JOURNAL SENTINEL (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) 30 April 04 Alligator query prompts ordinance - Call about pet, other incidents lead Raymond toward exotic-animal ban (Megan Twohey)
Town of Raymond: A brush with a man who recently considered moving his alligator from Milwaukee to the Raymond area has prompted the Town Board to call for the creation of an ordinance banning exotic animals.
Raymond and Dover are the only municipalities in Racine County that have no ordinance of this kind, said Jody Halladay, Racine County's humane officer.
Without such an ordinance, there is nothing stopping residents from owning alligators and other wild animals, which can be difficult to maintain and dangerous to release, Halladay said. If they escape or are let go by an owner, some wild animals could die or attack people.
That's what happened in Kansasville in August 2000 when Jacquelyn T. Thacker's monkey smashed through a porch wall and escaped. The monkey attacked a resident and a postal worker before being captured by police.
"Dover had said, 'We want the monkey gone,' " Halladay said. "But it had no ordinance. So I said, 'I can't help you.' "
Although no one was seriously injured in the Kansasville incident, exotic animals can pose a threat to public health.
Monkeypox, a rare viral disease, was seen only in central and western Africa until last summer, when a Wisconsin girl was diagnosed with the disease after being bitten by an infected prairie dog. More than 70 people in six states were infected from the outbreak.
The Milwaukee man called Halladay about six weeks ago and said he was interested in moving his alligator to an address in Norway that first appeared to be in Raymond. After checking, Halladay determined that the alligator would have been allowed in Raymond but not in Norway.
Upon learning that it could be home to such a resident, Norway's Town Board requested that the town attorney craft an ordinance banning exotic animals, said Karie Torkilsen, the town's clerk. Supervisor Stan Bugnacki said he was motivated by a recent call from someone who said her daughter had been attacked by a monkey.
The ordinance, which was discussed by the Town Board Tuesday night, is using language provided by the county's humane society, Torkilsen said, though neither she nor Bugnacki could say what specific animals it would prohibit.
Despite the episode with the runaway monkey, Dover's Town Board has yet to pass an ordinance banning wild animals.
Town Chairman Thomas Lembcke said Thursday that the board has twice made attempts to craft a prohibition since the incident but with no success. Making the task difficult are African long-horned cattle and a camel owned by town residents.
"The monkey prompted considerable discussion, but we didn't know how to prohibit some animals and not others," Lembcke said. "We could never come to a meeting of the minds on how African long-horned cattle were OK, but a monkey was not."
Alligator query prompts ordinance