Reptile Laws

I am doing this post after seeing a few stories circulating in the media about reptiles and how they are deemed dangerous. I currently live in the UK so thankfully the restrictions are lenient. However, if you live in places like Canada, it's a different story. The laws there are more strict, sometimes to a ridiculous extent.

After reading stories on Facebook, I am shocked at how these laws effect the animals. Yes they are illegal but should they be slaughtered because the owner does not have a permit? To me that is inhumane. No healthy animal should be put down. To me it makes more sense to re-home the animal.

New England Reptile Distributors have posted on Facebook today;

"In the next town/city nearby it is illegal to have ANY exotic pets if your dwelling is 75' from another or less. So if you have an apartment you can not keep them... or your house is close to another you can not keep them. This means : Bearded Dragons, Leopard Geckos, White's Tree Frog, Red Eyed Tree Frog, Tortoise, Corn snake, Emperor Scorpion, Rose Hair Tarantula down the line. It is illegal but not enforced at the moment."

This information refers to the law in Canada, be it in selected towns/cities. So if you live in a terraced house or semi-detached, it is illegal to have even a corn snake in your home because it is within 75 inches of another home. A corn snake is not life threatening, their bites may break your skin but the likes of a vicious dog would do far worse. It seems that reptiles are being discriminated against, simply because they are different from a conventional pet.

One story that hit me hard was Jay's story that he shared on NERD's Facebook page;

Jay's story : "Hello, I would like to take the time and let you guys know the truth about what happen. The 56 reticulated pythons were killed on site when my landlord was illegally evicting me from my home. I was then notified that the spca was called and called the conservation Officers they had the house police taped off and they deemed the animals dangerous to the public.

Then once I got there as I rushed home from work to see what was going on. With no notice of what was happening I showed up to about 12 Conservation Officers. These conservation officers then said the animals were illegal. Even though they were not past the 3 meter law except one large female Tiger het anthrax. They called the reptile vet to come ID the animals. As I was sitting there they told me they were euthanizing them. They never asked if they had permits which a few had permits. One is a Calico Golden Child that you guys produced from the first breeding. All of the animals were locked up in cages and healthy. The decision fell on the vet and he said to euthanize them.

There are 3 reasons a vet will euthanize a animal
1 They post a risk to the public
2 They are ill or dieing
3 Is political reasons.

Bottom line is the vet works for them. And in BC they kill and ask questions later. I feel the vet is a mercenary for the conservation officers killing animals without due care. He also gets paid for ever animal he kills so a big payout is heading his way. If he really cared about the animals he would have said he cannot do this and there is a better way to handle this then destroying these rare animals.

These animals they killed posted no risk towards the public. They were all healthy animals. They killed Super dwarf and Dwarfs. They killed babies that were only a few months old, 35 to be exact and could easily be transported. All the snakes were tame and could be easily handled. The vet also left needles in water dishes and in enclosures.

I honestly thought Conservation officers were suppose to conserve life not destroy it and ask questions later.

This is wrong and inhumane to do. If someone was keeping bears or tigers animals that seriously can harm or kill someone. They would have took these animals to a sanctuary or a zoo. Not destroy them. Around 100K worth in animals were killed. The money means nothing to me. The years it took me to acquire this collection 10 to be exact all gone within a few hours. They also carried the animals out in garbage bags. And threw them in the back of a CO truck.

As they killed animals they mistook 9 animals that were not retics. I am seeking advice from 2 lawyers at the moment and going over the next steps I will be making and who I will be going after first and I am meeting with Global news to uncover these people for the killers they are.

These animals were everything to me. Some were the only ones in Canada."

This is heartbreaking. The fact that the vet could have easily re-homed the reptiles in question but instead, they opted for euthanizing them. Yes, he may not have had permits for some of them but they didn't even ask to see the permits. Some, if not most, of those reptiles could have been saved.

My next point is to ensure you know the law that applies to you. If you lived in a country that requires you to have a permit to keep one of these animals, then ensure you have one for each animal. Just like buying a vivarium before the animal, the same should apply to getting the permit before the reptile. In the UK, you do not need a permit to keep an exotic reptile unless it classifies as a dangerous wild animal, in which case you require a DWA license. The DWA license covers crocodilians  and venomous animals. Read more about venomous reptiles here.

To find out what species are restricted for Canada, please see this PDF.

To conclude, my heart goes out to Jay and anyone that is effected by the strict laws of keeping these wonderful reptiles. Reading what the authorities have done to the snakes has upset me greatly. Hopefully this will not happen again. 

Could Not Agree With This More