WV Exotic Animal Ban List

The DWA List, as finalized by the Board, and submitted to the Legislative Rules Committee, along with all public comments, is at:
http://apps.sos.wv.gov/adlaw/csr/rea...112&Format=PDF

Note that on page 988, Summer Wyatt, the WV Director for HSUS, calls for boa constrictor species to be added to the list.

GOOD NEWS!!!

Yesterday I attended the Legislative Rules committee meeting. The committee members gutted the DWA list.

I don't have a complete copy in front of me, but basically the only animals left on it are the truly large/dangerous ones, e.g. lions, tigers, bears, cape buffalo, wolves, etc.

Front-fanged venomous snakes (vipers, cobras, etc), alligators, and crocodiles remain on it. Rear-fanged like the hognose and mangrove are not on it. All constrictor snakes were removed.

Also, several legislators indicated they want to just repeal the whole danged law, while others said that they would prefer to amend it to get rid of the DWA Board and have animals listed by statute, rather than being forced to do an annual review via legislative rules. There will also be a push to remove the insurance and "no breeding" requirements also.

So, a major battle has been won but the war will continue into the next legislative session that starts in January.

Good news.
Stay viigilant.

Great news. The law sounded nuts. Any snake over 6' but you can own a horse? Made zero sense! I am glad to hear that common sense may prevail.

Wonder what will happen with Gila monsters? I always thought it was kind of silly to ban them from so many places.

Ironically, Gilas were ignored in the Ohio DWA law too. (Not complaining, of course). Perhaps an oversight by HSUS, which basically wrote the law?