THE DISPATCH (Lexington, NC) 19 June 04 Few owners register their exotic animals (Eric Frazier)

One week after the deadline passed for owners to register their exotic animals in Davidson County, only five people have done so.

Officials say they know where more exotic animals are, but to date, no citations have been issued.

The commissioners adopted a new animal control ordinance May 11 that created separate categories of regulated and prohibited exotic animals.

Residents who already possessed prohibited animals were allowed to keep them, but the ordinance required each one to be registered within 30 days. New regulated species must be registered within five business days after an owner brings them into the county.

Four people met that deadline, and one owner registered his six prohibited snakes Wednesday, according to records on file at the Davidson County Animal Shelter.

"It's the same way with the rabies vaccination," observed Richard Varner, assistant director of the shelter. "People just ignore it."

Not only does the state require vaccinations, each animal must wear a rabies tag. That helps officers identify animals by calling the veterinarian that issued the tag.

While state law has long required pets to be vaccinated against rabies, the animal ordinance is new, so some residents may not be aware of it yet.

"I had no clue that it was going on," said Christy Hill, who lives south of Thomasville and registered her 13 venomous snakes June 9. "A friend called and told me they had passed the ban 11 or 12 days before the end of the registration period."

Her collection includes four Western Diamondback rattlesnakes, two Gaboon vipers, two rhino vipers, a desert horned viper, an eyelash viper, two monacled cobras and a red spitting cobra. They range from one foot in length to more than five feet.

Hill said the registration process was "easy" and called the animal center staff "real nice." She said she has owned her snakes about five years. Asked why she keeps poisonous snakes, she replied: "They're just something we like looking at."

Hill said she does not handle them, and her veterinarian provided a letter calling the snakes too dangerous to implant the identification microchips required in the ordinance.

But Parker Whitt of Midway says implanting microchips in his snakes would harm them because of the way they shed their skin periodically.

Whitt, who holds a master's degree in biology and describes himself as a 35-year herpetologist, registered his six Uracoan rattlesnakes from Venezuela Wednesday. He takes his snakes to schools where he gives talks to science students.

"I can already see that this insurance thing will be a problem," he said. "I can't find anyone in the world who will write liability insurance for poisonous snakes."

The new ordinance requires owners to maintain a $100,000 liability insurance policy. Whitt wonders why no one checked on insurance availability during the 18 months the ordinance was being drafted.

"How would you prove if somebody got bit by mine instead of a copperhead?" he also wonders.

Along with microchips and insurance, the new ordinance gave existing owners 120 days to provide photographs of each animal, an escape recapture plan and copies of any state or federal permits associated with the animals.

Like Hill, Whitt said he does not handle his snakes.

"I don't pick mine up," he said. "People might think I'm crazy for keeping them, but I'm not stupid."

Jody Bowman of Linwood, who registered his five-foot nonvenomous Burmese python June 11, said his snake has "grown to be a part of the family" during the year and a half he has owned it.

"I've got small children, too," he added. "They play with it under supervision."

Isn't that dangerous?

"There are tell-tale signs of when an attack is coming on," he said of the constrictor.

Despite the publicity given a lion in Tyro owned by Julie Plott and two Himalayan bears owned by Katherine Phillips in northeastern Davidson County during the long ordinance process, Varner said he thinks there are probably more prohibited snakes in county than anything else. Plott and Phillips registered their animals on time.

Anita Wood, veterinary technician at the shelter, said wolf hybrids are also quite common. Both Varner and Wood said citizens are calling with tips on possible ordinance violators.

"We know where some are," confirmed Lt. Rick Skeen, who administers the animal control program for the sheriff's office. "We're going to start visiting them as soon as we have time to do so."

Officers do not yet have the new citation books. County Attorney Robert Hedrick said they are in the process of being approved by the sheriff's office and will be printed in-house.

Violations of the new ordinance are subject to a $100 civil penalty, and each day's continued violation constitutes a separate offense. Violators may also be charged with a misdemeanor under N.C. General Statute 14-4.

"The main thing we're trying to do is to protect emergency personnel," Skeen said, referring to firefighters and paramedics who respond to calls from residences. "... If somebody's got poisonous snakes or some other dangerous animal, then officers need to know for their safety."

Want to report an unregistered animal? To report an exotic animal that is not registered, call 249-0131 and ask for animal control. To register an exotic animal, call 357- 0805 for more information.
Few owners register their exotic animals

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• NC Press: Few owners register their exotic animals - W von Papineäu, Mon Jun 21 15:27:36 2004