By George
Smith’s Blog, Maine
Maine won’t get control anytime soon of rat snakes,
bearded dragons, African knife fish, Alligator lizards, Spiny-tailed monitors,
Golden poison frog, Gargoyle geckos – or lots of other exotic animals that you
can currently possess without permits.
And the confusing laws and rules governing the
critters you do need permits to possess won’t get any legislative attention
either, nor will the agency’s high costs of administering this program.
While management of exotic animals in Maine
The permits are priced at just $23, which doesn’t come
close to covering DIF&W’s costs. For example, the agency is supposed to
examine the cages of the animals before permits are issued, and annually ever after.
And the rules governing cages covers 14 pages!
Black Rat Snake
Wardens are called out to check on exotic animals that
are here in Maine
Several DIF&W staff members spend a great deal of
their time dealing with exotic animal issues and problems. That’s why I had
high hopes that the agency and legislature would come to grips with this
problem and fix it.
Recognizing these problems, last year the legislature
ordered up a task force to “consider the effect of the importation and
possession of wildlife and the issues of possession and exhibition of wildlife
in the State.”
Among the tasks assigned to this group are: developing
recommendations for a list of restricted, unrestricted, and banned species;
amendments to current permit structures and fees; and the establishment of
appropriate penalties for noncompliance with requirements. Findings and
recommendations were due back to the legislature by January 14, 2014.
Deputy Commissioner Andrea Erskine told me last week
that there would be no report and recommendations for the legislature this
session, because the issues are complex and the task force needs more time to
work on them.
Andrea is certainly correct about the complexity. I
attended the first meeting of the exotic animal task force last October and
wrote about it in my weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and
Morning Sentinel. You can read that here. You may find some of the stories
amusing, like the one about the Auburn fire
department that mustered out in July for an apartment house fire, encountering
more than 30 large Ball Python snakes crawling around on the floor.
But the issues and concerns are serious and
complicated. At the October 1 task force meeting, Warden Lieutenant Chris
Cloutier reported that two children were killed recently by a Boa Constrictor
in Canada , a snake that
requires no permit in Maine
Alligator lizard
Jim Connolly, DIF&W’s top professional in charge
of both the Fisheries and the Wildlife Divisions, asked the best question at
the first task force meeting: “What’s a reasonable process including informing
people about health issues with each species?”
I still remember another good question Connolly asked
at 2012 meeting: “Should the department be considering any request from
anywhere in the world just because somebody wants to have something?”
Alas, neither those nor any other questions will be
answered this session. But I will make one suggestion.
Let’s take this in steps, rather than try to deliver
the entire solution at one time. Perhaps this session the permit fee for exotic
animals could be increased, so sportsmen don’t have to pay for this work. Maybe
DIF&W could focus first on a list of animals that ought to be prohibited.
Gargoyle Gecko
I’d put rat snakes, bearded dragons, African
knife fish, Alligator lizards, Spiny-tailed monitors, Golden poison frog,
Gargoyle geckos on that list. Easy decision!
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