I think that you are making some HUGE assumptions amigo, which in reality will most likely never come to fruition. From your comment, as well as others that you have made here on MFK, you appear to be very anti-big brother, and anti-government. Yes? I'm fine with that, certainly there are some valid reasons for both, and you and I have both been around the block long enough to understand that one should never blindly believe anyone that is attempting to sell you a bag of goods - but unlike you I am not reading this the same as you are. Not even close. Corydoras won't be on a hit list, and neither will most tropical species, including those collected from the wild. The city of Winnipeg appears to be attempting to appease the majority of people living in the city. Is this not how cities apply their policies, from speed limits, to noise bylaws? Hopefully their decision makers apply common sense, while balancing what is fair, and safe, for all parties concerned. If we are only focusing on the animals, and not the owners, potentially I see some good coming from this.
Anti-big brother and anti-government? I'd call that a generally fair assessment.
Have I forgotten what city life is like? I don't think so; I go into Winnipeg a couple times a month, only when I
must...and often enough to keep reminding me how much I dislike the notion of living in a city. And Winnipeg residents do actually think of their home as a city, although after living in and around Toronto for many years I consider Winnipeg practically a hamlet by comparison. Still, it's big enough to experience virtually all the unpleasant effects of the metropolitan lifestyle, including an overblown idea of how important it is to govern the unwashed masses with a heavy hand.
And again, once this type of control takes a grip on the one city, it will spread to other centres and eventually to the federal stage. Canadian politicians are always competing to demonstrate how "woke" they are; it just wouldn't do to let the rest of the world think that we are not on the cutting edge of social evolution. So, although I doubt that this bill would pass as it stands, in its entirety...but parts will, and then other parts will follow, and...you get the picture.
Even if, as some will surely say, it isn't enforced overzealously, the simple fact that something technically illegal is tolerated...for now...doesn't mean that the taste for enforcement won't change in the future.
Now, as for huge assumptions that will never come to fruition...well, here's a link to the proposed changes:
It's a long read, and covers a lot of territory, not all of it bad. For those not ready to slog through it all, I will show a couple screenshots of the parts most relevant to members of this forum:
That's it; those are the mammals that are allowed to be kept.
How about reptiles? Here's the whole list of what can be kept:
No turtles of any kind, no large constrictors, no monitors, no tegus, no iguanas, not even an anole...and yet the Collared and Leopard lizards made the cut. That makes no sense whatsoever...
Birds? Who needs birds? I mean, besides chickens...
The bird list shown above is the second of two pages; I didn't post the first page because it is simply a list of small finches, and frankly, assembling this post is a lot of work for a technoplegic. But how about that list of parrots? Budgies, cockatiels, and...oops, nothing else...that's the entire list of parrots that can be kept under this planned legislation. That should go over really well...
And now, most importantly for MFK, the fish page:
No wild caught fish of any kind...no "wide-ranging and migratory" species (this is so vague and arbitrary that it could be interpreted to include virtually anything)...no fish that have the
potential to exceed 14 inches in length...or, in other words, no oscars or other large cichlids, no aros, none of the big cats, no tinfoil barbs or tri-colour sharks, no other species around which the MFK forum is centered...no invertebrates outside of feeders, which means no corals, crabs, shrimp, anemones, snails, crayfish...no axolotls or clawed frogs...I mean, if I were looking for an investment I would be looking to the nano-tank market right about now.
So...am I really making huge assumptions...or even little ones? That is the official list of allowable aquarium inhabitants to which Winnipeg aquarists will be limited should this proposed legislation pass. Astonishingly, big fish keepers will be hung out to dry, no grandfathering is mentioned anywhere...but somehow, the bane of serious aquarists...the goldfish bowl...is still completely acceptable.
Honestly, I consider myself fortunate to love dogs; they are so firmly entrenched in human society that nobody...not even Canadian politicians...would dare try to take them away from us. Just imagine what would happen if we humans had not been domesticated by dogs (not a typo...) in dim pre-history. Then today, some enterprising animal lover came up with the suggestion that we should take a large, intelligent, social predator and keep it in our homes with our kids. He'd either be forced to plead insanity or would be sent to prison.
Rant over...at least, for now.
