Raymond Hoser
Encyclopedia
Raymond Terrence Hoser (born 1962, United Kingdom
) is an Australia
n herpetologist, snake-catcher, and author. Since 1976 he has written books and articles about official corruption in Australia. He has also authored works on Australian frogs and reptiles and operates a snake handling business, Snakebusters, in Melbourne. Some of Hoser's work has been controversial, such as his advocacy of venomoid
snakes.
, in a 1998 radio interview he said that he was "known as an anti-corruption crusader". An analysis of his work by the Rationalist Society of Australia
referred to him as a "tireless investigator" and he has received praise from Brian Martin
, a former president of Whistleblowers Australia
.
In his 1993 book, Smuggled, Hoser wrote that officials of the wildlife services in New South Wales
were involved in the illegal wildlife trade
.
In 1995 Hoser published, The Hoser Files, detailing his encounters with Victoria Police and the Road Traffic Authority in Melbourne whilst working as a taxi driver (Hoser had moved to Victoria
in 1985).
of Australian snakes, describing new species and genera
, and suggesting revisions to current arrangements. Some nominations have not been accepted. Hoser's work has been a source of controversy in the field, with a 2001 review in Litteratura Serpentium
strongly criticising his publications as "less than professional" and describing them as a source of confusion and wasted effort. Charges of ethical misconduct were made in this article. Further criticism of Hoser's work was published in 2006, in a review that stated that "the level of evidence provided by Hoser to justify his taxonomic acts is minimal" and charged that several of his publications appear to have been made with the intention of scooping other workers in the field, behavior that the authors described as "ethically repugnant".
Hoser's papers have been published and discussed in scientific journals in Australia and elsewhere. In a 2007 article in Nature
on amateur naturalists Hoser responded to criticisms of his work by stating, "The description of me as an amateur is complete rubbish", he said. "There's no one in history who has spent so much time dealing with, looking at, catching and breeding death adders as myself." He is the author of the valid names and descriptions for Pseudechis pailsei and Acanthophis wellsi, snakes in the Elapidae
family. Hoser's work on the taxonomy of the Pythoninae has been partially confirmed by later phylogenetic studies, but has not been officially recognized.
In 2009, Hoser started his own journal, the Australasian Journal of Herpetology, for which he is editor and, as of July 2011, the sole contributing author.
Hoser is an author and publisher of a number of books and a website on frogs and reptiles, and has a business as a snake handler. He runs the website smuggled.com, which contains articles about official corruption and reptile
s. Hoser runs his own business called Snakebusters in Melbourne
, providing reptiles for children's birthday parties and catching and moving snakes in urban areas.
Hoser is an advocate of venomoid
snakes, surgically altered to remove venom, and has published discussion on this topic, and promoted the procedure on his website. These animals are kept as pets, or used in exhibitions to the general public, and the procedure is regarded as controversial.
A 2008 government tribunal ruled that Hoser's venomoid snakes cannot be handled by members of the public, due to the risk of the venom glands regrowing. VCAT
Deputy President Anne Coghlan found Hoser had no qualifications, no training and produced no scientific evidence to back up his claims.
In 2011 Hoser was convicted and fined $12,000 in the County Court for demonstrating with venomous snakes less than three metres from the public, working in accessible pits and demonstrating in a way that put the animals at risk of theft. Hoser allowed his 10-year-old daughter to be bitten by a taipan
and a death adder
to demonstrate that his "venomoid" snakes were harmless.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
) is an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n herpetologist, snake-catcher, and author. Since 1976 he has written books and articles about official corruption in Australia. He has also authored works on Australian frogs and reptiles and operates a snake handling business, Snakebusters, in Melbourne. Some of Hoser's work has been controversial, such as his advocacy of venomoid
Venomoid
A venomoid is a venomous snake that has undergone a surgical procedure to remove or inhibit the production of venom. This procedure has been used for venomous snakes, kept for pets or used in public demonstrations, to remove the risk of injury or death when handled...
snakes.
Whistleblower
Hoser has published several works as a whistleblowerWhistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
, in a 1998 radio interview he said that he was "known as an anti-corruption crusader". An analysis of his work by the Rationalist Society of Australia
Rationalist Society of Australia
The Rationalist Society of Australia promotes the interests of rationalists nationally in Australia. It is the operational arm of the movement in Australia...
referred to him as a "tireless investigator" and he has received praise from Brian Martin
Brian Martin (professor)
Brian Martin teaches in the interdisciplinary area of Science, technology, and society at the University of Wollongong in Australia, where he became a professor in 2007. He was president of Whistleblowers Australia from 1996 to 1999 and remains their International Director.Martin received his PhD ...
, a former president of Whistleblowers Australia
Whistleblowers Australia
Whistleblowers Australia Inc. is an association for those who have exposed corruption or any form of malpractice, especially if they were then hindered or abused, and for those who are thinking of exposing it or who wish to support those who are doing so. The organisation began as Whistleblowers...
.
In his 1993 book, Smuggled, Hoser wrote that officials of the wildlife services in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
were involved in the illegal wildlife trade
Wildlife trade
The international wildlife trade is a serious conservation problem, addressed by the United Nations' Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES, which currently has 175 member countries called Parties. The 15th meeting of the Parties took place in Doha,...
.
In 1995 Hoser published, The Hoser Files, detailing his encounters with Victoria Police and the Road Traffic Authority in Melbourne whilst working as a taxi driver (Hoser had moved to Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
in 1985).
Herpetology
Hoser has also contributed to the taxonomyTaxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
of Australian snakes, describing new species and genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
, and suggesting revisions to current arrangements. Some nominations have not been accepted. Hoser's work has been a source of controversy in the field, with a 2001 review in Litteratura Serpentium
Litteratura Serpentium
Litteratura Serpentium is a herpetological magazine magazine published by the European Snake Society in Dutch since 1980 , and in English since 1983.It was published bi-monthly, however it has since become quarterly.- External links :* *...
strongly criticising his publications as "less than professional" and describing them as a source of confusion and wasted effort. Charges of ethical misconduct were made in this article. Further criticism of Hoser's work was published in 2006, in a review that stated that "the level of evidence provided by Hoser to justify his taxonomic acts is minimal" and charged that several of his publications appear to have been made with the intention of scooping other workers in the field, behavior that the authors described as "ethically repugnant".
Hoser's papers have been published and discussed in scientific journals in Australia and elsewhere. In a 2007 article in Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
on amateur naturalists Hoser responded to criticisms of his work by stating, "The description of me as an amateur is complete rubbish", he said. "There's no one in history who has spent so much time dealing with, looking at, catching and breeding death adders as myself." He is the author of the valid names and descriptions for Pseudechis pailsei and Acanthophis wellsi, snakes in the Elapidae
Elapidae
Elapidae is a family of venomous snakes found in tropical and subtropical regions around the world, terrestrially in Asia, Australia, Africa, North America and South America and aquatically in the Pacific and Indian Oceans...
family. Hoser's work on the taxonomy of the Pythoninae has been partially confirmed by later phylogenetic studies, but has not been officially recognized.
In 2009, Hoser started his own journal, the Australasian Journal of Herpetology, for which he is editor and, as of July 2011, the sole contributing author.
Hoser is an author and publisher of a number of books and a website on frogs and reptiles, and has a business as a snake handler. He runs the website smuggled.com, which contains articles about official corruption and reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s. Hoser runs his own business called Snakebusters in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, providing reptiles for children's birthday parties and catching and moving snakes in urban areas.
Hoser is an advocate of venomoid
Venomoid
A venomoid is a venomous snake that has undergone a surgical procedure to remove or inhibit the production of venom. This procedure has been used for venomous snakes, kept for pets or used in public demonstrations, to remove the risk of injury or death when handled...
snakes, surgically altered to remove venom, and has published discussion on this topic, and promoted the procedure on his website. These animals are kept as pets, or used in exhibitions to the general public, and the procedure is regarded as controversial.
A 2008 government tribunal ruled that Hoser's venomoid snakes cannot be handled by members of the public, due to the risk of the venom glands regrowing. VCAT
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal is a government agency in the state of Victoria, Australia. The name is pronounced 'vee-cat'...
Deputy President Anne Coghlan found Hoser had no qualifications, no training and produced no scientific evidence to back up his claims.
Court fines
In 2001 the Victorian Supreme Court used the offence of scandalising the court to fine Hoser $5,000 after he published names of two county court judges and two magistrates in a book entitled Victoria Police Corruption with allegations of bias and improper conduct. Hoser's 2003 appeal against the charge was unsuccessful and he was found guilty of a second contempt charge which was originally dismissed.In 2011 Hoser was convicted and fined $12,000 in the County Court for demonstrating with venomous snakes less than three metres from the public, working in accessible pits and demonstrating in a way that put the animals at risk of theft. Hoser allowed his 10-year-old daughter to be bitten by a taipan
Taipan
The taipans are a genus of large, fast, highly venomous Australasian snakes of the elapid family.-Overview:The taipan was named by Donald Thomson after the word used by the Wik-Mungkan Aboriginal people of central Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia.There are three known species: the coastal...
and a death adder
Death adder
Death adder may refer to:In herpetology:* All members of the genus Acanthophis, a group of highly venomous elapids found in Australia and New Guinea* Agkistrodon contortrix, a.k.a...
to demonstrate that his "venomoid" snakes were harmless.
Papers
- 1998. A new snake from Queensland, Australia (Serpentes: Elapidae). Monitor 10, 5–9.
- 2000. A new species of snake (Serpentes: Elapidae) from Irian Jaya. Litt. Serpentium 20, 178–186.
- Hoser R (2001) A current assessment of the status of the snakes of the genera Cannia and Pailsus, including descriptions of three new subspecies from the Northern Territory and Western Australia, Australia. J Herpetol Soc Queensl 2001:26–60
- 2002. An overview of the taipans, genus (Oxyuranus) (Serpentes: Elapidae), including the description of a new subspecies. Crocodilian – J. Vic. Assoc. Amat. Herpetol. 3, 43–50.
Books
- Australian reptiles & frogs, (238pp) Pierson & Co., 1989 ISBN 0947068082
- Endangered animals of Australia, Pierson & Co., 1991 ISBN 0947068155
- Smuggled : the underground trade in Australia's wildlife. Apollo Books, 1993. ISBN 094706818X
- The Hoser Files — The Fight Against Entrenched Official Corruption. (332 pp.) Kotabi, 1995. ISBN 0646230875
- Smuggled-2: Wildlife Trafficking, Crime and Corruption in Australia. Kotabi, 1996. ISBN 0958676909
- Victoria Police Corruption. (736 pp.) Kotabi, 1999. ISBN 0958676968
- Victoria Police Corruption 2. (800 pp.) Kotabi, 2000. ISBN 0958676976
- Taxi. Kotabi, 2000. ISBN 0958676984 (V. 1) ISBN 0958676992 (V. 2)
External links
- Smuggled.com – by Raymond Hoser.
- Australian Library Collections