British Columbia—March 16, 2002
CANADIAN REPTILE OWNERS COALITION CALLS FOR CITY COUNCILS TO STOP UNECESSARY BANNING OF HARMLESS EXOTIC ANIMALS
BC City councils have made an effort to ban the keeping, selling and educational demonstration of harmless exotic animals. The Canadian Reptile Owner's Coalition (CROC) regards the bylaws created as completely unacceptable.
In the last few years the communities of BC have increasingly fallen to this exotic animal bylaw, which has elicited a flood of negative public reaction amongst reptile keepers. CROC representatives have witnessed statements, from the hundreds of people that have expressed extreme concern, disgust and anger and found the blatant disregard for the opinion of reptile keepers appalling. Many are outraged that they are being misrepresented by certain animal activists, and now some city council members, as animal abusers, simply because they keep alternative pets. CROC will not stand by and watch a hobby enjoyed by tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, across the country, be destroyed and it’s enthusiasts slandered in such ways any longer.
This bylaw is flawed in such a way that it completely fails to attain the objectives for which it was created. It was meant to protect the public from animals that could be potentially dangerous and yet its list of animals leaves off many potentially dangerous animals. Yet it also includes many animals that are completely harmless and those that have been bred in captivity for so many generations that they cannot be called anything other than domestic. It has also been claimed that the supporters of this bylaw seek to protect animals that are in danger of being kept poorly and abandoned by uneducated owners. Why is it then that the number one exotic animal seen in shelters is conspicuously missing from the list?
In these times of economic hardship such bylaws are disastrous blows to businesses that are embedded in the exotic animal community. There is a huge network of businesses that will be affected beyond pet stores. These are quality breeders, equipment wholesalers, vivarium design and supply companies, reptile food suppliers etc. etc. What will these businesses do when reptiles become illegal? What will people do when their pets become illegal? No caring reptile owner would consign his or her beloved pet to the fate of a shelter. Reptile keeping will become an underground hobby--the bylaws won't stop it. How will they get veterinary care then? How will they get the supplies needed to properly care for their pets? Reptiles will still end up abandoned or kept by the ignorant and then who would admit to the shelters to being capable of fostering the animal? Nobody could adopt it so it will be shuffled around and probably die a miserable death even if placed in a public facility. Many public facilities for exotic animals are unfit for captive maintenance of reptiles. Many have more animals than they can maintain and this results in improper and inhumane conditions. Individual, educated reptile keepers often do a far better job than these facilities.
Cities do not need to create bylaws that specifically target exotic animals. They simply need to institute measures that control potentially dangerous animals whether they be pit bulls or pythons and they need to make use of their SPCA's and demand that the animal investigators have the basic knowledge of exotic animals needed to protect them from abuse! A volunteer committee could be formed of members of local exotic societies to advise city officials and animal investigators when questions arise concerning exotic animals on which they need a more educated opinion. It seems however that exotic keepers are deemed too much of a minority for cities to bother doing something which requires thought and a little time.
CROC is calling for all reptile keepers to band together under its banner and give these city officials a true measure of the strength of our numbers. While we agree that it is important that not just anybody can keep a tiger in his or her back yard this bylaw attacks much more than just that. It attacks our freedom to choose alternative pets harmless and not harmless alike! If we do not stand up and fight back now we will lose our hobby forever. Don't let them call you an animal abuser. Don't let them take your beloved pets.
To find out what you can do contact the CROC representatives:
Amanda Fenrick, amandaf@shaw.ca
Chris Richardson, pazuzus@telusplanet.net
G. A. Christian Bilou, toirtis@shaw.ca
SCALES Zoo, Ryan@Scaleszoo.com
Or visit our website at http://kingsnake.ca/croc