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'''Raymond Terrence Hoser''' The material that follows is mainly untrue and/or misrepresents the truth, but has been hacked so that wikipedia will not publish the truth here...
'''Raymond Terrence Hoser''' (Born: 1962, [[U.K.]]) is an [[Australia]]n amateur [[herpetologist]], snake-catcher, and author. He has written several articles about reptiles, and also written about [[official corruption]] in Australia since 1976. He has been called "One of Australia's most energetic and courageous whistleblowers" by [[Brian Martin (professor)|Brian Martin]], a former president of [[Whistleblowers Australia]].<ref>Brian Martin, ''[http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/Martin_def.html Defamation and the Australian media: a case study]'', October 1997, Accessed October 12, 2008</ref> His work on reptile systematics is controversial and has not been widely accepted in the scientific literature.
(Born: 1962, [[U.K.]]) is an [[Australia]]n amateur [[herpetologist]], snake-catcher, and author. He has written several articles about reptiles, and also written about [[official corruption]] in Australia since 1976. He has been called "One of Australia's most energetic and courageous whistleblowers" by [[Brian Martin (professor)|Brian Martin]], a former president of [[Whistleblowers Australia]].<ref>Brian Martin, ''[http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/Martin_def.html Defamation and the Australian media: a case study]'', October 1997, Accessed October 12, 2008</ref> His work on reptile systematics is controversial and has not been widely accepted in the scientific literature.


==Biography==
==Biography==

Revision as of 11:50, 25 January 2010

Raymond Terrence Hoser The material that follows is mainly untrue and/or misrepresents the truth, but has been hacked so that wikipedia will not publish the truth here... (Born: 1962, U.K.) is an Australian amateur herpetologist, snake-catcher, and author. He has written several articles about reptiles, and also written about official corruption in Australia since 1976. He has been called "One of Australia's most energetic and courageous whistleblowers" by Brian Martin, a former president of Whistleblowers Australia.[1] His work on reptile systematics is controversial and has not been widely accepted in the scientific literature.

Biography

Hoser has published several works, as a whistleblower, claiming to uncover corruption in Australian government departments. In his book Smuggled he alleges that officials of the wildlife services in New South Wales were involved in the illegal wildlife trade. Subsequently, attempts were made to suppress distribution of the book through National Parks and Wildlife Service allegations to booksellers that the book was defamatory.[2][3]

He moved to Victoria in 1985 and allegedly came across further corruption with VicRoads when working as a taxi driver. His experiences here were first covered in his book The Hoser Files. Hoser stated in a radio interview 1998 that he is "known as an anti-corruption crusader".[4]

In 2001 the Victorian Supreme Court used a rarely used offence of scandalising the court to fine Hoser $5000 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. The offence was previously used against union leader Norm Gallagher.[5][6] In 2003 Hoser was found guilty of a second contempt charge which was originally dismissed. The charge related to unfounded bribery allegations against a third judge.[7]

Raymond Hoser is an author and publisher 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 reptiles.

Hoser has also contributed to the taxonomy of Australian snakes, giving descriptions for new species and genera, and suggesting revisions to current arrangements. Some nominations have not been accepted, being regarded as redundant or invalid by workers in the field.[8][9][10] 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.[8] Charges of ethical misconduct were also made in this article.[8] 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".[11]

Hoser's papers have been published and discussed in scientific journals in Australia and elsewhere.[12] 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."[13] He is the author of the valid names and descriptions for Pseudechis pailsei and Acanthophis wellsi, snakes in the Elapidae family.[14][15] Hoser's work on the taxonomy of the Pythoninae[16] has been partially confirmed by later phylogenetic studies, but has not been officially recognized.[17]

In 2009, Hoser founded his own journal, the Australasian Journal of Herpetology.[18]. As of 11 March 2009, in addition to being the journal's founder, Hoser is the journal's editor [19] and the only author to contribute papers to it.[20] Nevertheless, Hoser claims his journal to be "Australia's leading reptile journal"[21], and has printed revisions of several taxa.[22][23]

Raymond Hoser runs his own business called Snakebusters in Melbourne, providing reptiles for children's birthday parties and also catching and moving snakes in urban areas.[24][25][26] In 2005 he unsuccessfully sued Prospero Productions and television personality Bruce George, claiming that the television series The Snakebuster, made for Animal Planet, had infringed his trademark.[27]

Hoser is an advocate of venomoid snakes, surgically altered to remove venom, and has published discussion on this topic,[16] and promoted the procedure on his website.[28] These animals are kept as pets, or used in exhibitions to the general public, and the procedure is regarded as a controversial.[29][30] 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.[31]

Works

This is an incomplete list of works by Raymond Hoser.

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[32]
  • 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)

References

  1. ^ Brian Martin, Defamation and the Australian media: a case study, October 1997, Accessed October 12, 2008
  2. ^ Green Left Weekly Wildlife smuggling book defeats 'ban', 30 June 1993. Accessed October 12, 2008
  3. ^ H. Clare Callow, Investigating Corruption - The Strange Case of Raymond Hoser Australian Rationalist No 55. Accessed October 12, 2008
  4. ^ The Media Report Radio National Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 26 November, 1998
  5. ^ The National Interest, Scandalous behaviour; Police under pressure; Starbucks Australia, ABC Radio National, 16 December 2001, Accessed October 12, 2008
  6. ^ Press Gazette, Scandalising the Court, 10 October 2003. Accessed October 12, 2008
  7. ^ ABC News Online, Author losses contempt of court appeal, December 15, 2003, Accessed October 12, 2008
  8. ^ a b c Wüster, W., B. Bush, J.S. Keogh, M. O'Shea & R. Shine (2001). "Taxonomic contributions in the "amateur" literature: comments on recent descriptions of new genera and species by Raymond Hoser" (PDF). Litteratura Serpentium 21: 67-79, 86-91.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Wüster, W., A.J. Dumbrell, C. Hay, C.E. Pook, D.J. Williams & B.G. Fry (2004). "Snakes across the Strait: Trans-Torresian phylogeographic relationships in three genera of Australasian snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Acanthophis, Oxyuranus and Pseudechis)" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 34(1): 1-14. superseding; Wüster, W., et al. Phylogeny and classification of Australo-Papuan black snakes and mulga snakes: comments on genus Pailsus Hoser (1998) {{cite web}}: External link in |quote= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Wüster W, Golay P, Warrell DA (1999). "Synopsis of recent developments in venomous snake systematics, No. 3" (PDF). Toxicon : official journal of the International Society on Toxinology. 37 (8): 1123–9. PMID 10400296. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Williams D, Wüster W, Fry BG (2006). "The good, the bad and the ugly: Australian snake taxonomists and a history of the taxonomy of Australia's venomous snakes". Toxicon : official journal of the International Society on Toxinology. 48 (7): 919–30. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2006.07.016. PMID 16999982. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Kuch, Ulrich; Keogh, J. Scott; Weigel, John; Smith, Laurie A.; Mebs, Dietrich (03/2005). "Phylogeography of Australia's king brown snake (Pseudechis australis) reveals Pliocene divergence and Pleistocene dispersal of a top predator" (PDF). Naturwissenschaften. 92 (3): 121–127. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Borrell B (2007). "Linnaeus at 300: the big name hunters". Nature. 446 (7133): 253–5. doi:10.1038/446253a. PMID 17361154. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  14. ^ "Pseudechis pailsei". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. 1998.
  15. ^ "Acanthophis wellsi". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. 1998.
  16. ^ a b Hoser, R.T. (2004), "A reclassification of the Pythoninae including the descriptions new genera, two new species and nine …", Crocodilian--Journal of the Victorian Association of Amateur Herpetologists, 4: 21–39 Cite error: The named reference "Hoser2004" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  17. ^ Rawlings, L.H.; Rabosky, D.L.; Donnellan, S.C.; Hutchinson, M.N. (2008), "Python phylogenetics: inference from morphology and mitochondrial DNA", Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 93 (3): 603–619, doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00904.x
  18. ^ http://www.smuggled.com/AJHAb1.htm
  19. ^ http://www.smuggled.com/AJHCD1.htm
  20. ^ http://www.smuggled.com/AJHIP1.htm
  21. ^ http://www.smuggled.com/SBSNew1.htm
  22. ^ http://www.smuggled.com/AJHI6.pdf
  23. ^ http://www.smuggled.com/AJHI7.pdf
  24. ^ Nick Higginbottom, Summer of snakes keeps city's experts busy, Hobart Mercury, February 13, 2007. Accessed October 12, 2008
  25. ^ Toeing the party line, The Age, September 21, 2004. Accessed October 12, 2008
  26. ^ Marika Dobbin, Escaped python ends up in Burnley Tunnel, The Age, April 9, 2008. Accessed October 12, 2008
  27. ^ [1]
  28. ^ R. Hoser Surgical Removal of Venom Glands in Australian Elapid Snakes. The creation of venomoids.
  29. ^ Jeff Miller Venomoids: An Overview The Southeastern Hot Herp Society March 29, 2001 Accessed Oct. 11th 2008.
  30. ^ Veterinary Ethics: What About Venomoids? Venomous Snake Husbandry Basics: Veterinary Care Snakegetters.com, Accessed 15 October 2008
  31. ^ Mex Cooper 'De-venomised' snakes ruled dangerous The Age October 15, 2008
  32. ^ "Author: Hoser, Raymond T. (Raymond Terrence), 1962-". Australian Library Collections. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 2008-10-11. {{cite web}}: horizontal tab character in |title= at position 8 (help)
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