That's the idea behind having strict enough regulations in order to deter those who are not dedicated and responsible enough from acquiring these animals: The government makes it nearly impossible for anyone who isn't 100% committed to giving these animals proper care to get the permits to purchase one of these animals. It's more of the, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," mindset rather than the, "Everything is banned," or "Do whatever," mindsets that lead to more trouble. For example, there are a mere 36 people in PA who have permits for private possession of exotic mammals, 12 people with dealer/propagator licenses, and 126 people with permits for displaying these animals in wildlife parks and similar attractions. The state government knows everything from who these people trained with right down to where these animals will be kept and under what conditions; there's no free-for-all, "Do whatever you please," situation as there was in OH, and it's worked pretty well for us.
The Ohio situation. Read- this may effect us all
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That's the idea behind having strict enough regulations in order to deter those who are not dedicated and responsible enough from acquiring these animals: The government makes it nearly impossible for anyone who isn't 100% committed to giving these animals proper care to get the permits to purchase one of these animals. It's more of the, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," mindset rather than the, "Everything is banned," or "Do whatever," mindsets that lead to more trouble. For example, there are a mere 36 people in PA who have permits for private possession of exotic mammals, 12 people with dealer/propagator licenses, and 126 people with permits for displaying these animals in wildlife parks and similar attractions. The state government knows everything from who these people trained with right down to where these animals will be kept and under what conditions; there's no free-for-all, "Do whatever you please," situation as there was in OH, and it's worked pretty well for us.
I think it's unreasonable to expect all animal keepers to stand up for the more extreme animal keepers (lions, tigers, bears, primates, poisonous snakes, invasives, etc.). I don't put myself in the same category as these folks because I have a few (...well more than a few) fish tanks full of cichlids.
Establishing and running a regulatory process of determining "fitness" or other criteria to be allowed to keep / breed / sell "exotic" animals will likely cost a lot more than just banning these animals outside of specific (professional / zoological) settings. I'm not willing to spend my tax dollars on building the beauracracy needed to do this.
Matt
Establishing and running a regulatory process of determining "fitness" or other criteria to be allowed to keep / breed / sell "exotic" animals will likely cost a lot more than just banning these animals outside of specific (professional / zoological) settings. I'm not willing to spend my tax dollars on building the beauracracy needed to do this.
Matt
here here. i couldn't agree more!
Who is to say this won't happen again somewhere else? and all for what? some crazy guy that wanted to keep these animals changed his mind and decided to release these animals to their death?
Ridiculous.
Keeping these animals should be banned, and if they use a little common sense they will see fish can pose nothing near the threat these animals can if released, so no normal person wanting to keep exotic fish will be affected. End of.
Some people would view the more hardcore fish keepers as being in the wrong just as some people view those who keep "dangerous" animals as being in the wrong; it's all a matter of perspective. I still think that anyone who keeps primates is in the wrong (even if they are dedicated and responsible) yet I'm not going to force my personal opinions on them because I do not like the fact that they keep these animals.
You might view fishes as not being dangerous, but the introduction of some species has caused far more problems than these "dangerous" animals have. Think about the situation with the Asian carp in the Mississippi River; those fishes started out in ponds as someone's pet and weren't viewed as dangerous yet look how that turned out.
Eliminating one segment of the animal keeping hobby only serves to weaken the rest of the hobby and makes it all the easier to have an outright ban on all exotic animals ranging from big cats to cichlids to hedgehogs to vipers. Some states already have this bureaucracy in place, and said bureaucracy is directly funded through the permits and such that are required to keep these animals.
United, we are strong; divided, we fall.
Like I said agree. Or disagree, stand by and do nothing we will be next. No segment of the pet industry, maybe aside from cats or dogs, is strong enough to stand alone and fight. If we don't defend each other now when it comes our turn there won't be enough opposition.. don't think think your cichlids are invunerable to this type of thing, some are already established exotics in florida
Exactly. It's hard to get sympathy for one's particular preferred group of animals if you've just sold out another group.
Jack seemed extremely disturbed by the whole ordeal but in terms of facts he paints a picture like the man was immune and local government couldn't touch him. He has been sadly misinformed and the local authorities are to blame if any one is for this man having what he had. I do agree with what he's doing the law he speaks of is going to do good things I'm sure and doesn't sound like the ban all stuff approach that we feared, assuming he has the law right.
The problem is that he's allied with the HSUS which advocates for the banning of keeping all exotic animals with the end goal of banning the keeping of all animals. People respect him and may come to do the same with the HSUS by association.
Another problem is that many people (probably over 50,000 by now) have signed that petition that I posted about earlier that called for banning keeping all exotic animals in OH yet said petition lacked any specific wording on exactly what animals to ban; if lawmakers listen to the people who signed the petition and the signatories do not wake up and realize what they've done, then a law that actually banned the keeping of all exotic animals in OH could easily come to pass solely because people get all worked up and then make rash decisions without actually stepping back to look over the situation.
Most people would consider stingrays, arowanas, etc. as exotic pets. Ask some of the California members how they feel about not being able to own rays because the state decided to ban them. What about Asian Aros and Snakeheads?
