Greetings all,

Thank you for your continued interest in the Virginia Dangerous Animal Initiative (DAI). Last week, members of the DAI Workgroup met on September 19th for the first time in Richmond, VA. The group will continue its efforts at the next DAI Workgroup meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 3rd from 10 AM – 4 PM at the Virginia Science Museum in the Discovery Room. Members of the public are welcome to participate as observers during the session. Lunch will be on your own as a member of the public.

Information about parking and directions may be found at these websites: http://www.smv.org/sites/default/files/parkingmap.pdf & http://www.smv.org/contact-us

If you will be attending the Oct. 3 meeting as a member of the public, please RSVP at this website so we may plan for seating: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NGZSL7Y

A Dangerous Animal Initiative public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 24th from 4 PM – 6 PM at the VHDA Virginia Housing Center following the 3rd Workgroup meeting, which will be held from 10 am – 3 pm. We will send out additional details and will update the DAI website with additional information in the near future: www.virginiaanimals.net.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments at animals@virginia.edu, and thank you for your continued interest in the Initiative.

Best regards,

David Whitehurst, on behalf of the Coordinating Team
Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries

Christine Gyovai, on behalf of the IEN Team
UVa Institute for Environmental Negotiation
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The Dangerous Animal Initiative will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 24th from 4 pm – 6 pm at the VHDA Virginia Housing Center, 4224 Cox Road, Glen Allen, VA 23060. It is very important that anyone in Virginia that owns a reptile and wishes to continue owning any reptile be at that meeting. The workgroup is looking at what factors may make exotic/wild animals "dangerous", and not just to humans, but to Virginia. They will be looking at how these animals can harm humans directly (bite, crush, constrict, other) but also indirectly (disease, parasites, other). They will also be looking at how these animals can harm the ecosystem and agriculture in Virginia directly (invasive, other) and indirectly (disease, parasites, other). What will this mean to reptile keepers? All reptiles will be considered, not just venomous and large constrictors. What will this mean to other exotic/wild animal keepers? Any non-domesticated animal may be considered (non-domesticated: any animal other than domesticated dogs, cats, and agricultural animals). This could mean some birds, aquarium fish, invertebrates, amphibians, small and large mammals could be restricted or banned. I've already heard though some of my contacts that the animal rights groups will have a great number of people attending the public meeting, we need to be sure that our numbers are far greater. We have a chance to stop this before it gets to the next legislative session.
I'm hoping to find volunteers all over Virginia to help with carpooling, so that people without rides or don't want to make the drive alone will more easily be able to attend the public meeting. I'm also looking for volunteers to be liaisons, speakers and leaders, as well as volunteers to assist with origination, coming up with talking points, and spreading the word. If you would like to help, need more information, or want email updates, please email me at: virginiaexoticban@gmail.com

Thanks, David Means

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