Dangerous & Exotic Animals in Virginia, Updates and Webinar

Greetings,


We are writing with an update on the effort to identify issues and develop potential recommendations around public safety and potentially dangerous animals in Virgi
nia. We invite you to join a Webinar with key background information on the morning of Wed. August 29th -- please see below for more information.

As many of you are aware, Governor McDonnell has asked the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) to review Virginia’s policies and regulations on dangerous and exotic animals. DGIF and other state agencies that are involved in animal regulation have asked the Institute for Environmental Negotiation at the University of Virginia to help facilitate a process for engaging multiple, diverse stakeholders in this effort.

A Workgroup is being formed to develop consensus-based recommendations around public safety and potentially dangerous animals in Virginia. The Workgroup will be comprised of a wide variety of stakeholders consisting of pet industry groups, business owners, local government organizations, state agency representatives, federal agency representatives, zoos, animal care and welfare groups, nonprofit organizations, and others. Several meetings will be held from September – November of 2012. Although a limited number of people will serve on the Workgroup, meetings will be open to the public. We will send the meeting schedule and additional information out as it is finalized. There will be several additional ways to participate in this effort, including public meetings, a survey, and a presentation next week.

A Webinar will be held with state agency representatives next Wed., August 29th outlining the effort and focusing on existing federal, state, and locality regulations and animal care standards in Virginia (see below for more information). We invite all of you to join the Webinar as well as to submit your questions about existing regulations in advance of the Webinar to animals@virginia.edu by Monday, August 27th at 5pm. Additional questions may be sent after that point and during the Webinar, and will be answered as time permits during the presentation.

The Dangerous Animals Background information Webinar will be held on Wed., August 29th from 9:30 to 11:00 AM. It can be viewed online at this link: http://128.143.138.238/launch/rtsp_audio_and_graphics.qtl. If you are not able to join the Webinar, it will be recorded and able to be viewed after the presentation on a website. We will send the website link out next week, as well as information about a follow up survey.

If you would like to continue to receive these updates, you do not need to do anything further to stay on this list. If you would prefer not to receive these updates, you can opt out by clicking "UNSUBSCRIBE" at the bottom of this email.

If you know of anyone else who should be included on this notification list, you can forward them the message using the "FORWARD" link below, or you can invite them to send us an email at animals@virginia.edu to subscribe.

Over the next few months there will be several opportunities to engage with this process, hear different perspectives, and share information. We will use this notification list to announce all of these opportunities. We will send another email in the near future with additional ways to stay engaged in the process. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact us at animals@virginia.edu.


Sincerely,

David K. Whitehurst
Director, Bureau of Wildlife Resources
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

Christine Muehlman Gyovai
UVa Institute for Environmental Negotiation
animals@virginia.edu | 434-982-6464

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