My Letter to the Hillsbourough Authorities
You may be aware of this but there are very strict and correct regulations on exotic animal ownership in Florida already.
For example, to own a tiger there are requirements. These requirements are things such as
A minimum of 5 acres of property, a minimum of 8 foot fence all around that said property and caging requirements with doubkle safety doors, etc.
You also have to have 1,000 hours of experience, two letters of recomendation(that few people ever write), and an inspection of the future facilities. This is done with the classification of all wildlife. They range from Class 3(Monkeys and similar not dangerous(to lives) animals. Class II which is slightly more dangerous and CLASS I which is lions tigers, and bears, oh my, plus elephants, etc.
Florida Fish and Game is and has done a wonderful job of keeping these regulations in place and enforcing them. Many many more accidents would occur if these regulations were not in place. They have full jurisdiction and it should remain so. Why spend county tax dollars on something the state has willingly and shall keep willingly pay with their own money?
Use the county tax dollars for better uses such as improving schools, paying yourselves more, paying teachers more, etc.
The state regulates these animals and checks every detail before you can own one.
Banning smaller things such as pythons, boas, iguanas, etc is ridiculous as these are not dangerous to humans. If you compare statistics from government agencies not HUmane societies which are alwasy against any animal ownership and exagerate many many details to an extreme just to make this industry look bad you will see that Dogs of all kinds, and to make it juicier, exclude pitbulls, rottweilers, and dobermans, cause more fatalities and more casualties than these exotics. It is very similar to the salmonella banning by the FDA of baby turtles. If you compare the number of salmonella infections from chicken and other foods, it by far exceeds the recorded cases from baby turtles as an example. I believe the last statistic I read showed that salmonella from any reptile only accounted for half of a half percent in the overall picture.
Details are twisted and revferted to make certain organizations look like they have base on certain subjects when they are way off.
Our industry plays fair. We follow regulations of Fish and Wildlife departments, federal and state. We follow regs by USDA, FDA, CDC, and many more.
Please do not make it unfortunate and kill alot of peoples livelihood over one or two incidents in your area.
We bring many tax dollars when it comes to sales and the like. This is a billion dollar industry.
Not a flea market, cheap industry. We actually number in the millions of pet owners and breeders. This is excluding dogs, cats, brids and fish.After those industires are removed we have MANY MANY millions of people who are into our hobby and love.
Exotic animals have a place in every ones hearts and it is just not right or feasibly reasonable to ban exotics at all.
Even if the pets cannot be held or touched, these pets bring joy to their lives. They are also used worldwide in eduactional programs, tv documentaries on conservation and more.
You ban exotics and your removing people hearts right out of their body.
Please take this letter seriously and do not condone the entire industry because of a few bad apples.
Thank You.
Mike Barrera
M n R-Reptiles
Permitted by the Florida Fish and Game Commission.
