North Carolina state law issues
 

Here is a complete list of all NC Senators and Representatives.
Click on the name of a member to see all of their contact information. Click on a county name to see who are the legislators representing that county.

http://www.library.ncat.edu/gov-docs/nc_legislators.htm

Here is the information to contact the Governor:

Governor Michael F. Easley
Office of the Governor
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0301

1-800-662-7952 (valid in North Carolina only)
(919)733-4240, or (919)733-5811

North Carolina State Links
 

State Homepage - http://www.ncgov.com/

State Legislature - http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/

State Statutes/Code - http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Statutes/Statutes.html

Here is the website for the NC Wildlife Resources Commision.

http://www.wildlife.state.nc.us/

Basically the only law pertaining to reptiles states that you must have a permit if you keep 5 or more native reptiles or 25 or more amphibians.
Species that cannot be kept in this state are spotted turtles, Eastern diamond back rattlesnakes, Carolina pygmy rattlesnakes, timber (canebrake) rattlesnakes and Eastern coral snakes, and anything on the endangered, threatened, or special concern lists.
Tongueless or African Clawed Frogs are completely prohibited.

North Carolina Garwood Bill
 

This will give you NC folk something to do. It would ban certain monitors, boids that exceed 8 feet, venomous lizards, and venomous.

See the text here: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions...L/S1032v1.html

and the bill's history: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascript...5&BillID=S1032

Legality of city/county ordinances vs. state law
 

Clay, this is interesting to me that this bill has been in state legislature trying to pass..ive never heard of it before although I do know that many states are doing such things such as NY for instance.

I have one major question though....doesnt state law override the regulations established by cities/counties? On a trip to FL, the topic was brought up concerning Gaston County specifically that they had put into effect the law requiring registration of exotic animals/venomous snakes prior to a certain cut off date. If not registered by specified date, individuals would not be able to obtain a permit to keep such animals (basically, the permit grandfathered those who were already keeping such animals). The gentlemen in FL which im not going to bring into naming frequently work with state and city government and very "fluent" in the regulations especially when it comes to reptile issues and they told us that state law supposedly would govern over city and county law. Basically, since NC does not have any laws regulating herps other than endangered/S.C./threatened species and African Clawed Frogs, that it is totally legal for one to possess even though the county/city government has tried to limit it?

One of the reasons i bring this up is for instance my friend uses a copperhead and a cottomouth for display at educational programs for things like YMCA events for conservation and public knowledge purposes.


Also, im enrolled in a Wildlife Legislation and Policy class currently, and this could make a very interesting topic for discussion :dgrin:

If anyone has any info on this/link explaining any stipulations or justifications for county/city statutes please post them....

Thank you

The bad part about this is that once it gets passed in one state, it is easier for something like it to be passed in another. I have a reptile business in NC, but it's not just me that would suffer. It would be the private breeders, the private collectors, and those here who buy animals from people outside NC. Also, what happens if it goes to more than just a few states? Then if you are a business, in any way selling, breeding reptiles, how many customers does that knock out of your market? Not many if it's only a few states maybe, but let this thing get rolling and it could do some serious damage. And you know that they won't "place the animals they confiscate in a wildlife sanctuary or zoo". Zoos won't take larger reptiles most of the time because there are too many needing to be placed already. Can we say, taken behind the building and put down?

I love the wording also, how do you spay or neuter reptiles?

banning breeding
 

I look at one major impact from a conservationists' standpoint: if you ban the breeding of such species in a state, and others follow, it puts pressure on supplying the demand in areas in which possession is unregulated. Thus, there is more collecting of animals from the wild and impacting populations which could cause severe consequences in the demography of such species...we could end up with snake species harvested in mass numbers (more so than now) and see things like a bottleneck effect like what has occurred in Africa's remaining wild cheetahs ( genetic diversity is very very limited).

just my 0.02 from that perspective...i am a conservationist as well as a reptile keeper, so i look at it from middle grounds and different aspects

My understanding on this question is that which ever law is more strict will override the other.
For instance, current NC law states you can keep copperheads, there are no restrictions on them at all. Cities or counties can still pass legislation banning them from being kept within their jurisdiction.
Conversely, if something is banned at the state level, a local ordinance cannot allow it to be kept. For instance say this current law is passed and big cats are made illegal, a county cannot exempt itself from that ruling.
The enforcement and repercussions is the question. City regs usually result in fines only, whereas state laws can in some cases result in jail time or at the least probation.

I just learned of this bill myself this weekend. We are going to have to agressively fight these restrictions. The boid clause is completely unreasonable and includes many species which pose absolutely no threat to humans.
It's obvious that the bill is intended to address mammals primarily, but reptiles are always tacked on almost as an after thought.
The good news is that as far as I know this is sort of the first draft and the bill is still in its early stages. That means there is still time to argue for our needs and reach some sort of compromise.
In these cases I always believe it's folly to think we can get away with no changes to the reptile laws, something will be passed. We just have to make sure it's something we can live with. The future of the keeping of retics, burms, and hots in this state is very much in danger, but we can't allow things like boa constrictors and carpet pythons fall victim as well.
We're just getting started spreading the word on this end of the state, and we're going to discuss it at a meeting this week. I feel we may end up having to send a delegation to Raleigh to address the committee and state our case in person.
NC has always been a herp friendly state for the most part, and we can't just sit by and let it become another New York because of the ignorance of a few lawmakers.