No. Currently the list of 'Dangerous Wild Animals' does not include any reptiles. That being said, all of you should help fight this, as new animals can be listed at any time. HB 251 will modify current Dangerous Animal Law in several very scary ways:



From my email to the committee members:



• HB 251 requires a minimum of 2 acres of land per regulated animal. As this law not only covers large animals like tigers, but smaller animals like house-cat sized Savannah cats (a hybrid of the Serval and domestic cat) having the same space requirements across the board is unreasonable.

• HB 251 removes the very important exemption for veterinarians and shelters that might hold these animals even temporarily.

• HB 251 removes the annual cap on registration fees, currently set at $500 for each owner, and instead puts in place a max of $500 annually per animal with no set cap for the owner. This would financially cripple owners and facilities alike, which often rely on other sources of income (not the animals themselves) and donations.

• HB 251 puts in place a distance limit of no closer than 5 miles to any school, daycare, or church for facilities housing regulated animals. This, combined with the space requirements listed above, limits housing these animals to unreasonably small areas of Texas.

• HB 251 allows the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to set his or her own insurance requirements, with no guidelines. Essentially, this means that the commissioner could require limits so high no insurance company would provide them and no individual, or many facilities, would be able to afford them. It also allows each succeeding commissioner to change the insurance requirements to his or her whim.

• HB 251 allows any person who owns property in the county in which such animals are being kept the ability to sue the owner of regulated animals to enjoin a violation of the legislation, even if no violation exists previously.



This bill (and an another bad one HB 1546) are up for public hearing in the Committee on Culture, Recreation and Tourism on Wednesday, April 13.

[ Hide Replies ]

• HB 251 - atrox182, Sun Apr 10 20:02:00 2011
• RE: HB 251 - jpenney, Sun Apr 10 21:10:32 2011
• RE: HB 251 - atrox182, Mon Apr 11 11:24:18 2011
• RE: HB 251 - seaaggie, Mon Apr 11 13:50:00 2011