Nearly two years after a chimpanzee mauled its owner's friend in
Stamford, the state Department of Environmental Protection has
released a proposal to ban possession of dozens of wild and exotic
animals by the general public.
The list contains the obvious -- elephants, lions, bears, hippos,
rhinos, large primates, harbor seals and alligators. It also includes
perhaps the less obvious -- deer, black-tailed prairie dogs, striped
skunks, raccoons, rattlesnakes and bats.
There are some specific members of species that also would be banned
as pets: mangrove snakes, cat-eyed snakes, Muscovy ducks, swamp, rock
and nail-tailed wallabies, tree kangaroos and monk parakeets.
A hearing has been scheduled at the agency's headquarters in Hartford
for Feb. 15, the eve of the second anniversary of Travis the chimp's
rampage.
"We're just trying to put these regulations in place," DEP spokesman
Dennis Schain said. "That was the first best date to have that public
hearing."
Travis, who lived with owner Sandra Herold for years and was a common
sight in Stamford, got loose on Feb. 16, 2009, attacking and severely
injuring friend Charla Nash before being shot dead by police.
The incident brought to light the fact the state has a patchwork quilt
of animal possession laws and the DEP had no permitting process in
place, even though legislation passed in 2004 instructed the agency to
do so.
"The theory is, `Yes we were'," said Rick Jacobson, the DEP staffer
who put together the new regulations, admitting there are no permits
on file from prior years.
After considering a highly debated, wide-ranging ban, the General
Assembly following Travis' attack instead outlawed large primates and
charged the DEP with developing a thorough list.
The agency focused on cataloguing those animals that pose potential
dangers to humans, crops and Connecticut's flora and fauna. The agency
also tried to define the entities -- aquariums, zoos, circuses, nature
centers, schools and laboratories -- exempted from the ban on
importation and possession.
But, Jacobson noted, DEP is not going to require permits.
"It reduces our workload and the workload of the vast groups out there
being able to possess various animals," Jacobson said, adding the
state would be unable to charge enough to make up for administrative
costs.
The list of banned animals was initially developed in-house, then
updated in response to hearings last March in Derby, Old Lyme and
Rockfall. Feedback also came from academics and the state departments
of health and agriculture.
"We did change substantially from our initial draft," Jacobson said.
For example, he said, the DEP had never thought to make sure
veterinarians were on the exemption list.
The original list was also far more inclusive. So initially all
pythons made the list of banned animals before the decision was made
to exclude Burmese pythons because they are not considered an
immediate threat to humans.
The DEP did not attempt to deal with invertebrates like spiders.
"You could have more species added but we were fearful if they began
to appear to some as nonsensical we might not get the regulatory
structure passed," he said. "There are poisonous tarantulas that
aren't deadly (but) they make you sick. Does that meet the prohibiting
threshold? We didn't want these kinds of nuanced questions to
compromise" the project.
Interested parties who cannot attend the Feb. 15 public hearing on the
regulations have until close of business on March 1 to submit their
views to the DEP.
Enforcement will be mainly complaint-driven, Jacobson said, with
penalties ranging from fines between $500 and $2,000 and three months
to a year in prison.
Jacobson said once the new ban is in place, the DEP is considering
again asking Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport to host an
amnesty day for residents to turn in illegal pets without penalty.
The first effort, held in August 2009, netted 135 different creatures,
many of them reptiles.
Staff Writer Brian Lockhart can be reached at
brian.lockhart@scni.com
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/...als-972125.php