Amanda Jurasek, from Wild Things Inc. in Salinas, holds a 25-year-old boa constrictor in this 2008 file photo taken at Gilroy Gardens' Summer Safari Rainforest Adventure.
Hollister Animal Control official Julie Carreiro told the Free Lance that although she has not encountered pet primates here like the one who mauled a Connecticut woman, she believes the county and city need laws to address what she contends is a potential public safety issue - unregulated ownership of exotic pets.
The local animal control office is in "preliminary stages" of putting together a proposed ordinance that addresses ownership of exotic pets in San Benito County, mainly to regulate the local population of boa constrictors, said Carreiro, who expects to take a proposed ordinance to both the county board of supervisors and city council.
Neither the city nor the county have exotic pet ordinances on the books similar to laws that many local governments throughout the state and nation carry to prevent problems with the animals, many of which are normally suited for the wild.
That champanzee in Connecticut was a 15-year-old pet of a woman whose friend the primate ultimately mauled before being shot and killed by authorities. The victim, 55-year-old Charla Nash, is in critical but stable condition with injuries described as "severe trauma to her face, scalp and hands," according to a statement from the hospital treating her.
Carreiro referred to the mauling and the chimpanzee's death as a "bad deal" and said it is a sign authorities need to keep "better tabs" on such creatures and their owners.
"It's something that never should have happened," Carreiro said.
Carreiro said the ordinance locally would address "mostly boa constrictors." And although there have not been documented cases of problems with the snakes, and she is unsure about possible population numbers locally, Carreiro said they can be "dangerous if they get out" and that they have potential to kill animals and small children.
Becky Butler, manager at Pet World in Hollister, noted how local pet shops do not sell exotic animals and that the most common place people here likely get them is through the Internet. She also contended that most residents locally are unaware if any associated laws even exist.
"No customers have ever come in bragging or anything like that about having anything exotic," Butler said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Kollin Kosmicki Kollin Kosmicki is editor of the Free Lance and Pinnacle. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 337 or editor@freelancenews.com.
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