[FEL-L] Fwd: Mayville exotic animal ordinance - my letter toMayville

Wed Jan 10 16:14:27 CST 2007

Its a bit long, hope they read it.. good points and info!

Laura Morin
lmorin67 at earthlink.net
www.WildAboutCats.org
Exotic Feline Conservation-Education-Rescue 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Prometheus Horse 
To: pet-law at yahoogroups.com;phoenix_exotics at yahoogroups.com;felines-l at catbox.com;neopoa-animalchat at yahoogroups.com;wolfdogz at yahoogroups.com
Sent: 1/9/2007 7:04:39 PM 
Subject: [FEL-L] Fwd: Mayville exotic animal ordinance - my letter toMayville

Just thought I'd share the letter I just emailed to the members of the city council of Mayville as well as the mayor. what you choose to do with the information is entirely up to you all.

Tim Fuller

Prometheus Horse <prometheus_horse at yahoo.com> wrote:
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 18:42:29 -0800 (PST)
From: Prometheus Horse <prometheus_horse at yahoo.com>
Subject: Mayville exotic animal ordinance
To: rsternat at mayvillecity.com, theron at mayvillecity.com, 
mckinnon at mayvillecity.com, mschmidt at mayvillecity.com, 
lliebenow at mayvillecity.com, nsabel at mayvillecity.com

Dear council member and mayor,

It has come to my attention that you are considering an ordinance banning possession of exotic animals within the city limits of Mayville. I consider this a bad piece of legislation and I shall outline why below.

1). Most "poisonous" reptiles are not poisonous to human beings. Just because it is poisonous to some species does not mean that it is necessarily so to Homo sapiens sapiens.

2). Most snakes have the potential to grow to a length greater than 4 feet, so what would happen when it passes that mark? Under this proposed law it automatically makes it illegal, regardless of the demeanor of the animal in question. In reality, however, the length of a snake makes no difference as to its demeanor or handlability.

3). There are two arachnids native to North America that are poisonous to humans. The Brown Recluse spider and the Black Widow spider. Spiders such as tarantulas only pose a risk to individuals that are hypersensitive to their venom, and beings significantly lesser than humans, such as rodents.

4). Nonhuman primates are already controlled by federal laws, so a municipal law would be redundant.

5). Bears native to Wisconsin are already regulated under Wisconsin Department of Natural Resourses regulations, thus making a municipal law redundant.

6). Crocodilia (crocks and alligators) are unable to survive Wisconsin winters, and their special habitat needs mean suitable containment is inherent in caring for such species, negating the liklihood of escape or other public safety problems.

7). Elephants, Hippopotami, and numerous other species are currently regulated by Federal codes under the US Department of Agrictulture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, thus making a municpal law redundant.

8). Sale and importation of prairie dogs is already banned by Wisconsin code due to the Monkey Pox scare awhile ago. Admittedly it was a tremendous over-reaction, but the ban on prairie dogs still exists, thus making a municipal law redundant.

9). Wolves, coyotes, and native foxes are already regulated under Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Wolves are doubly so in that they're an endangered species and thus regulated by the US Department of the Interior under the Endangered Species Act. Thus making a municipal law.... well, by now you're getting the idea.

Now for the education part.

I'm the grandson of dairy farmers. I've lived most of my life in a valley town called Lodi, that both sides of my family have dwelled around for three or four generations, depends on which side of the family you're looking at. Farming in and of itself has been a rather dangerous profession, resulting in consistent injuries, whether it be from machinery, simple situations, or from animals. My father was a sheet-metal worker, another career that is fraught with the potential for injury.

I'm presuming that the majority of people around Mayville come from a farming background or general labor background. Now here's a fact that I can understate with certainty without fear of contradiction. You, and every person in your town, is 100x more likely to be seriously injured or killed by simply slipping and falling, whether it's in their own home, out in front of City Hall, or in the local Wal-Mart, than the liklihood of any significant injury by any animal, wild or a pet. There has long been a stygma about "exotic pets" being inherently more dangerous than traditional pets, when it's actually the reverse. I myself have significant experience in dealing with "dangerous" and "problem" canines of all sorts, ranging from fullblood wolves, wolfdog hybrids, coyotes, one coydog hybrid, dogs (Canis familiaris), and housefoxes. By far the greater potential for injury is by traditional housecats and the family dog than by the more "exotic" pets, simply due to complacency on the part of humanity. Many people have come to think of their dog as a furry child rather than as a strange-looking wolf that they keep in their homes. The fact of the matter is that dog, to varying degrees, still sees himself as a wolf. That's how come a chihuahua would still try to "attack" an intruder even though there's virtually no hope of the small dog being able to incapacatate a human. Exotic pets, be it a lion or a serval or wolf, wolfdog, or anything out of the ordinary, have long had a stygma of danger attached to them from performances long held as tradition in our culture. It's in our nature to fear that which we do not know, as part of our innate instinct to survival, it's only through cognitive reasoning and logic can we overcome such basic instincts when they're held to the light of intellect. Lions we fear cuz we've all seen, or heard of, the great "lion tamer" acts of circuses throughout history. That is, without hesitation, all an act. The roar and seeming sense of danger plays to an audiance making them in awe of the indivi
dual who, behind the scenes, cuddles with the animals and treats them as much as family as any human, if not moreso. For an individual to be a private keeper of any kind of nontraditional pet requires a bond between human an animal far greater than that we hold as "friendships" between each other. This is just for your own information.

Furthermore, if the previous statements haven't already demonstrated the fact that this proposed ordinance is unnecessary, let's look at it from a public safety standpoint.

There hasn't been any untoward incidents involving private-kept exotic animals in your municipality, let alone county. Thusly you're attempting to resolve a problem that doesn't actually exist. Simply bringing an unusual pet into town would not intrinsically create such a problem, nor would this law make your town attractive to individuals moving in that can actually increase your town's understanding of such pets. Private keepers can teach and talk about experiences far beyond those of zookeepers simply due to the level of contact they have with these "scary" and "dangerous" creatures. If you're concerned about escapes, well that's already covered under the common sense of responsible ownership regardless of the species. There's nothing more heartbreaking to the owner of any animal than wondering where it is and if it's alright if it goes astray. And exotic mammals, due to their greater attachment to their owners, aren't likely to stray far like domestic pets have the tendancy to do. Additionally, only a bit of information about how to react around the different animals in one's neighborhood isn't that challenging to provide to people of open minds, in the unlikely event of the escape of an animal due to some unforseen circumstance that the owner wouldn't be able to reasonably anticipate.

On one further note, microchipping animals has inherent problems dependant on species, but it's still putting a foreign matter into one's body and has shown an increase in certain cancers in the animal, as well as has proven to be fatal for numerous species. Most notably avians (birds), reptiles and herps show an increase liklihood of death from infection, or "floating" of the implanted microchip to undesirable areas. This is also prevalent in mammalian species as well, but to a lesser extent, including moving into the bloodstream and causing fatal episodes in numerous animals ranging from common cats to exotic species. Mammals also have an increased liklihood of cancers around the injection site, and since it's usually in the base of the neck that includes neurological cancers affecting the spinal nerves. A tumor anywhere is a problem in any species, but is exceptionally so for "exotics" as recovery times and requirements for exotic species are differnet. Also, if a general law is proposed, as in "no exotic pets", simple verbiage like that is even more problematic as that would exclude typical pets such as gerbils, guinea pigs, zebra finches (most caged birds, in fact), as well as many other creatures that aren't indigenous to Wisconsin. Those that ARE indigenous to the state are regulated under state Department of Natural Resourses codes in efforts preventing wild-capture.

This brings me to another short fallacy about "exotic" pets. 99% of the time they're not caught from the wild and brought into individuals' homes. These are animals that have been bred and raised in the care of humans for generations..... just like how the first dogs and housecats came to be. The few that are from the wild were in a position that compromised their chances of survival in the wild, such as orphaned litters of whatever species, or adults that had been injured and required extensive and sustained contact with humans during their recovery. We now accept Canis familiaris and Felis catus as perfectly permissible pets, so why not others species as well that are following those species down that same path towards understanding and commonality as pets?

At any rate, I hope this has helped guide you in your decision regarding this matter. If you so choose, you may contact me via email at Prometheus_horse at yahoo.com, or [withheld in post for privacy reasons]. I am certainly willing to further advise you about matters regarding this ordinance, but as I stated in the opening, it is my feeling that such ordinances are quite inappropriate under the guise of public safety and that placing them in effect does one's community a disservice when compared to the educational potential such an opportunity provides.

Sincerely,
Timothy J. Fuller
President, National Exotic Owners and Pet Owners Association ( www.neopoa.com )

Bringing fire as the light of reason to mortals and morons for better than two decades.

Check out http://www.neopoa.com and become a more informed pet owner.

Be a snappy dresser and help animals too! - NEOPOA has an online shop at www.cafepress.com/neopoa
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.breuckman.com/pipermail/felines-l/attachments/20070110/1dea6905/attachment.html