THE PROVINCE (Vancouver, British Columbia) 29 June 06 Student may be charged over cayman
The tale of a tumbling cayman may lead to charges against the zoology student who owns it.
The 1.5-metre crocodilian fell from the student's third-floor apartment on 4th Avenue on Tuesday afternoon when he left a window open.
The cayman was quickly rounded up and the student took it to a vet to be checked.
Police, meanwhile, found what Const. Howard Chow described as "Noah's Ark" in the man's apartment.
Officers counted about 29 lizards, tortoises, a toad, a gecko and a snail-eating snake.
The cayman lived in a pool in the living room.
Apparently, the apartment manager was not aware of the pets, Chow said.
The SPCA is now trying to determine if charges are warranted.
Vancouver has no bylaws regulating the sale or ownership of exotic pets outside circuses.
Coun. Kim Capri has asked staff to come up with a list of prohibited animals and look at the issues of sale and ownership of strange beasts.
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=7b944c0c-2504-42d6-ba4f-97dfb23be839

VANCOUVER SUN (British Columbia) 29 June 06 Sharp-toothed pet survives three-storey plunge from Kitsilano apartment window (Emily Chung)
Vancouver: The 1.5-metre long reptile that fell three storeys from an apartment window in Kitsilano on Tuesday suffered only a dislocated toe in the mishap, according to a representative of the BCSPCA.
Eileen Drever, a senior animal protection officer with the BCSPCA, said a veterinarian took x-rays of the alligator-like caiman after its ordeal and found no broken bones.
"He has very minor injuries, so [he's] a very lucky caiman," Drever said.
Caimans are a group of reptiles related to alligators. They are found in the wild in Central and South America.
Drever said BCSPCA inspectors visited the small apartment of the caiman's owner on Wednesday afternoon and found about 40 other exotic reptiles and amphibians inside.
The menagerie included iguanas, geckos, spiny-tailed lizards, tropidurid lizards, a chinese water dragon, a schneider toad, turtles, several tortoises and a snail-eating snake.
Drever said the animals were well kept and no charges will be laid against the owner.
"We inspected all the animals in the apartment and there were no concerns," she said.
Police and animal rights workers were alerted to the existence of the reptiles and amphibians Tuesday after two maintenance workers found the caiman in the stairwell of an apartment in the 3400 block of West 4th Avenue.
Police said the animal fell out of an open third floor window, and was neither moving nor aggressive when found.
Police and animal control officers were called, and the building landlord contacted the caiman's owner.
The owner rushed home and took the animal to the vet.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=c437c9e2-8610-40ca-9b00-429de0c2c636

NEWS 1130 (Vancouver, British Columbia) 28 June 06 AWOL alligator inspires call for pet bylaw (Jim Goddard)
The escape of a five foot hissing Caiman alligator in Kitsilano yesterday has the Vancouver Humane Society calling on the city to bring in a bylaw banning the possession and sale of exotic pets. The police say besides the mini-alligator, the 20-year-old owner had 32 other exotic critters, ranging from spiny tailed lizards to a snail eating snake.
Debra Probert from the Vancouver Humane Society says a small apartment is not a suitable home for animals that need special care. "Even if these animals have been bred in capitivity, they have evolved over thousands of years to a very specific set of environmental circumstances that can not be met in captivity," says Probert.
City Council says the earliest they'll debate an exotic pet bylaw is this fall.
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20060628_171017_6804