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Raleigh council considers ban, registration requirement for wild animals kept as pets

Raleigh is determining the next steps in defining how and whether residents can own dangerous animals as pets within the city.

Posted Updated

By
Keely Arthur, WRAL reporter,
and
Ryan Bisesi, WRAL multiplatform producer
RALEIGH, N.C. — Raleigh is determining the next steps in defining how and whether residents can own dangerous animals as pets within the city.
The city defines a Dangerous Wild Animal (DWA) as any non-domesticated animal, which is normally found in the wild state, is inherently dangerous to persons or property, and which generally does not live in or about the habitation of humans, including, but not limited to lions, tigers, leopards, cougars, jaguars, cheetahs, wolves, non-human primates, medically significant venomous snakes, crocodilians, and any hybrid or crossbreed of such animals.

The definition does not include animals regulated by federal and state laws or regulations.

  • Option 1: Banning DWAs with no grandfathering of current DWA pets.
  • Option 2: Banning DWAs with grandfathering in current DWA pets.
  • Option 3: No banning of DWAs, but owners would be required to register their DWA pets.
  • Option 4: No new ordinance prohibiting DWAs or requiring registration.

Under options 1 and 2, it would be made unlawful for any person to harbor, possess, keep, maintain, release, transport, or have under his control within the city any dangerous wild animal. If option 4 were to go into effect, the current procedures would stay in place and those already in possession of DWAs would not have to register them.

Under the first three options, accredited zoos, scientific research laboratories, veterinarians harboring such animals for purposes of providing medical treatment and educational or scientific institutions (public and private) in the course of their educational or scientific work would be exempt from the provisions. Any person who would be found to be in violation would be subject to a civil penalty of $500 per animal, as well as reimbursement to the city for all costs incurred while impounding, trying to recapture, shelter, or euthanize in the event of an escaped dangerous wild animal.

City regulations came under renewed scrutiny this summer when a venomous zebra cobra was loose in a neighborhood on Sandringham Drive in northwest Raleigh. A warning was issued by police about the snake, and the animal's capture and its owner's responsibility was a topic of discussion for weeks.
The cobra was captured on a porch using a glue trap on June 30, after police were alerted about the snake on June 28. Police later said that the snake had actually been on the loose since November. Dozens of charges were lodged against the snake's owner, 21-year-old Christopher Michael Gifford, and he was eventually fined and forced to surrender $35,000 worth of snakes.
North Carolina is one of only six states that don't ban private ownership of venomous snakes or require a permit to have them. But owners must follow specific regulations, including housing them in secure enclosures with warning signs and notifying authorities whenever one escapes. In August, Councilman David Knight requested the city attorney draft an ordinance which would ban someone from possessing or harboring wild or exotic animals, including monkeys, lions, tigers, alligators, coyotes, ducks, squirrels and deer.

The committee is set to vote on an ordinance in January.

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