COMMUNITY PRESS (Stirling, Ontario) 08 September 10 Pair says they will fight town on exotic animal bylaw (Megan Abraham)
Stirling-Rawdon: Darryl Bailey and Franek Jednorog say they won't go down without a fight if they're prohibited from moving to the municipality because they own exotic animals.
The Toronto residents say they were looking forward to building a new home in Stirling-Rawdon and moving from the city to the country, where Bailey's family lives, but they've hit a snag. Their 15 pets, including scorpions, snakes and tarantulas cannot be brought to municipality due to the exotic animal bylaw.
"We're passionate about them," Bailey said. "Both Franek and I have been interested in reptiles since we were children."
Bailey said they started their collection of exotic pets started five years ago with the purchase of their first scorpion.
"We researched it, we made sure we could properly take care of it," he said. "We have a filing cabinet full of information."
For now, keeping exotic pets is a hobby, but Bailey said their long-term goal is to eventually have a small snake breeding facility.
"We're looking to the future — five or 10 years from now," Bailey said.
The type of snakes Bailey owns — pythons and boa constrictors — are not venomous or large enough to be dangerous, he added, and can fetch $1,000 to $7,000 on the market.
"We aren't ever going to consider venomous snakes. All the of tanks we bought are professional grade tanks — the kind they use at pet stores — and all the snakes can be handled and are friendly."
Bailey said he's approached the municipality twice about bringing his animals to the township — the first time, he dropped off an extensive information package, to which he received a firm response.
"They said 'no.' They said they'd never granted an exception and the neighbours wouldn't want it."
The second time, he and Jednorog arranged to make a delegation at the Protection of Persons and Property Committee meeting, where they presented the committee with a lengthy Power Point presentation.
The response, Bailey said, wasn't what they were hoping to hear.
"The mayor actually came right out and said 'you won't be keeping snakes in this township as long as I live here'," he said.
Bailey said other members of the committee "didn't really get a chance to voice their opinion," adding the mayor's statement "shows he's uninformed."
After researching the exotic animal by-law, Bailey said, he found that both water buffalo and alpacas are listed in the bylaw falling under the category of "artiodactylus ungulates."
But when he asked the committee about the exemptions, Bailey said, he was told both water buffalo and alpacas are acceptable.
"Council doesn't even know what's on the list," he said.
Bailey said in the last 20 years, according to his research, there have been very few incidents with captive snakes. Any that have been reported are incidents in which "the keepers themselves have been bitten, by 15 to 30 foot snakes."
Most of the misconceptions comes from lack of education, he added.
"A lot of people think of snakes as horrendous animals — man killers. No, they don't think like a cat or a dog, but I have a genuine connection with them."
The committee passed a resolution to have clerk Kevin Heath investigate the bylaw and report back to council. A final decision will be made at the Sept. 20 meeting of council.
But Bailey said he and Jednorog are prepared to go to court over the issue.
"We don't really want to go that route, but if that's what it comes to, we will," he said. "If you're able to take care of the animal, why shouldn't you have it? We have two cats as well, and regular fish — we have a lot of kids in this house."
The mayor did not return a request for comment by press time.
Pair says they will fight town on exotic animal bylaw