'Oh, My!' Exotic pet owners needn't disclose

"A gun doesn't get up and walk out of its gun case," Hobgood retorted.
Criminals are released from their prison cages , obtain guns and move in next door without having to notify anyone. Why treat an exotic animal owner as something less than a criminal?
Escapes are extremely rare and there is already a rule in place that FWC must be notified. With the 3,000 animals that escaped during Hurricane Andrew, there was not a single incident where someone was attacked or killed.
This is fear mongering from animal activists who would rather see animals become extinct than to be kept or bred in captivity. Notification would actually put curious children in danger as they dared each other to go over the fence to see the animals on the other side. It is a clear invasion of both our privacy and our property rights.
Next you would have to notify your neighbors if you had a certain breed of dog or cared for a relative with mental illness or lived with a chronic alcoholic. It's time people woke up to these attacks on our constitutional rights.

It would seem that many people think "constitutional rights" only apply to a certain elite few. Best example in argument: is notification required when a felon moves in next door?

Actually, DOMESTICATED DOGS running loose kill people, NOT exotic animals kept in cages. The Animal Rights Activists have sold you a bill of goods (rotten, smelly ones at that), and you bought it hook, line, and sinker. They fabicate data. They make up stories to scare people. The laws that are in place are sufficient. Penalize the few owners who are NOT responsible -- NOT law abiding citizens.

The following is a partial listing (653) of incidents in the U.S. involving captive exotic cats since 1990. The U.S. incidents have resulted in the deaths of 19 humans, 15 adults and 4 children, the additional mauling of 171 more adults and children, 134 escapes, the killing of 79 big cats, and 105 confiscations. There have also been 147 big cat incidents outsite the U.S. that have resulted in the deaths of 56 humans and the mauling of 84 humans by captive big cats. These figures only represent the headlines that Big Cat Rescue has been able to track. Because there is no reporting agency that keeps such records the actual numbers are certainly much higher. http://www.bigcatrescue.org/big_cat_news.htm

To see a video of the mauling of a zoo keeper in 2006 go to http://www.bigcatrescue.org/animal_contact.ht...

The Journal of Internal Medicine in 2006 estimated that 50 million people worldwide have been infected with zoonotic diseases since 2000 and as many as 78,000 have died. Read more about zoonotic diseases here: http://www.bigcatrescue.org/zoonosis.htm

To see the number of exotic cats abandoned each year go to http://www.bigcatrescue.org/animal_abuse.htm

To view a trend chart that shows the alarming escalation of big cat incidents here: http://www.bigcatrescue.org/Flash/BigCatBans/...

The U.S. represents less than 5% of the entire global population, but up through 2006 79% of ALL captive cat incidents occurred in the U.S.(Now that the US is clamping down on the exotic pet trade, the reports in 2007 show a decline in U.S. incidents compared to the rest of the world) Likewise, Florida represents less than 6% of the U.S. population while 11% of all U.S. incidents occur in Florida. Florida boasts the most comprehensive sets of regulations allowing private ownership of exotic cats while ranking #1 in the highest numbers of big cat killings, maulings and escapes. To view photos of fatal injuries from cases reported in the American Journal of Forensic Medicine click http://www.bigcatrescue.org/laws/AMJForensicF...

This video shows facilities that are currently licensed and approved by the USDA and the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission that have been operating at this level or worse for more than 10 years and yet are still open to the public. These images are typical of those who allow cameras in but there are many worse ones who do not. This shows precisely why we need to ban private possession of exotic cats. http://www.veoh.com/videos/v2570412PGPYhmr

Mrs. Baskin,
Why don't you stop spreading all your made up statistics (which have already been disproven) and tell everyone about all the escapes and injuries YOU HAVE HAD AT YOUR FACILITY (Big Cat Rescue, formerly know as Wildlife on Easy Street).

On your website, you list all these "incidents" that supposedly occurred at other places, but you don't bother to list all the "incidents" that have occurred at YOUR place. WHY? Is the list too long?

How about being TRUTHFUL for a change? Or do you even know what that means?

re: Carol Baskin
Why even bother to mention the mauling of the zookeeper?

Are you now saying there should be no Zoos either?

I know you are an animal rights activist, but the general public does not agree with you and they enjoy having animals in their lives.

Big Cat Rescue - Lies, deceit, and twisted words.
See the truth here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/bigcat1truth
http://phoenixexotics.org/BigCatonBayNews9.wm...