Reptile & Amphibian Forums

New Legislation expected to be introduced in the Senate soon will ban the sale of some exotic pets here in the commonwealth.

The question is, is there enough of a problem here that prompted this?

Apparently there is, in fact last year a man who runs a center to help exotic animals. Said this legislation needed to go through specifically about alligators he says he sees.
Senator Richard Alloway is expected to introduce a new bill that Jesse Rothacker says is long overdue. In Pennsylvania it's legal to buy pet alligators that start out tiny and end up huge.

The bill would amend Title 30 and make it illegal to buy or sell American alligators or venomous snakes.

In central pa the problem is worse than most think. Back in 2003 someone let an alligator loose in Harrisburg's Italian Lake, Zoo America later nursed it back to health.

And as for poisonous snakes like rattlesnakes, one bite could mean serious consequences. Rothacker who runs forgotten friends says most people have good intentions but not experience or the right habitat.

www.whptv.com/news/local/story/New-legislation-will-ban-some-exotic-pets/qXROcRmPEkK6y4MVhovp2g.cspx

I knew before I had heard that he (Jesse) was trying to put together something about micro-chipping and so forth, but now its just going to be a ban?

Thats pretty rotten...

I resent when one person thinks that they can act for the masses.
There are incredibly few incidences of snakebite in PA from captive animals, and rescuers never see all the well-kept crocodilians. There are plenty of female gators kept in homes, zoos, etc, in stock tanks that grow at an incredibly slow rate if kept correctly. Why do we need to penalize the responsible keeper for someone not doing right by their animal? We don't do that with domestic animals, and there are far more instances of abuse.
Who are we protecting: us from ourselves? Then lets start with cigarettes, liquor, motorcycles, guns ...you get my point.
How about just a few sane laws that we can all live with?
A little education maybe?
Lets just ban people from doing anything that has any risk of any kind of injury...and stop them from keeping any live animals at all...is that what we're heading towards?
Me, I'll keep my freedoms, thank you. There is no perfect society, and I don't need do-gooders making sweeping judgements about the lives of others.
Thanks for hearing my rant.
Best,
Steve Binnig

"Why do we need to penalize the responsible keeper for someone not doing right by their animal? We don't do that with domestic animals, and there are far more instances of abuse."

There are people (the animal rights crowd) trying to do that with domestics. I know there were some mandatory spay/neuter laws going around last year, I am not sure if they were passed or not though.

I think a huge part of the problem is that the "rescue people" see the negative side of thing, and because of this deem all people responsible, and they are often the strongest voices for regulation. Can you imagine if we let wither it was legal to have children or not up to the people who deal with abused children? Of course they wouldn't want other people to have them. I can understand where he is coming from to a degree, even if I completely disagree with it, but I do feel stabbed in the back when fellow herp keepers support & push these sorts of regulations.

In the current state of things, with exotics keepers being slammed across the nation, it does not take much to encourage a lawmaker to support laws or regulations that would make these creatures illegal. These geniuses that keep making headlines aren't helping either - like the Cobra incident in NJ. I still say that whole fiasco sounds fishy...

I know that many people purchase alligators here in PA, and they can be obtained easily and cheaply, especially at the many PA reptile shows. Many don't live long, or are given away, etc - Some are released. The same could be said for MANY other animals though, including exotics, and I wonder why (and if) American Alligators were singled out, and if other species of crocodilians will also be in that list (I can't imagine why an American Alligator would be illegal and a Nile Crocodile would be legal in this state?) along with other animals not mentioned in that article - I could see large varanids and other lizards, large constrictors, and so on being tacked on afterwards.

If this sort of thing goes through, it looks to be the beginning of the end of our current legal enjoyment of the hobby here in Pennsylvania.