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by tigers9 on April 15, 2009
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http://www.bgdailynews.com/articles/2009/04/15/news/news1.txt
Exotic pet dilemma
Wildlife regulation bill causing concern among pet store owners, who say change would put them out of business
By JIM GAINES, The Daily News, jgaines@bgdailynews.com/783-3242
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:48 AM CDT
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Photo by Hunter Wilson/Daily News
Eugene Helton, owner of Pet Ave. in Bowling Green, holds a Betta fish Tuesday at the store.
A wildlife regulation bill now in a congressional committee is ruffling feathers, fur and scales among local pet dealers, and if passed could impact a legion of pet owners here and nationwide.
House Resolution 669 would forbid private sale and ownership of most “exotic” animals - not just truly unusual creatures, but saltwater aquarium fish, turtles and lizards, many birds, even hamsters and guinea pigs.
“It would be pretty much everything,” said Amy Helton, owner of Pet Ave. on Scottsville Road. She pointed to her wall of fish tanks, and enclosures for birds and reptiles. The bill would destroy not only her business, but that of the breeders from whom she buys, and the myriad companies which make specialty pet products, Helton said.
“With the economy the way it is, do we really want to lose a lot more jobs?” she said.
The bill would require the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to judge how risky all nonnative species might be based on how likely they are to get loose, breed or spread disease. There’s a short list of creatures already considered safe: cats, dogs, cattle, chickens, horses, geese and ducks, goats, goldfish, pigs, domesticated rabbits or sheep, or any other that the Interior secretary decides are “common and clearly domesticated.”
Animals not on that “safe” list couldn’t be moved between states, owned, bred or sold. There are exemptions for medical research, zoos and aquariums.
Most other animals would be up to the Interior department’s judgment, and could eventually be cleared for private ownership - but making that decision could take perhaps two years, according to a timeline incorporated in the bill.
That’s raising fears that pets currently kept would be illegal in the interim, and that many pet stores could be driven out of business long before their customary stock is again approved for sale.
Local reptile breeder Scott Petty said he learned of the bill on reptile enthusiasts online forums. It’s opposed by the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council and the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers, but Petty said he knows of no other local concern about the bill thus far.
The bill is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam. Her office did not return calls seeking comment.
Nate Hodson, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, said the bill has been brought to his attention.
“We have heard from a number of constituents on that issue, and we will certainly take their concerns into consideration ... if it emerges from committee for a floor vote,” Hodson said.
The bill is now in the Natural Resources Committee, he said. Hodson cautioned that should the legislation reach the House floor, it may have undergone substantial changes in committee.
Holton said banning many “exotic” species from most of the country is pointless because those animals self-evidently couldn’t survive in temperate climates if they got loose. Many that the bill would ban - at least temporarily - have been in the pet trade for many years without causing any problem, and known problem species are already banned, she said.
Holton said she doesn’t oppose regulation of the animal trade; she favors permits for ownership of large snakes, for example, but thinks local wildlife authorities are more likely to make quick and sensible choices about which species should be allowed in varying environments.
“I think an individual state is better at deciding what’s right for its area,” she said.
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