Regulate and Enforce Laws Against Exotic Pet Trade

  • by: Sue Lee
  • recipient: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission & Florida Governor

Please sign and share this petition on all your media sites as we work to encourage the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission to work with law makers to regulate and enforce their laws governing the ownership and care of exotic pets. Recently, a rich pet owner flaunted his baby lioness walking all over his Porsche Carrera GT as a media stunt, which draws the question, how could he have a lioness for a pet since there are laws against such ownership.

Florida has been the home to such incidents as the man with his Porsche GT and the baby lion, creating a concern regarding laws that governs and regulates the private ownership, care and handling of exotic pets. Often times, people have these pets when young, only to realize they can become too much to handle as they grow and mature. In such situations, authorities have encountered these animals living on their own because past owners release them.

Releasing an exotic animal in Florida when it is a stranger to the area, the climate and human population puts not only the animal but domestic pets and people in danger. Some instances of past concerns with the exotic pet trade included:

• A 12-foot green anaconda was captured by patrol officers at a public park. It was probably a tiny being when purchased but when it became too large, someone released it to survive on its own.
• A 10-foot Burmese python was captured in a residential area, regurgitating the carcasses of two pet cats when it was brought in.
• Another 10-foot python was caught after it killed a pet Siberian husky dog in Miami-Dade County. They also found another 13-foot Burmese python hidden in a homeowner's shed.
• A Kangaroo escaped from a breeding farm, was captured and later died due to the stress
• A Llama escaped from a fenced-in yard and later apprehended.
• A major highway had to be shut down in the Florida Keys because of a "pet" capuchin monkey on the loose.
• A pet marmoset injured a deputy when trying to recapture it for its "owners"
• A 5-foot boa was captured in Tampa, 4-foot Argentine black & white Tegu near Winter Haven, 2 pet lemurs attacked one of the children in the home, Seven Burmese pythons, seven monitor lizards, 100 bearded lizards and many other animals were removed from a home in Oldsmar, and the list goes on and on!

Whether any of these "owners" had permits or not, the laws in Florida frown upon owning and caring for exotic pets; however it appears that those laws are not fully enforced. It is not natural for these animals to live in private homes in captivity and certainly should not be released in an unnatural habit that endangers them and those around them. We are asking for your help through this petition as we join together to speak out to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. You can also help further by contacting Florida's Governor and urge for a complete ban on ownership and possession exotic animals throughout the state.


Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission & Florida Governor - You need to regulate, govern and enforce your laws against the ownership and possession of exotic wild animals throughout your state. Since there are so many instances of exotics on the loose, and this guy who is flaunting his baby lion on his expensive car, your laws need to be more harshly and diligently enforced, punishing people appropriately who violate the laws. It is a continual problem for many years and some methods need to be implemented to stop people from bringing such animals into the state and their private homes.

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