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Anyone heard about supposed new law in WV???
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by DubVeeJames on November 17, 2005
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Ok... so I was at a pet store a few minutes ago and was talking to the girl who works there. She said a DNR guy came to talk to the owner earlier today. Supposedly he told her that she had to get rid of all the reptiles she had, within two weeks, because a new law outlaws the sale or keeping of any kind of reptile in WV. The girl said the owner was meetng with her lawyer to see if they couldn't do anything about it. She said pets that people already have will be illegal, no grandfathering in. Has anyone heard anything about this? Seems like it would have been pretty big news. I talked to DNR guy who gave a talk to our class 3 or 4 weeks ago and he told me not only were we allowed to own reptiles, but that it was legal to keep and import hots. He said they've never had any problems with them and as long as they don't they're not going to make or enforce any kind of laws. He actually kept coppers and timbers himself. I've talked to another guy that got in some trouble a while back for selling natives, he sent me some letters DNR sent him, but other than that I haven't been able to find a lot of info. Do you all know anything?
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RE: Anyone heard about supposed new law in WV???
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by LarryDFishel on November 18, 2005
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I haven't found anything about a new law that actually passed, but I found references to several bills over the last few years that would have made it impossible to keep almost anything.
I also see where someone who got into trouble in WV posted a copy of an opinion they got from DNR saying that all reptiles were considered "wildlife".
My guess is that that opinion is based on the following definition from the WV codes.
"Wildlife" means wild birds, wild animals, game and fur-bearing animals, fish (including minnows), reptiles, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans and all forms of aquatic life used as fish bait, whether dead or alive.
That was quite clearly NOT the intention of this definition. They oviously just left out the word "wild" rather than repeating it ten times. On the other hand, perhaps this interpretaion is exactly what the authors meant and knew the omission would slip through unnoticed.
Such a strict gramatical reading of this definition would also define frozen snapper on the grocery store shelf as "wildlife" (fish, dead).
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RE: Anyone heard about supposed new law in WV???
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by bush_viper17 on November 18, 2005
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dont people buy minnows to fish with at sporting goods stores? Fish at the grocery store? Lobsters at walmart?
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Anyone heard about supposed new law in WV???
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by DubVeeJames on November 18, 2005
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I talked to a DNR guy that has an office in our wildlife building. I guess the way the law is written it applies to native mammals, and was meant to mean native reptiles and amphibians...but there is a bill he said is going to be proposed that clarifies it and makes it ALL mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc. This is my understanding anyway. He said, "Its a good law, its designed to stop some of these awful diseases these exotic animals can carry that affect native wildlife and agriculture." He said if you want to have a pet all you have to do is get a permit for it through the DNR. Which is bullshit because no pet store is gonna be able to sell reptiles because theres no way they can get a permit for every single animal they sell. He also said there is no grandfather clause, if you have a reptile with no permit, even before the law, you have to get one. This guy wasn't with the law enforcement division and said he wasn't sure on it all though, I'm gonna call and see if I can find out exactly what is going on.
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