Well, after many months of waiting to be scheduled, and widespread reports that the Connecticut animal ban would not reach the House or Senate floors during the current session, guess what?
In a last-minute rush, on June 3, this bill passed both House and Senate - in a greatly reduced format. In no small part, this was due to Andrew Wyatt and USArk, who reminded the committee sponsoring the bill that:
A) The bill would ban an awful lot of animals (including, but not limited to reptiles) which have never injured anyone who wasn't directly working with them, or who wasn't exposed by someone working with them, while leaving a great many animals (including some with powerful lobbies) on and in the streets, forests and farms of Connecticut which _had_ caused such injuries, and that;
B) The Reptile Nation can raise one heck of a ruckus, and would be perfectly happy to make the lives of legislators and their assistants "interesting" with a major grassroots campaign.
Andrew had been in communication with the sponsoring committee, and like many of us, had been waiting to hear when the bill would be scheduled for hearing by the full house. He was alerted on June 4th that the bill would be coming up for a hearing - on the 3rd. On that date, the bill passed both House and Senate, but now only bans wild felines, wild canines, bears of all sorts and primates in the family Hominidae (great apes).
This provision:
"[No] (a) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, no person shall import or introduce into the state, or possess or liberate therein, any live fish, wild bird, wild mammal, reptile, amphibian or invertebrate unless such person has obtained a permit therefor from the commissioner. [, provided nothing in this section shall be construed to require such permit for any primate species that weighs not more than fifty pounds at maturity that was imported or possessed in the state prior to October 1, 2003. ] Such permit may be issued at the discretion of the commissioner under such regulations as the commissioner may prescribe."
remains in the bill, and gives me some cause for concern.
The bill was heavily pushed by Born Free U.S.A. and the Animal Protection Institute.
Big thanks to Andrew for helping the residents of Connecticut - like myself - to hold onto the right to keep big constrictors, crocodilians, spiders & scorpions, dart frogs and hots - at least so far as those rights already existed. I may never decide to keep any of those animals, but it's nice to know I can! (And I do love the dart frogs . . .)
~Bruce, in CT
