Reptile & Amphibian Forums

NC exotic pet law expansion heads to Perdue

The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C.
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People who own pythons, crocodiles and some types of alligators would have to keep them in sturdy enclosures with a lock according to legislation awaiting Gov. Beverly Perdue's signature.

The Senate gave unanimous final legislative approval Wednesday to the bill that also requires owners to alert police if one of these reptiles escape.

The owner would face a misdemeanor if a friend or stranger dies or suffers a life-threatening injury from the reptile and due care wasn't taken.

The measure builds on a 1949 law that focuses on poisonous
*[venomous] snakes. The change reflects increased ownership of exotic pets and their danger to humans.

Approval comes two weeks after a 2-year-old Florida girl died when she was strangled by a Burmese python missing from a home terrarium.

end article.

If I may speak freely here; there was word in the Fayetteville Observer for July 14, 2009 that the sponsor of this bill, Edward Jones was hoping to make any violation a felony. It is also mentioned that any subspecies or hybrid falls under the bill. Neither I agree with because to me a felony should fall under the pretense that it is done with intent. I'm no lawyer, that's just my opinion.
Secondly, there are keepers of dwarf burmese and dwarf retics. There is no threat from these subspecies, so why not make an exemption?
This is beginning to worry me. Despite the fact the USARK is based out of here and I know it has been active in this legislation with the keepers best interests in mind. I signed up with NCARK back in 2005. I support the ARK, I believe in the ARK, I trust the ARK, hell I'm a member. I just don't trust politicians.

*on a side note , I had to correct the article. it read "poisonous snakes". it should have read "venomous snakes". you can eat 'em I'm always correcting people on this, just a peeve of mine.

Thanks for posting this. I live in NC and had no idea this was going on. As usual the press release is imprecise (ie, "pythons" and nonsensical(ie, "some types of alligators." For anyone interested, here's the actual text of the bill:

http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/Senate/HTML/S307v2.html

Thanks,
Ed

>>NC exotic pet law expansion heads to Perdue
>>
>>
>>The Associated Press
>>RALEIGH, N.C.
>>ADVERTISEMENT
>>
>>People who own pythons, crocodiles and some types of alligators would have to keep them in sturdy enclosures with a lock according to legislation awaiting Gov. Beverly Perdue's signature.
>>
>>The Senate gave unanimous final legislative approval Wednesday to the bill that also requires owners to alert police if one of these reptiles escape.
>>
>>The owner would face a misdemeanor if a friend or stranger dies or suffers a life-threatening injury from the reptile and due care wasn't taken.
>>
>>The measure builds on a 1949 law that focuses on poisonous
>>*[venomous] snakes. The change reflects increased ownership of exotic pets and their danger to humans.
>>
>>Approval comes two weeks after a 2-year-old Florida girl died when she was strangled by a Burmese python missing from a home terrarium.
>>
>>end article.
>>
>>If I may speak freely here; there was word in the Fayetteville Observer for July 14, 2009 that the sponsor of this bill, Edward Jones was hoping to make any violation a felony. It is also mentioned that any subspecies or hybrid falls under the bill. Neither I agree with because to me a felony should fall under the pretense that it is done with intent. I'm no lawyer, that's just my opinion.
>>Secondly, there are keepers of dwarf burmese and dwarf retics. There is no threat from these subspecies, so why not make an exemption?
>>This is beginning to worry me. Despite the fact the USARK is based out of here and I know it has been active in this legislation with the keepers best interests in mind. I signed up with NCARK back in 2005. I support the ARK, I believe in the ARK, I trust the ARK, hell I'm a member. I just don't trust politicians.
>>
>>*on a side note , I had to correct the article. it read "poisonous snakes". it should have read "venomous snakes". you can eat 'em I'm always correcting people on this, just a peeve of mine.

I knew about this, just got the update when I read yeserdays paper. Figured there would be something on the ARK site or here. I'm usually the last to know on stuff like this, even though I try to keep my ear to the ground.
When I tried to post it today all I could find was todays AP release from Raleigh. The ARK had sent e-mails back in May in regards to it moving through the Senate and onward towards the House.
I'm not gonna trust the media too much on this, I'll wait and see what Andrew says. He'll know more than some reporter. I only hope the book is closed on this one and not left open to add other species to the list at a later date. We really need to cover our @$% on this one.

The Bill was written by USARK and the Policy Regulation & Trade Committee of NC Partners in Amphibian & Reptile Conservation. Senator Edward Jones was the sponsor. For the record, Senator Jones is an honorable man. He and I have worked for almost a year to get this legislation through.

The good news is this: anyone responsible who wants to work with "Certain Reptiles" (big 5, venomous and crocodilians), can continue to do so. There are caging standards, safety protocols and escape prevention plans. There are NO PERMITS, NO REGISTRATION, NO FEES and NO MICRO CHIPPING... NO KIDDING! Violation of statute is a misdemeanor. This is a good piece of legislation written by Herpers, for Herpers. It actually sets up a framework that ensures your ability to work freely with animals that AR groups have been getting completely BANNED in one state after another for about 10 years now. There are no burdensome provision that would inhibit the keeping or trade in these animals. That is why we wrote it.

We will be doing a full press release soon.
-----
Andrew Wyatt
President USARK

That all sounds good to me.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer