Canis lupus hominis

HR669 will ban the importation of  many exotic animals, the breeding of such animals, and the transportation of those animals across state lines.

I live in a state where most non-native wildlife can be kept as pets, but native wildlife cannot, unless the DNR gives you a permit. Currently, you cannot get a permit for a red or gray fox, a skunk, or a raccoon. This ban includes wildlife rehab people, who have to get a permit to do their work. However, the DNR gives no new permits for wildlife rehabilitation facilities.  Thus, we wind up with cases like this one.

Now, I once caught lizards, newts, and tadpoles as a boy, which I kept in my own little menagerie. These animals were released into the wild. The fence lizards and five-lined skinks took to my parents’ property quite well. Today, one can still find thriving colonies of both species there.

This “exotic pet-keeping” allowed me a chance to learn a little natural history on my own. I got to understand the animals as they are, not a vain abstraction gleaned from watching them on the television.

As an adult, I read that keeping all sorts of pets is almost a unversal human endeavor. Even hunter-gatherer peoples–so-called “primitives”– kept pets. The Australian natives kept dingoes and other native fauna, just as those of the Amazon still keep giant otters, crab-eating foxes, bush dogs, tapirs, and various wild birds.

This bill was proposed because of something else I’ve written about– invasive species. I have written about the arrival of large Burmese pythons in southern Florida, where they grapple with alligators for supremacy of the swamps. These snakes have been purchased as casual pets. It is only when their owners realize that they are too much snake to properly care for, that they do a “born free” and let the snakes go.

I makes sense, to the politician, that the best way to prevent potential ecological problems is to ban these animals.

However, such bans are often subject to the law of unintended consequences. I seriously doubt, with all the problems that this country is facing, that state governments and the federal government are going to devote vast sums of money and human resources to fully implement the law. It simply isn’t the major priority that we have right now.

Because the law will not be fully enforced, it is likely that people will still keep these pets. The wildlife smugglers will also still keep importing them. And a whole industry will be outside the law. This is actually terrible for animal welfare. Smugglers will not ensure that animals will arrive in this country in good condition, and their owners will already be deemed “outlaws” or were outside the good standing of the law anyway.

Because the owners of these animals will be outside the law, they will not seek veterinary care for their charges, and because there are no legitimate owners of these animals, the likelihood of them being released into the ecosystem is probably increased.

Now, don’t get me wrong, released exotic pets are a major threat to the ecosystem. I also think that some animals are simply too dangerous to be kept as pets. I don’t think the average person should be keeping tigers in the backyard or king cobras in the basement. Even these big constrictors are capable of killing a person.

My solution is for states to have a tiered licensing system for pet potential exotic pet owners. This solution would ensure that only people who were truly qualified and responsible got to keep these animals. It would regulate the animal business, and it would be far better for the welfare of the animals, as well as useful in preventing the release of these animals into the ecosystem.

Further, I think that reptile fanciers need to better educate the public about their animals, including what it really takes to care for them properly and requiring that no member of their societies release such animals into the wild or sell them to uninformed people.

Banning the keeping of exotic species sounds good politically, but if ever implemented, it would be a disaster. I know that Australia, Hawaii, and other areas with very sensitive ecology have very strict rules on what animals can be brought in. However, those rules were implemented long before the real demand for exotics took off. In this country, all that will happen is the demand will go underground and will ultimately cause problems for both the ecology and the welfare of the animals.

I really hope this law doesn’t pass as it is now. I do think that we do need better regulations on pet keeping, but banning the import of exotic species is a bit draconian and doomed to failure.

Please click here for more information on the proposed bill.