The provincial government's decision to include more exotic pets permitted under the Fish and Wildlife Act makes it legal to own critters such as snakes and lizards in unincorporated areas of the province, but it doesn't make it legal to possess them within the City of Fredericton.

Alex Forbes, assistant director of development services with the city, said some animals - pigs and chickens, for example - are legal to own in rural New Brunswick, but they are banned within city limits.

So it's buyer beware if you head down the path of exotic pet ownership now that the provincial government has relaxed the rules on importing, selling and buying exotic animals.

The types of pets permitted within the City of Fredericton are defined under the city's zoning bylaw - Zoning Bylaw Z-2 - and under the more specific Animal Control Bylaw.

"We have a definition of domestic animals, and under that definition it means dogs, cats, budgies, parrots, parakeets, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, fish, rabbits or other similar animals kept for the personal enjoyment or companionship of the resident," Forbes said.

"So, if you're not on that list, technically, if somebody complained, it's not a permitted animal inside the city," Forbes said.

But since the city doesn't conduct house-to-house inspections, there's no way of knowing what kinds animals people have tucked away in their homes, Forbes said.

Adding more animals to the city's list of permitted animals isn't high on anyone's priority list, said the city's manager of building inspection and bylaw enforcement.

"Even if there's more latitude given provincially, it's not something we envision taking place (in the city)," said Doug Overbo.

If you keep one, contrary to legislation on the city's books, be prepared to be liable if they escape, cause property damage or injure anyone, he said.

"If you have pet snakes that get lost, you'll have to contact a pest control contractor to retrieve them for you. When you take a pet, you're responsible for it," Overbo said.

While the province has expanded the act to include 292 types of mammals, birds, insects and amphibians as exotic pets, most of the animals won't survive in New Brunswick if they get free, a provincial spokesman said earlier.

Still, the chief inspector of New Brunswick's SPCA isn't relishing the prospect of more exotic critters in the province because the ones kept illegally already pose problems.

"We've been dealing with those anyway. Even though they weren't allowed in the province, they were here anyway and we were dealing with them," said Paul Melanson.

"The biggest thing that we find is with the university students. They'll get these things and then all of a sudden they're on a plane going home for the summer and they leave the animal behind, so then we end up getting involved and have to remove it."

Lizards and snakes seem to be the most common escapees or abandoned pets the SPCA has encountered.

Another popular animal is the South American rodent called a degu that can only be kept in a glass, metal or iron cage because it will eat through just about anything else, Melanson said.

He estimates the SPCA deals with a half-dozen exotic animal complaints annually.

"Because they're illegal to start with, the numbers are down, but now that it's been opened up, we'll probably see a lot more of it," he said.

"You'll end up with some of these snakes being aggressive and people will get bitten and then we'll end up dealing with it like dogs biting."

"Some of those pythons, if they're not handled a lot, get quite aggressive."

Before the province opened up the rules, an exotic animal would be seized and then a request would be made to either destroy it or if one of the Maritime zoos was interested in it, the province would issue an export permit to allow it to be moved.

Now, it's a new ball game and someone will have to figure out new rules.

"That's something else that will have to tackled now is, what are we going to do with them?" Melanson said.

Overbo said the city's bylaw enforcement officers aren't trained to deal with exotic creatures and he won't be asking them to deal with those types of animals.

The city's animal control officer - the person responsible for dealing with stray cats and dogs - deals only with animals on the city's list under the zoning and animal control bylaws. If an animal is vicious and threatening, police are often called in, Overbo said.
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/cityregion/article/599168

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