Here are the pertinent points of the current Arkansas wildlife possession ban bill. It is followed by a list of the commissioners. If I have missed anything that is referred to in the text, please let me know.
Post this anywhere and everywhere with my thanks!
David
4. WILDLIFE PETS
A. COMMISSION CONCERNS The Commission currently has one "pet regulation" -- Code 18.17 -- which allows individuals to capture and keep as pets up to six individuals of most native wildlife species. Because the manner of keeping and the use of these pets are not specifically addressed by this regulation, it provides loopholes around proposed restrictions on commercial hunting of captive wildlife.
Possession of up to six individuals of each species makes it readily possible for the allowed number to be exceeded through reproduction, with no method in place for addressing the disposition of the progeny.
Recent reports by Commission Wildlife Officers confirm that some individuals have been abusing the current restrictions regarding possession of native wildlife as pets and have been violating the prohibition against selling these animals and transporting them from the state.
The principal concerns of the Commission related to wildlife pets are:
1. Wildlife pets pose a potential danger of injury or disease to their owners and others. Certain species, such as mountain lions and tigers, are inherently dangerous due to their large size and disposition and have caused injury to owners in Arkansas and other states. Prices for these animals have dropped, and it is becoming increasingly popular to keep them as personal pets, despite strong recommendations against this practice by the American Veterinary Medical Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At least 27 Arkansas towns and several counties have banned or strictly regulated wildlife pets in recent years, especially dangerous species, due to concern over these issues.
2. Although it has the authority, the Commission has not previously regulated the keeping of non-native wildlife as pets. The escape and establishment in the wild of non-native animals poses a real threat to native wildlife, livestock and native species already naturalized in Arkansas include the black rat, house mouse, and European starling.
Since about 23% of the vertebrate non-native species established in the wild in the U.S. were originally kept as pets, it is vitally important that this issue be addressed.
3. Code 18.17 is an imprecise regulation that has been difficult to enforce.
As currently written, it invites misinterpretation. (For example, 18.17 allows possession of up to six of specified wildlife species, but does not state whether it is "per person" or "per household." Some individuals assert that if there are five individuals living in a residence, then their "family"
should be able to cumulatively possess up to 30 (5 x 6) pet deer taken from the wild at any given time).
The Commission's recommendations for addressing these concerns are as follows:
B. RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Reduce the number of allowable native wildlife pets to one (1) each per household of rabbit, squirrel, and raccoon and one (1)
each per household of certain nongame species.
2. Prohibit the keeping of new dangerous wildlife species as pets. Current owners may be allowed to keep existin pets after registration with the Commission and compliance with care and caging requirements.
3. Allow non-dangerous non-native wildlife to be kept as pets, but require registration with the Commission of species not specifically exempted.
The Commission's rationale for addressing these recommendations is as follows:
C. RATIONALE FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Reduce the number of allowable native wildlife pets to one (1) each per household of rabbit, squirrel, and raccoon and one (1)
each per household of certain nongame species.
Prohibition of the use of most game species as pets will eliminate a current loophole that could be abused to avoid regulations regarding the hunting of captive wildlife. The reduction of allowable native wildlife pets from six to one will prevent difficulties relating to the disposition of progeny of captive pets and reduce the potential for illegal commercialization of animals captured under this regulation.
2. Prohibit the keeping of new dangerous wildlife species as pets. Current owners may be allowed to keep existing pets after registration with the Commission and compliance with care and caging requirements.
Certain species of wildlife are inherently dangerous and unpredictable as personal pets, and gradual elimination of this practice is desired in the interest of public safety. These species are identified in a new "Dangerous Wildlife" definition (see Definition of Terms page 6)
3. Allow non-dangerous non-native wildlife to be kept as pets, but require registration with the Commission of species not specifically exempted.
Non-native wildlife pose a health and safety risk to native wildlife and the environment of Arkansas. Registration of non-exempted species will allow the Commission to begin to assess the scope of this issue in Arkansas and allow us to quickly respond to newly discovered dangers relating to registered species. The Commission believes that six (6)
months is a reasonable amount of time for this action to be accomplished.
D. PROPOSED REGULATIONS
15.30 WILDLIFE PET RESTRICTIONS. It shall be unlawful to take, or attempt to take from the wildlife stock of the State.
or possess alive for personal use any wildlife species, other than as specified herein or allowed under other Commission codes, and the sale, purchase, or barter of such wildlife or the progeny thereof, is prohibited:
(1) Native game species: One (1) each of rabbits, squirrels and raccoons may be taken by hand only and possessed per household.
(2) Native nongame species: One (1) each of nondangerous species may be taken by hand only and possessed per household, excluding birds, bats, alligator snapping turtles, ornate box turtles, hellbenders, troglodytic (cave-dwelling)
species and those animals defined as endangered species.
(3) Non-native species (No registration required):
(a) Reptiles, amphibians (nonvenomous, unprotected) (b)Gerbils, hedgehogs (c) Honey possums. sugar gliders, brushtailed possums (d)
Shell parakeets (e) Canaries (f) Ferrets (domestic; European) (g) Lovebirds (h) Guinea pigs (i) Cockadels (j) Hamsters (k)Parrots
(I) Finches (m) Myna birds (n) Toucans (o) Doves; ringed, ruddy, and diamond (p) Button quail (q) Prairie dogs (r)Chinchillas (s) European rabbits (t) Rats and mice (u) Fish.
(4) Non-native species (Registration required): All other non-native wiIdlife not listed in Code 15.30 (3) that are registered with the Commission and were legally obtained and accompanied by verification from a USDA-licensed pet shop.
EXCEPTIONS (1) Native wildlife and those non-native wildlife species legally acquired and possessed before September 21, 2000 that are registered with the Commission by March 1, 2001 may be retained by their owners.
(2) Dangerous wildlife species possessed before September 21, 2000 that are registered with the Commission by March 1, 2001, sterilized, and kept in compliance with Commission Code 15.02.
Effective March 1, 2001, all dangerous wildlife species that are not registered with the Commission, sterilized, and kept in compliance with Commission Code 15.02 must be removed from the confines of the state, euthanized, or transferred only to out-of-state entities, organizations that are accredited members of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZAA), municipal zoos or other facilities approved by the Commission.
(3) Non-dangerous, non-native wildlife may be bought, sold, or bartered in accordance with USDA regulations and Commission Breeder/Dealer permit requirements.
PENALTY: $ 100.00 to $1,000.00.
The following are new or arnended definitions to be inserted in Code Section
01.00-C:
01.00-C DEFINITION OF TERMS. For the purposes of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Code of Regulations, the following terms shall be construed, respectively, to mean and include:
ANIMAL - An organism of the animal kingdom. as distinguished from the plant kingdom, including any part, product, egg, or offspring thereof.
BUY - To purchase, barter, exchange, or trade and includes any offer to purchase. barter, exchange, or trade.
CAPTIVITY or HOLD CAPTIVE - The holding of living wildlife in a controlled environment that is manipulated by man for the pt.rrpoc of exercising ownership, possession or control of the wildlife, and that has boundaries deigned to prevent selected species from entering or leaving the controlled environment. General characteristics of captivity may include but are not limited to high-fence enclosure, artificially supplied food, artificial housing, health care, and/or protection from predators.
DANGEROUS WILDLIFE - Species that are inherently dangerous to humans. Primates: Gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees.
gibbons, siamangs. mandrills, drills. baboons, Gelada baboons. Carnivores: wolves, bears, cougars, lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, hyenas. Order Prosboscidia: elephants. Order Perissodactyla: Rhinoceroses. Order Artiodactyla: Hippopotamus, African buffalo. Order Crocodylia: crocodiles and alligators. Order Setpentes: All poisonous species.
Amphibians: all poisonous species.
ENCLOSE - To surround species of wildlife on all sides using natural or man-made barriers, including but not limited to fencing, walls, levees, landscaping, moats, structures, or other devices, so that the wildlife are not free to leave a particular environment.
ENCLOSURE - Any area surrounded by a natural or man-made barrier. including but not limited to fencing six feet or higher. walls, levee, landscaping, moatN. structures, or other devices that prevent wildlife from leaving a parlicular environment.
IMPORT - To land on. bring into, or introduce into any place within the jurisdiction of the State of Arkansas.
POSSESS or POSSESSION - To have under control: the manual or ideal Custody of wildlife or anything that may be the subject of property for one's use and enjoyment, either as owner or as the proprietor of a qualified right in it, and either held personally or by another who exercises it in one's place and name. Possession includes the act or state of possessing and that condition of facts under which one can exercise his power over a corporeal thing at his pleasure to the exclusion of all other persons.
Possession includes constructive possession, which means not actual but assumed to exist, where one claims to hold by virtue of some title, without having actual custody.
ARKANSAS GAME & FISH COMMISSIONERS LIST
Bill Bridgforth, Chairman
P. O. Box 8509
Pine Bluff, AR 71611