WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) -- Wausau's Public Health and Safety Committee tabled a potential ordinance on Monday that would have put further restrictions on what animals can be kept as pets inside city limits.
Committee Chair and Council President Lisa Rasmussen said they are hoping to get more feedback from those who may own some of the animals that the ordinance would restrict. "People do keep snakes and reptiles as domestic pets," she said. "They do keep arachnids on some level. They are contained, obviously, but they are in homes. So as soon as something like this happens people that have them that are able to raise them and keep them safely, would then be outside the law."
The ordinance as proposed includes some obvious wild animals such as buffaloes, bison, elephants, and rhinos. The proposal could also include certain constrictor snakes, spiders, and monkeys.
Rasmussen said city officials have been in communication with neighboring municipalities and the Humane Society of the United States for guidance on the ordinance. As written, the city's ordinance would allow some snakes shorter than six feet in length. However, both Police Chief Ben Bliven and the Humane Society agree that policing that regulation can be difficult and in some cases could lead to owners malnourishing the animal on purpose to keep it from growing.
Discussion on the proposal began after a fox that was being kept as a pet got loose and ended up biting an Animal Resource officer that was trying to return it to its owner. It was ultimately put down to test for rabies, which made the owner upset.
Hazards like that to both the animal's owners and neighborhood are some of the driving factors behind the ordinance. "Sometimes it's that, sometimes it's disease, sometimes it's the animal can't be vaccinated. It depends on the nature of the animal," said Rasmussen
Additionally, some animals are just traditionally wild and would not benefit from being constricted to a cage or a home setting.
Rasmussen is hopeful that some residents who do own those animals that could be restricted under the measure as written will show up at the next Public Health and Safety Committee meeting in January to provide insight. "They may have experience in raising them legally because legally today you can have them, so we always offer at least some opportunity for the public to engage with us before we make a final decision."
No members of the public were in attendance at Monday's meeting to provide input, so the measure has been put off until the January 21st, 2019 meeting. Rasmussen anticipates the committee will take action on the matter that night, either sending the ordinance on to the full council or voting it down. some animals could be added or removed from the list as well.
The complete list of animals that would be banned under the ordinance can be found in the agenda packet for Monday's meeting by clicking here.
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