California Exotic Animal Laws Scrutinized By Animal Rights Groups
Comments (1)
But some say California laws aren’t all they are cut out to be.
On Oct. 18 lions, tigers, monkeys and other exotic animals escaped from a sanctuary in Zanesville, Ohio. The ensuing chaos, in which police killed nearly all of the escaped animals, prompted residents to urge Kasich to ban the private ownership of such animals to prevent future disasters.
While owning exotic animals in California has been outlawed for nearly 80 years, animal rights groups don’t believe they are effective.
“There are a lot of issues,” said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Los Angeles. “Unfortunately, it’s just not a great scenario.”
“We have laws on the books that look better than Ohio. But they’re like nothing if nobody checks on them.”
Bernstein said that the California Department of Fish and Game -- which handles exotic animal permits -- does not have the resources to enforce the law by following up on elapsed permits and inspecting cages and care of the animals.
The department disagrees.
“The beauty of our system is that the game wardens live and work in the local communities,” said Andrew Hughan, spokesman for the department. “They know where these facilities are in their communities, and they do routine scheduled and non-scheduled inspections of these kinds of facilities.”
While these types of incidents are not tracked by the federal government, California fares well compared to other states in one private database.
According to Born Free USA, a national animal advocacy groups, there have been 73 reported cases of escaped exotic animals in California since 1995. Florida, the state with the highest incident rate has had 207 reported cases since 1990.
While there are no facilities in California with the number of animals that were in Ohio, the entertainment industry in Los Angeles has a large exotic animal contingent.
Hughan said that animals used for movies or commercials are routinely checked, and that it's rare that any citations are issued.
More common are animals that escape from private owners and small sanctuaries that don’t have the proper permits or have smuggled the animals into the state.
“There are people who bring exotic animals in, thinking it’s not big deal and then they escape,” Hughan said. “Our first priority is the safety of the people around … most of the time the animal will be destroyed.”
In 2005, a tiger that escaped from a sanctuary with invalid permits in Moorpark, northwest of Los Angeles, and roamed the surrounding suburbs for a month before police found and fatally shot it, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Overall, Hughan said that the laws in California have been successful in preventing large-scale problems like the one in Ohio.
“Our compliance in California is very good,” he said.
Best way to find more great content from Neon Tommy?
Or join our email list below to enjoy Neon Tommy News Alerts.
Comments
While the threat from exotic animals is miniscule when compared to the threat from dangerous bacteria in our food, our driving daily on the freeway, still members of the public get more excited about imagining a lion or tiger on the loose. Many of the exotic animals kept in the US have been born into captivity and are not "wild" in the sense of recently arriving from the jungles. They expect their daily rations to be provided by human caretakers. Maintaining exotic animals of all varieties provides positive benefits to the animals and to society. We seek to preserve what we know. While some exotic animals are known to the public primarily due to being in zoos, what is less well known is that zoos do on occasion obtain animals from private sector breeders and keepers. Zoos cannot maintain huge populations of any animals, but try to provide a few examples of each species. In terms of concern for protecting the public, the laws and regulations in Florida for exotic animals are excellent as they require secure containment appropriate for the species. While there will always be a few escapes, escapes do not equate to major threats to the public. It should be remembered that the animal rights organizations want to ELIMINATE all animal contact, including pets, agricultural animals, zoo animals, circuses, etc. The animal rights agenda is one thing, but their agenda is not the opinion of the general public, although the animal rights folks have made a great effort to influence public opinion over the past forty or more years. Serious decisions regarding the keeping and breeding of exotic animals should be determined by stakeholders and the scientific community, not by animal rights radicals pushing their anti-animal-ownership agenda.