Ajax calls for exotic animal regulations

Ajax Town Council is calling on the Province to enact better regulations for owning exotic animals after multiple major escapes and attacks last year

Just in the last year alone, a kangaroo escape endangered the public and the animal in Oshawa, a loose baboon attacked an Ontario woman, and an African serval cat escaped its enclosure.

Durham Region is also home to Darwin, the Ikea Monkey, the Japanese Macaque who escaped private ownership in Toronto in 2012. He lives in Story Book Farm in Sunderland, which is home to several rescued apes and monkeys.

Ontario is the only province that does not have any regulations related to the keeping of exotic wild animals in captivity, according to World Animal Protection. A provincial licence is only required when keeping native wildlife in captivity.

The province does have the Provincial Animal Welfare Services (PAWS) Act, which introduced animal welfare response teams and inspectors.

Additionally, the Criminal Code contains several charges regard animal abuse and arranging fights which range up to two years in prison and a $130,000 fine.

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However, municipalities are largely responsible for bylaws regarding exotic animals. Ajax’s motion, set for discussion in Sept. 16 meeting, says this burden has resulted in major challenges for communities.

“Owners of non-native (“exotic”) wild animals can move from one community to another even after their operations have been shut down due to animal welfare or public health and safety concerns,” the motion reads.

It continues, “municipalities have struggled, often for months or years, to deal with non-native (“exotic”) wild animal issues and have experienced substantive regulatory, administrative, enforcement and financial challenges.”

As a result, “Ajax Council calls on the provincial government to implement provincial regulations to restrict the possession, breeding, and use of non-native (“exotic”) wild animals and license zoos to guarantee the fair and consistent application of policy throughout Ontario for the safety of Ontario’s citizens and the non-native (“exotic”) wild animal population.”

The motion will be debated on next week and if passed will be forwarded to Premier Doug Ford, the Solictor General’s office and all Regional MPP and municipalities.

With files from Karen Longwell