From Herpdigest.com
Info on recent legislation that actually singled out hognoses from other rear-fanged venomous snakes! See all the way at the bottom
7) Exotic Animals Face Ban In Kentucky
By Elizabeth Troutman
Kentucky Post staff reporter 6/30/05
Wanda Wanner never wanted an elephant or rhinoceros for her small petting zoo in Campbell
County.
She was looking to purchase a lemur, a small exotic monkey, for her 51-acre farm before she
found out the state was banning private individuals from owning primates and dozens of other
exotic animals.
"It was just a mouth-open reaction when I read some of the things on there," she said of the
list, which was adopted June 14 by a legislative subcommittee when it amended Title 301 of
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife regulations.
The ban on owning exotic animals will go into effect July 12 unless the Interim Natural
Resources and Agriculture Committee objects.
Wanner's petting zoo has domestic animals - goats, cattle, kittens among them - but she also
owns a water buffalo and was hoping to add the lemur and perhaps other exotic pets. She thinks
some of the more than 60 types of animals on the list are harmless and others - like elephants
and rhinoceroses - are unnecessary to mention.
"It was such random things," she said. "A hit and pick here and there, it didn't have any
research there."
State Sen. Dick Roeding, Lakeside Park, co-chairman of the subcommittee, said the amendment
holds the same power as a law once it is passed by the Interim Agriculture and Natural Resource
Committee.
Jim Lane, wildlife program coordinator at the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the
initiative intends to protect the health and welfare of Kentuckians.
"The public health risk was too high not to act," he said. "Private individuals aren't trained
and don't have the proper facilities to own these pets."
Lane said the Department of Fish and Wildlife started pushing for statewide regulation of exotic
pets in the mid-1990s. A group of concerned wildlife professionals in the state expressed
interest in the initiative in December and backed Fish and Wildlife in moving a proposal
forward.
The state is not interested in collecting exotic animals, so the amendment includes a
grandfather clause that protects pets from being taken away by the state. Owners may keep exotic
animals until they die, but may not purchase new ones.
April Truitt, director and founder of the Primate Rescue Center in Nicholasville, testified
before the committee that monkeys are only good pets when they are extremely young.
"The image you have in your mind is an infant," she said of the Capuchin monkey, the most common
pet monkey. "They spend the vast majority of their lives being unwanted. They are cute and
cuddly for a brief period of time."
The subcommittee also heard testimony supporting the ban from representatives of the Newport
Aquarium, the Louisville Zoo and the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The motion was approved
unanimously.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife defines an exotic animal as a "terrestrial wildlife species which has
never naturally existed in the wild in Kentucky."
Pam Lyons-Gromen, a husbandry director at Newport Aquarium, said she receives hundreds of calls
every year from owners of exotic animals wanting to donate reptiles to the aquarium.
"We really got involved because of issues with venomous reptiles," she said. "It's from a public
safety standpoint."
Lyons-Gromen said a handful of upset monkey owners attended the meeting to object to the
amendment.
Dan Evans, director of the Kenton Country Animal Shelter, said Boone and Kenton counties
outlawed exotic pets several years ago. Covington banned exotic animals in 2003, imposing $250
to $500 fines for those who violate the ordinance.
PROHIBITED PETS, WILDLIFE
Exotic animals on list of prohibited domestic pets:
Birds — Baya weaver; blackbird; cape sparrow; cowbird, cuckoo (except native species), European
blackbird; Madagascar weaver; monk or Quaker parakeet; sky lark; weaver finch; mute swan.
Mammals — fieldfare; flying fox or fruit bat; Gambian giant-pouched rat; jack rabbit; prairie
dog; raccoon dog; San Juan rabbit; slender-tailed meerkat; wild European rabbit.
Inherently dangerous wildlife includes:
Mammals — African buffalo; bear; cheetah; clouded leopard; elephant; hippopotamus; honey badger;
hyenas; lions, jaguars, leopards and tigers; old world badger; primates; rhinoceros; snow
leopard; wolverine.
Reptiles — Gila monsters or beaded lizard; adder or viper; alligator or caiman; sea snake;
venomous rear-fanged species (except for hognose snake); cobra, mamba or coral snake; crocodile.
(Editor - The bill passed and has became law)
-----
"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
Governor George W. Bush, Jr.
"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)
