Nevada bill seeks to prohibit importing, selling and breeding of exotic animals

A bill introduced in the Legislature seeks to prevent Nevadans from importing, selling and breeding exotic animals left some animal owners unhappy.

Assembly Bill 238, sponsored by Nevada Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen, D-Henderson, would prevent Nevadans from importing, owning, selling, or breeding of new animals, but wouldn’t have a large impact on the vast majority of current owners. They would be grandfathered in.

Current owners would have to take extra precautions to protect the general public, such as getting a liability insurance policy of at least $250,000 under the bill.

“Having an exotic animal like that down the street from your home can be like a ticking timebomb. It’s not a question of if someone is going to be hurt in Nevada, but when basically,” Cohen said.

The bill that was heard by the Assembly Natural Resources, Agriculture and Mining Committee targets a wide range of exotic animals from specific types of bears to cheetahs and lions. It also includes all species of primates, all species of alligators, caimans, crocodiles and gharials (a type of crocodile).

All twig snakes and Boomslangs would also be prohibited under the bill.

What prompted the legislation?

Cohen said the bill introduced last week was brought up because of concerns for law enforcement officers and others whose jobs require them to go into people’s homes, as well as those who are living “next door” to exotic animals.

“I don’t want any of our Nevada law enforcement officers or firefighters, or other first responders or utility workers or even pizza delivery people to ever have to worry that they have to walk into a home with dangerous exotic animal at that home. And I don’t want their families to worry about that either,” Cohen said at the hearing.

She also said she has concerns about the care of those animals.

“Most of us are simply not equipped to care for these animals. We may love them and want them but it isn’t a good idea for them or for us. If we want to have them in our homes, we just have to meet some minimum requirements,” she said.

The bill doesn’t target zoos or sanctuaries, circuses or casino animals, Cohen said in an email following the hearing. It’s not intended to ban animals completely from residential homes.

“It’s just about ensuring that anyone who has these animals takes the extra precautions necessary to keep our communities safe.” Cohen said.

Opponents outline concerns

Scott Shoemaker, director of Responsible Exotic Animal Ownership in Pahrump, said in the last 11 years, deaths in Nevada were caused by dogs and horses and not by exotic animals.

“AB 238 is more about setting the conditions for seizing animals and their disposition by criminalizing their ownership by private non-commercial owners,” Schoemaker said in an email. “Since the conditions for keeping these animals, if you already have them, states that if an owner ever had a permit revoked or even suspended, they may not be able to keep their animals. Some owners may be immediately affected.”

David Boland, president of Close Encounters Wildlife Adventures, also urged the legislators to oppose the bill.

“The bill is an overreach. There’s no precedence for it as far as safety for the public. We’ve seen the statistics on dogs and horses. If you want to help the public, address those first, but not exotics,” he said.

Nevada counties, more

Washoe and Clark counties either have ordinances related to exotic animals or are working on some.

Cohen, however, said regulations are necessary statewide.

Warren Hardy, of the Hardy Consulting Group, who was representing the Humane Society of the United States, said Nevada is only one of five states that doesn’t have some direction in state law relative to the private ownership of dangerous exotic animals.

“We believe it is a very bare-bones attempt to have a statute in place in Nevada that impacts the rest of the state,” he said.

Hardy said in recent years, officials have seen “bad actors” relocated to Nevada from states such as California and Texas because “there’s no rules and laws and regulations” in the Silver State.

Cohen said unlike Nevada, surrounding states have “uniformity” when it comes to regulating exotic animals.

“And we don’t want to be a haven for bad actors. We don’t want them to know that if they want to be able to do things without regulation, they can come here,” Cohen said.

A number of officials expressed their support for the bill during the hearing.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department representative Chuck Callaway talked about his experience of being called to help recover a black panther that had escaped during the feeding process.

“We are in support of measures that restrict people possessing those animals simply as pets,” he said.

The Las Vegas Valley Humane Society and Nevada Wildlife Alliance also spoke in support of the bill.

Officials didn’t take any immediate action on the bill.

Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77