Amend the Welland Ontario exotic animal bylaws

Hey everyone my name is Vincent Librock, however some may know me as Cuzin Vin. i am the operator of Cuzin Vins animal sanctuary focusing on exotic animals as well as i am an OWREN certified wildlife rehabilitation custodian (Ontario Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Network) we are currently in the process of opening our store Not Your Ordinary Pet shop and education centre. In our endeavour we found that the Welland city bylaws have not been changed since 1982. most of the laws are very just, however i wish to make a few amendments to them to allow some animals that since then have become more common.

  the following are a few of my suggestions to help bring the bylaw up to date to meet the pet trade in 2018.

 1. marsupials: i wish to allow small marsupials such as Sugar Gliders, And Opossums (more specifically short tailed opossum) these animals have become more common in the recent years. Sugar Gliders have no diseases an animal or human can contract and are very safe animals to have, very loving and intelligent. Opossums however do require shots but are easily maintained and are one of the sweetest most loyal cuddly animals you can own as a pet.

2.  i wish to allow certain viverrids, mustelids and, procyonids. these include civets, Genets, skunks, otters , ferrets, kinkajou s, lemurs and coatimundi. i feel that if we take lessons from other cities in our region such as Thorold, we could easily monitor these animals. i feel that they would need to be registered with the city and follow guidelines such as; not being allowed in public around city patrons unless in a proper display, used for education and,  is in a cage  with a 3 foot barrier to limit people being able to touch them.  it would be fine for them to be able to be let out in their own home.

3. Welland currently bans all snakes. this includes ball pythons, boas, rat snakes, corn snakes, king snakes etc... i believe this should be changed to allow all non poisonous snakes. all of the above are very gentle and sweet pets and are very common practise in the pet trade.

4.  Welland currently bans all spiders. i wish to amend this to allow non-poisonous spiders (more specifically  Tarantulas.) Tarantulas are a very common spider in the pet trade and comes in a wide range of variety of species and colours. they are a very fascinating creature and also misunderstood. they have a very weak venom which is less harmful then a bee sting. they are very reluctant to ever attack however. Tarantulas are very sweet animals.

 I believe with these amendments and guidelines we could monitor the exotics pets in the city of Welland. this will allow many animals to find good forever homes as well as help people find a forever friend.  thank you for your time and i hope you choose to support us as this petition will help me when i go to speak with town council to try and make these amendments.Respectfully yours: Vincent Librock

Cuzin Vins Animal Sanctuary    Contact the author of the petition