Goodall bill should encourage exotic-pet regulation

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/04/2022 (892 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ONLY three months into 2022, animal protection has already generated considerable attention in both local and national news. Most recently, the Jane Goodall Bill was introduced by Sen. Marty Klyne, with a great deal of excitement. This ground-breaking piece of legislation, if passed, would end the commercial trade of more than 800 other wildlife species, including some kept as exotic pets.

There’s no doubt public sensibilities and values regarding exotic animals have changed throughout the years. So has knowledge about animal welfare, human health and environmental, conservation and other issues associated with the exotic pet trade.

The keeping of exotic wild animals as pets and their use for entertainment purposes (for example, meet-and-greets with sloths, monkeys, snakes) has become increasingly controversial. While a small percentage of pet-keepers cling to the idea that wildlife should be allowed as pets, most people don’t agree.

Polling by Nanos Research in December showed 67 per cent of Winnipeg residents oppose the trade of wild animals for the exotic pet industry, with the keeping of wild animals whose environmental conditions cannot be replicated in captivity (87 per cent) and keeping of animals that are potentially dangerous to humans (75 per cent) named as key concerns.

Animal issues are currently on the city’s political agenda because of a review of its Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw. Numerous issues, including the keeping of exotic wild animals as pets in the city, are being evaluated and discussed. The growing public interest in animal welfare and concerns about the protection of exotic wild animals reflected in the Nanos poll should encourage the City of Winnipeg to move forward with truly meaningful, progressive changes to the bylaw.

Currently, Winnipeg allows tens of thousands of wild animal species, such as parrots, tortoises and snakes, to be kept as pets because the city does not prohibit them. Most of these animals are exceptionally challenging or impossible to keep outside of highly professional zoological institutions, so they shouldn’t be in the bedrooms, basements and living rooms of Winnipeg residents. It’s cruel and unsafe, and it’s impossible for the city to provide oversight or control.

Winnipeg Animal Services has proposed a new regulatory method – a Positive List (PL) – to address the situation. What a PL does is list animals that are allowed to be kept because they have passed certain criteria regarding animal welfare, human safety and other relevant criteria, such as city’s ability to provide oversight and deal with animals that may come into its possession.

The PL approach is easier for everyone to understand, cheaper to enforce and precautionary in nature.

While it would be ideal if the province of Manitoba implemented its own PL, municipalities shouldn’t wait. Every municipality, large and small, urban and rural, can play an important role in limiting the exotic pet trade and keeping it under control.

The exotic pet trade has long been recognized as a major global threat to wildlife biodiversity, a significant human health risk, a danger to local wildlife and environments wherever exotic pets are kept, and a source of suffering to tens of millions of individual animals.

The City of Winnipeg has an outstanding opportunity to do the right thing by implementing a Positive List regulatory program to properly control and protect all exotic wild animals, as well as municipal resources and taxpayer dollars. Approximately 50 jurisdictions in Canada, and many more around the world, have already done so.

Winnipeg can set an example that is sure to be emulated by other municipalities in Manitoba and across the country. It is the right thing to do and the right time to do it.

Vicki Burns is director of the Save Lake Winnipeg Project and former executive director of the Winnipeg Humane Society. Michèle Hamers is the wildlife campaign manager at World Animal Protection.