Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When it comes to baby alligators, don’t forget, they grow up.

The Town of Beloit recently amended its wild and exotic animals ordinance to exclude residents from housing specific types of animals the town considers to be unfit to be domesticated.

Among the animals prohibited under the ordinance are: potbellied pigs, snakes, alligators, deer, elk, wolverines and ostriches, among others. The ordinance generally covers any animal over 25 pounds not considered native to Wisconsin, said town code enforcement officer Dave Garetson.

The language in the ordinance became an issue recently when a dispute arose between residents over the housing of potbellied pigs, said town administrator Robert Museus.

Though the town attempted to intervene and have the pigs removed, it lost its court case because the previous ordinance did not specify which animals were prohibited, Gareston said. Now that the ordinance has been amended, the pig owners have since been required to find new homes for the animals, he said.

“We created a definition that basically follows the state statute,” Museus said.

There have been animals more exotic than potbellied pigs taking up residence in the Town of Beloit before. Garetson said the original ordinance was put into place when a resident tried to house a full-grown lion.

“He bought it in Texas at a bar. There was no ordinance, so he just tied it up in the garage,” he said.
www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2010/10/20/news/local_news/news2006.txt

Eric,

All animals over 25 lbs not native to Wisconsin? OK, but there should be equal application of the "ban" not selectively to certain segments of society as in a ban for the citizens but exemptions for the zoos & academia (government approved "factions" or special interests)...

http://www.wizooassociation.com/index.html

Imagine that.

Later,
Jim.
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CSRAJim

The WI Zoo Assoc. is a private organization and all the member zoos are privately owned and not part of any government unit. I beleive they are also not AZA affiliated.

Beloit and Janesville are the two largest cities in Rock County WI and both cities have schizophrenic animal laws and policys, in my experience. I sell a lot of my reptiles to pet stores all over the state and Rock Co. stores can display and sell any types of animals they want including big pythons, nile monitors, etc, however they are illegal for residents of Janesville (see discussion thread below about the escaped black-throated monitor that terrorized the city several weeks ago) and City (not town of) of Beloit residents to own. These laws probhibit all constricting snakes including corn snakes and such and any large reptile. The rationale is that these pet stores state that their customers are from all over the region, not just the cities they happen to be located in, and prohibiting them makes them noncompetitive and is an interference with commerce. These pet stores never ask purchasers if they are residents of the cities or refuse to sell prohibited animals to purchasers or warn them that they may be illegal. When an unsuspecting resident is discovered to be in possession of prohibited animals, enforcement is severe-AC accompanied by armed and threatening police trespass on the owners private property, usually without a warrant and impound the illegal animals and fine the owner around $400 for each count.

It wasnt clear in my previous post, but the pet stores I was discussing are located in the citys of Janesville and Beloit.

Several years ago the Beloit Memorial Hospital tried to hire me to bring reptiles to a Jurassic Park theme party. I asked them to send me written approval from the city government that this would be permitted. The city sent me a questionnaire with strange questions about my security precautions and measures to protect the public from harm . I sent back the questionaire with a photo of one of my Neodesha display cages with tortoises inside and an adult red tegu perched on top of the cage. On the form I wrote smart-ass answers such as, that my cages were secured with the high-quality black metal binder clips manufactured in Chinese prisons, as seen on the photo. In addition, the exhibit area was patrolled by several of these large carnivorous attack-trained guard-lizards that would promptly bite off the fingers of anyone attempting open cages and release animals. I also stated that in all of the years I have exhibited reptiles, only a few people have ever been attacked and killed by them. They issued a permit to allow me to bring reptiles to this party.