and getting them rehomed easier. I wish that there was an equal group for exotic owners. While I know there are some exotic rescue groups, there is nothing national, or funded enough (that I've seen) to put on educational groups across the US. The really sad part is the lack of organization among hobbyists will probably be the downfall of most exotic hobbies like reef keeping. I'm not sure if they are still around or not, but when I was involved with dogs, PETLAW a yahoo group was a multi-hobbyist group comprised of all kinds of people from all walks of life from he professional to the pet owner of any and all kinds of animals, who worked together monitoring the laws how they would affect people, and how to protect their rights as owners.
If you are not a member, you should consider joining, reading, and realizing just how hard people fight every day to protect our rights to keep something as simple as a gold fish.
