To all American Pet Owners

[Arviragus]

http://nohr669.com/

There's not a lot that I can do, being that I'm from Canada, but a few of my pet-owning friends from the States have been pretty vocal about the act mentioned in the page above. Just thought it might be something a few NCers might be interested in.

[AngharadTy]

I'm seeing this everywhere, because I'm in a lot of pet communities. Some of those communities are justified in their reactions, but I'm getting it a lot from rat communities, too. This is probably thanks to the video on the "NO" site that shows guinea pigs and hamsters and such--which would probably not be affected at all.

"(D) does not include any cat (Felis catus), cattle or oxen (Bos taurus), chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), dog (Canis lupus familiaris), donkey or ass (Equus asinus), domesticated members of the family Anatidae (geese), duck (domesticated Anas spp.), goat (Capra aegagrus hircus), goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus), horse (Equus caballus), llama (Lama glama), mule or hinny (Equus caballus x E. asinus), pig or hog (Sus scrofa domestica), domesticated varieties of rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), or sheep (Ovis aries), or any other species or variety of species that is determined by the Secretary to be common and clearly domesticated."

Granted, "any other species" is pretty vague, and that disturbs me, but I just can't imagine hamsters getting banned, haha.

I'm still against it because I think it could easily lead to worse things, and I don't like the overall blanket reactionary feeling of the bill, but I don't believe that my rats are in danger from it.

[Twofold Black]

mule or hinny (Equus caballus x E. asinus)

Good. It's difficult enough to get mules to breed without Johnny Law interfering.

[Huggles]

Buh? I am confused. What exactly is the point of this?

[Officer 1BDI]

^ What Huggles said. I and quite a few of my friends own parrots, so I'm intrigued, but I don't understand exactly what this bill will accomplish if it passes.

ETA: I'm also curious as to how this would affect zoos and aquariums, if at all.

[AngharadTy]

Theoretically, it's mainly supposed to pertain to transporting exotic pets across borders. Importation. So no more importing monkeys from Monkeytopia. But it's not actually 100% clear within the language of the resolution, which is leading to a lot of small-time breeders freaking out, and anyone who owns exotics thinking that their pets are going to be taken away, which isn't in the language of the resolution at all. (Unlike most pit bull legislation... but I guess that's a completely different can of shitty worms.)

[Huggles]

Oh, so the basic idea is not apocalyptic, but they have poorly worded it so it could be spun in several unfun ways?

[AngharadTy]

That sums it up nicely.

[Officer 1BDI]

Ah. Thank you for breaking it down, Ty.

[Wingsrising]

My first thought was the same as some of yours, that the website is being excessively paranoid. But then I read the text of the law and also this very well-thought out take on it:

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2 ... _invas.php

The bill isn't just about importation, but also outlaws selling, breeding, re-homing, or transporting across state lines any animal not on the "allowed" list. (It doesn't just outlaw animals on some sort of "prohibited" list, but any animal that has not been specifically reviewed and put on the "allowed" list.) So breeders do have reason to be concerned: this makes breeding the animals illegal unless and until the animal is reviewed and placed on the "allowed" list. It's true that existing pets are grandfathered in as far as being allowed to keep them, but according to the text of the bill they can't be re-homed or transported across state lines. This seems to imply that if you move to another state you'll have to put your pet to sleep, since you can't take it with you and you can't give it away.

"any other species or variety of species that is determined by the Secretary to be common and clearly domesticated" is indeed very vague. If I were a ferret owner I would be very, VERY concerned right about now. Ferrets are already outlawed as a "potentially invasive" species in California, and as the post I link to points out, in the bill as written if an animal is potentially damaging anywhere in the US, it will become illegal anywhere in the United States. (California also bans gerbils, so don't be too secure that all rodents generally kept as pets are necessarily safe.)