West Virginia Seeks to Prohibit All Exotic Animals

[bsifx0692]

Any update on this? I am originally from WV and may move back there someday.

[bsifx0692]

Any update on this? I am originally from WV and may move back there someday.

Never mind. I found it. I can't believe this actually passed...

[jess6905]

We are thinking of moving to West Virginia in the next six months to a year. I know a lot can happen in this time, but I was wondering if there have been any changes to the ban list and such? I currently only have a small collection of ball pythons, but am seriously concerned for if we do move there. All I keep finding on this is pretty much the same as posted on here.

[bcr229]

The DWA Board submitted the list of animals to the Legislative Rules Committee on 8/1. That committee is comprised of 13 delegates and senators, unfortunately 10 of them supported the law and only 3 opposed it.

The Rules Committee is supposed to review the list and can amend it, pass it as-is to the legislature, throw it out, etc. It apparently is also supposed to review the processes used to 1) create the list, and 2) provide for public comment, to ensure that those were done legally. I don't know if they were or not, some people are saying not, and that could potentially delay implementation of the law for a year.

[alan12013]

I can't stand people who are not open minded regarding their own ignorance and that are willing to make decisions that will effect others without doing in-debth and proper research. In other words I can't stand about 95 percent of every one involved with congress. My dream job is to be a Senator and sit on tons of committies so I can use my ADD for good by getting involved in a wide variety of issues and also to help people. This makes me dislike them more because they have the power and ability to do really great things yet they don't seem to care as long as thier egos get stroked frequently. I'll gladly write to these idiots in their idiodic language. Does any one have some good sources for information that we could use to cite? If not I'm sure I can find some and if I have the motivation some time in the next week I will post everything I find along. I'm not of facebook so I can't join that group but I might make a page just so I can. Or maybe we could distract them and get this bill pushed to the side... I heard a garbage disposal sucked a couple innocent teens in it some where in WV! What if my garbage disposal could do that??? :/ I'm terrified!!!

[Kamerick]

Shouldn't these people be worried about more important things than what kinds of (mostly) harmless pets people are keeping? Honestly, if you are gonna ban something, at least they should do some research and give a solid reason towards the ban.

P.S. I didnt look to far into this specific issue, but i know a city near where i live has a by-law that say people cant own ball pythons. Correct me if there were posted reasons for the possible ban. (And maybe state some reasons? [if posted] i would really like to know)

[bcr229]

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED TO HELP WEST VIRGINIA HERPERS/EXOTIC OWNERS

Immediate action is necessary to demand a PUBLIC HEARING on WV’s Proposed Rule 61-30 (Dangerous Wild Animals). Please email the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee (LRMRC) Members and the other Senators and Delegates listed below to demand a PUBLIC HEARING. Here are a few points:

1. WV Government corruption and/or incompetence have resulted in hundreds of pages of public comments being missing from the official record. Obviously these comments were never given the “meaningful consideration” required by WV’s Administrative Procedures Act. Missing comments include comments from USARK, PIJAC, WVUSARC and numerous WV pet owners. Here’s what we are dealing with: When questioned about the missing comments, Chris Ferro, WV Department of Agriculture’s Chief of Staff, responded that it would NOT have made any difference if the comments had been reviewed. Ferro also questioned whether the comments were actually missing from the official record. Ferro said that the LRMRC should review the missing comments. Do any of these responses make any sense or is this a cover-up?

2. WV’s Dangerous Wild Animal (DWA) Board has failed to provide the public with any of the required justifications for any of the animals it has included in its list of DWAs.

3. WV’s DWA Board failed to provide the financial information required when proposing a new rule.

4. The LRMRC is scheduled to approve Proposed Rule 61-30 on October 21, 2014.
Please send emails requesting a PUBLIC HEARING on Proposed Rule 61-30. If you put the email addresses in the bcc option, the recipients cannot see that it was sent to numerous representatives at the same time.

Email addresses for LRMRC
barbaraf@wvhouse.gov;cindy.frich@wvhouse.gov;donnaboley@suddenlink.net;herb.snyd er@wvsenate.gov;jeff.eldridge@wvhouse.gov;john.unger@wvsenate.gov;justin.marcum@ wvhouse.gov;sobonya4wvhouse@aol.com;meshea.poore@wvhouse.gov;mike.hall@wvsenate. gov;ronald.miller@wvsenate.gov;william.laird@wvsenate.gov;tim.miley@wvhouse.gov; jeff.kessler@wvsenate.gov;kelli.sobonya@wvhouse.gov

Other Senators
clark.barnes@wvsenate.gov;bob.beach@wvsenate.gov;craig@craigblair.com;sam.cann@w vsenate.gov;Mitch.Carmichael@wvsenate.gov;truman.chafin@wvsenate.gov;bill.cole@w vsenate.gov;donald.cookman@wvsenate.gov;larry.edgell@wvsenate.gov;douglas.facemi re@wvsenate.gov;rocky@rockyfitzsimmons.com;mike.green@wvsenate.gov;daniel.hall@w vsenate.gov;evan.jenkins@wvsenate.gov;jeff.kessler@wvsenate.gov;art.kirkendoll@w vsenate.gov;brooks.mccabe@wvsenate.gov;david.nohe@wvsenate.gov;corey.palumbo@wvs enate.gov;robert.plymale@wvsenate.gov;roman.prezioso@wvsenate.gov;ron.stollings@ frontier.com;dave.sypolt@wvsenate.gov;greg.tucker@wvsenate.gov;chris.walters@wvs enate.gov;erik.wells@wvsenate.gov;bob.williams@wvsenate.gov;jack.yost@wvsenate.g ov

Other Delegates
george.ambler@wvhouse.gov;bill.ander...ng@wvhouse.gov

Thank you for your help!!

[bcr229]

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.

[nucklehead97]

I hope horrendous laws like this are shot down. Unfortunately though, the exotic animal community hardly has any lobbies, except for USARK which covers reptiles. But there's no lobbyists for the bird keepers, exotic cat keepers, fish keepers or any others as far as I know, which is a pure and unfortunate shame.

I think USARK should just adopt all exotic animals under their protection and ask for those animal keepers to support the keeping of reptiles and the reptile community help the other exotic pet owners keep their pets. It's a win win.

[bcr229]

I think USARK should just adopt all exotic animals under their protection and ask for those animal keepers to support the keeping of reptiles and the reptile community help the other exotic pet owners keep their pets. It's a win win.

Those of us who addressed the committee yesterday, including the USARK rep, did comment on flaws in the whole law as opposed to our "pet" species of animal, so to speak.