Quote Originally Posted by Don View Post
Kinra, the best way to fight this is to have a large group show up in person. Dress professional and explain the issue in a logical and reasonable manner. With this kind of ban, you can reach out to lots of groups because it hits just about anyone with an animal other than a cat or a dog. Best of luck!
Most of the active members from my local herp society (hopefully) will be showing up in person to any meeting they have about this. We've been trying to reach out to a lot of groups. We are fortunate enough to have some well connected people in our society. We have someone reaching out to various rescues, local pet stores and vets who are willing to add their voice and someone who is in close contact with PIJAC has said they will support us. We have the potential to get a lot of people to show up, the question is will they. :/

Quote Originally Posted by Slim View Post
Wild by nature, huh? I hope the citizens of Dane County are ready to give up their cats, gerbils, parkeets, and gold fish.

I have to say that this suprises me a little bit coming out of Wisconsin. My kids live outside of Appleton and I spend quite a bit of time up there. Wisconsinites have always struck me as being very proud of their personal liberties. They should be able to see that an attack on anyone's personal rights is an attack on everyone's freedom.

Good luck in your fight! Keep the flags flying!

*Edit* I would hate to see this madness go all the way to court, but I can't believe the lawyers for Dane County think they can defend this wording. A first year law student could tear this thing to shreads in 5 minutes.
The wording of it is so vague it's scary. I have received a reply to one of the e-mails I sent out. It's a classic standard response, but we did send out letters that were pretty much the same so I guess that is only fair.

As one of the co-sponsors of the ordinance amendment in question, I believe that you have legitimate concerns. Our plan was to allow for uniform regulation throughout Dane County. However, the proposal as introduced did not follow the City ordinance as closely as I had intended.

I am working with the public health department, the counties legal folks and a fellow supervisor to draft an amendment that will address your thoughtful concerns.

Please know that intent was to mirror the current ordinance that is currently covering the City of Madison and not to affect responsible pet owners in the county.

I greatly appreciate your thoughts and hope that your concerns are addressed in the amendment that is in drafting.


Melissa Sargent
Dane County Supervisor
District 18
If they want to follow the City of Madison's Ordinances then I won't be affect, but I will still be there to support those that will be affected. I really do understand why they want to ban lions and tigers and bear (oh my!), but reptiles don't make much sense. They aren't a public safety risk like people want to make them out to be. I will admit if I learned my neighbor was keeping a collection of venomous snakes I would be worried since I live in an apartment complex and it could easily get into mine, but that's a little different.