Posted by:
the_keeper_73
at Thu Sep 1 18:02:40 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by the_keeper_73 ]
With all the talk of laws and bans on reptiles, I would like to ask the reptile community, what would you consider to be a fair law taking into consideration public health and safety vs. the rights of the keepers? I know we all would like to say, no regulations, but unfortunately, since many people don't seem to take responsibility for themselves (nobody on this board of course  ), this leaves it up to the gov't to protect the public, though usually with great bias and lack of education in most situations.
I'll start this discussion with what I think is good.
As far as non-venomous animals are concerned, I think only the largest species of pythons (retics, burms, african rocks maybe, amethystines, any that could exceed say 15'), Anacondas, and crocodilians would be of any concern. There should be written provisions for safe and efficient caging/housing and perhaps regulations on how a large reptile is to be handled if ever in a public venue. These are animals that I would say should require a permit to keep.
As far as venomous animals are concerned, again there should be some regulations regarding sufficient, escape-proof caging and handling outside of the primary residence. Perhaps maybe even a test of some sort (Not to be written by gov't officials) to help establish knowledge and/or competency in keeping hots. This would all be to protect the public from those yahoo’s out there that like to show off and be stupid. One thing I am sick of in any regulations, are those that are supposed to protect you from yourself. As an adult, one should already know the risks of performing certain activities and if you kill yourself in the process, then it should be written off as Darwinism in action. But I don’t believe that the general public should ever be put at risk if someone wants to do themselves in, hence...regulations.
There is a reason behind me asking this question. Our current county ordinances are very outdated and flawed, and I would like to bring forward a concise and well written alternative that could be fair for all involved: the general public, the keepers, and the governing agencies.
Any and all thoughts and opinions are welcomed. Since many entities like to take off of surrounding ordinances, let’s not see if we can come up with something fair that can be widely distributed to city’s, counties, and states everywhere, when the time is right of course.
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 Herp laws - the_keeper_73, Thu Sep 1 18:02:40 2005
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