From Herp Digest:

Exotic Animals Face Ban In Kentucky
By Elizabeth Troutman
Kentucky Post staff reporter 6/30/05

Wanda Wanner never wanted an elephant or rhinoceros for her small
petting zoo in Campbell County.

She was looking to purchase a lemur, a small exotic monkey, for her
51-acre farm before she found out the state was banning private
individuals from owning primates and dozens of other exotic animals.

"It was just a mouth-open reaction when I read some of the things on
there," she said of the list, which was adopted June 14 by a legislative
subcommittee when it amended Title 301 of Kentucky Fish and Wildlife
regulations.

The ban on owning exotic animals will go into effect July 12 unless the
Interim Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee objects.

Wanner's petting zoo has domestic animals - goats, cattle, kittens
among them - but she also owns a water buffalo and was hoping to add the
lemur and perhaps other exotic pets. She thinks some of the more than 60
types of animals on the list are harmless and others - like elephants
and rhinoceroses - are unnecessary to mention.

"It was such random things," she said. "A hit and pick here and there,
it didn't have any research there."

State Sen. @@@@ Roeding, Lakeside Park, co-chairman of the
subcommittee, said the amendment holds the same power as a law once it is passed by
the Interim Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee.

Jim Lane, wildlife program coordinator at the state Department of Fish
and Wildlife, said the initiative intends to protect the health and
welfare of Kentuckians.

"The public health risk was too high not to act," he said. "Private
individuals aren't trained and don't have the proper facilities to own
these pets."

Lane said the Department of Fish and Wildlife started pushing for
statewide regulation of exotic pets in the mid-1990s. A group of concerned
wildlife professionals in the state expressed interest in the initiative
in December and backed Fish and Wildlife in moving a proposal forward.

The state is not interested in collecting exotic animals, so the
amendment includes a grandfather clause that protects pets from being taken
away by the state. Owners may keep exotic animals until they die, but
may not purchase new ones.

April Truitt, director and founder of the Primate Rescue Center in
Nicholasville, testified before the committee that monkeys are only good
pets when they are extremely young.

"The image you have in your mind is an infant," she said of the
Capuchin monkey, the most common pet monkey. "They spend the vast majority of
their lives being unwanted. They are cute and cuddly for a brief period
of time."

The subcommittee also heard testimony supporting the ban from
representatives of the Newport Aquarium, the Louisville Zoo and the Department
of Fish and Wildlife. The motion was approved unanimously.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife defines an exotic animal as a "terrestrial
wildlife species which has never naturally existed in the wild in
Kentucky."

Pam Lyons-Gromen, a husbandry director at Newport Aquarium, said she
receives hundreds of calls every year from owners of exotic animals
wanting to donate reptiles to the aquarium.

"We really got involved because of issues with venomous reptiles," she
said. "It's from a public safety standpoint."

Lyons-Gromen said a handful of upset monkey owners attended the meeting
to object to the amendment.

Dan Evans, director of the Kenton Country Animal Shelter, said Boone
and Kenton counties outlawed exotic pets several years ago. Covington
banned exotic animals in 2003, imposing $250 to $500 fines for those who
violate the ordinance.


PROHIBITED PETS, WILDLIFE
Exotic animals on list of prohibited domestic pets:

Birds — Baya weaver; blackbird; cape sparrow; cowbird, cuckoo (except
native species), European blackbird; Madagascar weaver; monk or Quaker
parakeet; sky lark; weaver finch; mute swan.

Mammals — fieldfare; flying fox or fruit bat; Gambian giant-pouched
rat; jack rabbit; prairie dog; raccoon dog; San Juan rabbit;
slender-tailed meerkat; wild European rabbit.
Inherently dangerous wildlife includes:

Mammals — African buffalo; bear; cheetah; clouded leopard; elephant;
hippopotamus; honey badger; hyenas; lions, jaguars, leopards and tigers;
old world badger; primates; rhinoceros; snow leopard; wolverine.

Reptiles — Gila monsters or beaded lizard; adder or viper; alligator or
caiman; sea snake; venomous rear-fanged species (except for hognose
snake); cobra, mamba or coral snake; crocodile.

(Editor - The bill passed and has became law)
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Rusty