REVscene Automotive Forum - No more giraffes in the house as B.C. outlaws ownership of dangerous exotic animal

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No more giraffes in the house as B.C. outlaws ownership of dangerous exotic animals

Vancouver SunMarch 17, 2009 1:02 PM

Exotic animal bylaw means you won't be able to keep animals like these giraffes.

New rules regulating alien species that threaten public safety are taking effect immediately, B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner said Tuesday in a press release.

"British Columbians shouldn't have to worry about being harmed in their community by dangerous, foreign animals like tigers, pythons or alligators," said Penner in the release.

The new Controlled Alien Species Regulation under the Wildlife Act contains a list of species that individuals are prohibited from possessing unless the animal was in B.C. prior to March 16, 2009.

Individuals who are in possession of a listed animal that was in B.C. before March 16 may be able to keep the animal until its death if they comply with a number of requirements and restrictions, including a stipulation that they must apply for, and be granted, a permit from the Ministry of Environment between Nov. 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010, and they must not breed or release the animals in question.

Penalties for violating the new restrictions may result in one or more of the following; a maximum fine of $250,000 and/or up to two years of imprisonment, seizure of the animal and removal from the province at the owner's expense, or seizure of the animal and transport to an accredited zoo at the owner's expense. If removal is not possible, the animal may be euthanized., the press release said.

Below is the full list of controlled alien species under the new law:

Mammals

Order Primate - [such as monkeys, gorillas, chimpanzees] except humans

Order Proboscidea - [such as elephants] Family Canidae - [such as

dingos, jackals, racoon-dogs] except:

1) Alopex lagopus - [arctic fox] *

2) Canis latrans - [coyote] that are native species *

3) Canis lupus - [wolf] that are native species *

4) Canis lupus familiarus - [domestic dog] *

5) Urocyon cinereoargenteus - [grey fox] *

6) Vulpes macrotis - [kit fox] *

7) Vulpes vulpes - [red fox] *

Family Giraffidae - [such as giraffes]

Family Hippopotamidae - [such as hippopotami]

Family Hyaenidae - [such as hyenas and aardwolves]

Family Rhinocerotidae - [such as rhinoceros]

Family Ursidae - [such as bears] except:

1) Ursus americanus - [black bear] *

2) Ursus arctos - [grizzly bear] *

Sub-family Pantherinae - [such as big cats like lions, tigers and

panthers]

Species Acinonyx jubatus - [cheetah]

Species Bos frontalis - [Gaur]

Species Lynx lynx - [Eurasian lynx]

Species Lynx pardinus - [Iberian lynx]

Species Syncerus caffer - [African buffalo]

Bird

Genus Casuarius [such as cassowaries]

Amphibians

Species Phyllobates aurotaenia - [kokoe poison arrow frog] Species

Phyllobates bicolour - [two-toned poison arrow frog] Species Phyllobates

terribilis - [golden poison arrow frog]

Reptiles

Order Crocodilia - [such as alligators, crocodiles, caimans]

All species of the Family Boidae that can normally grow to be more than three metres in length when measured from the front of the snout to the tip of tail when the animal is fully extended - [such as some boa constrictors and anacondas]

Family Crotalidae - [such as pit vipers] except Crotalus oreganus

[western rattlesnake] *

Family Elapidae - [such as death adders, cobras, kraits, mambas]

Family Helodermatidae - [such as gila monsters, beaded lizards]

All species of the Family Pythonidae that can normally grow to be more than three metres in length when measured from the front of the snout to the tip of tail when the animal is fully extended - [such as some pythons]

All species of the Family Varanidae that can normally grow to be more

than two metres in length when measured from the front of the snout to the tip of tail - [such as Komodo dragons, crocodile monitors and water monitors]

Family Viperidae [such as vipers]

Sub-family Aparallactinae - [such as mole vipers]

Sub-family Boiginae - [such as the brown tree snake]

Sub-family Hydrophiinae - [such as sea snakes]

Sub-familiy Philodryas - [such as green racers]

Genus Dispholidus - [such as boomslang snakes]

Genus Thelotornis - [such as twig snakes]

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