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Having solved all other problems, Catsup County commissioners are proposing an ordinance to ban "public displays" of exotic animals. Presumably, this would mean no zoos, no aquariums, nor other such venues would be permitted in the county. By golly, these're some tough cookies; unafraid to fight the important battles. They seem to have overlooked the fact their ordinance, if enacted, would not affect sales, auctions, or other trade in exotic animal species - so if an Oregon guy out there wanted to set up such a venue, the only apparent applicable restrictions would involve the standard USDA requirements.
The Seaside Aquarium would seem to fall under this proposal, so Seaside should be up in arms about it.
And then I see it's said to apply only in unincorporated parts of the county. Still...
There are a bunch of anti-circus people out this way.
Posted by: Sam L. | December 01, 2011 at 09:03 AM
Typical liberals. They only manage to think through the first 1% of the problem.
The one commentor at the site seems a tad unfavorable to the idea.
Posted by: ZZMike | December 01, 2011 at 11:37 AM
It's why I brought up the part about zoos and aquariums. Though, frankly, the Seaside aquarium's nothing to write home about, anyway.
As written, the proposal has no restrictions on sales or trade - it's clearly restricted solely to exhibition. I'm not sure what they hope to accomplish, but I'm reasonably sure that it isn't going to be what they had in mind.
I worked with elephants for nearly 20 years, and there's a whole herd of folks on the coast who refer to themselves, rather ominously, as "Watchers". I had a few run-ins with them, back in the day, and became convinced that they are certifiable nut-balls.
Posted by: Max | December 01, 2011 at 02:24 PM
There's a buncha them folks in Clatsop County. Unreconstructed hippies, and worse, the certifiably smug know-it-alls.
Posted by: Sam L. | December 01, 2011 at 09:12 PM
There's a bunch in Catsup County, and as far down as at least Lincoln City. Back then, they had a coastal phone-tree thing going. They're probably all on Facebook, now. Man, they were total dorks. I've done invited talks for USDA, AZA, and international venues on elephant management and training, and those folks have never been around animals larger than a chicken or a small dog.
Didn't stop them from telling me what the megaherbivores need - like they could buy a clue.
Posted by: Max | December 01, 2011 at 09:49 PM