This is bad news folks:



Rep. Richard Roy, D-Milford, and Sen. Edward Meyer, D-Guilford, co-chairmen of the committee, said although it is weeks past their mid-February deadline to raise bills, they'll find a parliamentary maneuver to create penalties of up to a year in prison and $2,000 fines for violating the law>







State bill would ban ownership of exotic pets

By Ken Dixon

STAFF WRITER

Updated: 03/06/2009 05:50:25 PM EST



HARTFORD -- The leaders of the Environment Committee on Friday promised to create legislation to ban private ownership of exotic animals, including chimps like the one that nearly killed a woman in Stamford last month.



Rep. Richard Roy, D-Milford, and Sen. Edward Meyer, D-Guilford, co-chairmen of the committee, said although it is weeks past their mid-February deadline to raise bills, they'll find a parliamentary maneuver to create penalties of up to a year in prison and $2,000 fines for violating the law.



While current law bans private ownership of large cats, wolves and bears, it does not specifically list chimpanzees.



Roy and Meyer made the announcement during a news conference with Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Gina McCarthy, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection and a representative of the Humane Society of the United States.



Legislation drafted by Blumenthal's office and the DEP would prohibit the possession of primates, alligators, kangaroos, wolverines, hippopotami, rhinos, elephants and snakes including pythons.



"The simple truth is wild animals belong in the wild, in their natural habitat or sanctuaries, not in suburban homes where they can do the kind of horrific damage that a chimpanzee did in Stamford very recently," Blumenthal said.



The bill would also require veterinarians who treat potentially dangerous animals to notify the DEP within 24 hours and provide the location of the

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animal.



"The incident in Stamford provided all too graphic evidence that primates are wild animals, they're not pets," McCarthy said.



Roy said if the bill becomes law, if animal owners don't report they own dangerous animals, their neighbors will.



To report the potential illegal possession of wild animals, people may call the DEP at (860) 424-3010.

http://www.newstimes.com/ci_11854435

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