Agenda - 02-15-1983 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ae.) * c) .Y/Y/T5 Orange County Board of Commissioners Orange C. Court House E. Margaret Lane Hillsborough, N. C. 27278 Subject: Proposals to Ban or Regulate Ownership of Wild Animals Gentlemen: I would tike to explain who I am and why I make the demand of writing a long letter. I am an animal geneticist working at Duke University and I have been an Orange County resident for 9 years and a homeowner for the last 5 years. I am also a current NC Humane Federation and US Humane Society member and for 3 years worked as a cruelty investigator for the Orange Co. Animal Protection S ciety. I am vitally concerned with animal welfare. My main interest is in local, state and federal legislation which will allow all legitimate u es of animals (for companionship, research, food and farm uses, exhibition, nd as pets, etc.) while providing flexible and potent provisions for prosecuting inhumane practices in all of those areas. My wife nd I own several dogs but no pets described as exotic. I have made an effort to get to know all of the people in Orange, Durham, and Chatham counties who keep large carnivores as pets. I have managed to meet many of them and see the conditions their animals are housed in. Speaking only of Orange county: I know Ms. Lynn Moredock, Mr. Bill Lindsey, Drs. Paul Modrich and Vickers Biurdette, and Mr. Tim Green. I have s en Ms. Moredocks facilties and those of Drs. Modrich and Burdette. They are hum ne, secure and safe. Ms. Moredock owns one jaguar and Modrich and Burdette wn one serval . I have not seen Mr. Linc-iseys enclosure but I Understand that it is larger tha minimum standards and secure. He owns one cougar. I have me Mr. Green several times but I have not visited his premises. I understand that he owns I. or 2 tigers,several leopards, and 4 brown bears. There may be other large carnivore owners in Orange Co. but they are not well known an do not seem to give their neighbors reason to present petitions. This Is My Main Point: Only a small number (probably less than half-a- dozen) of people would be affected by a total ban on wild animals in Orange Co. All of t ese people are probably rather eccentric but most of them have built a human and safe enclosure for their potentially dangerous pet and do not move that animal around at all . (As one board member correctly pointed out during th 18th meeting, the main danger of accident and escape occurs the process o moving animals from one enclosure to another. ) Mr. Green on the other hand,owns several potentially dangerous pets, and according to his statements and those of several others who spoke at We- Jan. 18th meeting, he seems to move them around a lot. Did I hear him mention bears on leashes? Did Mr. Green actually say that he had carried his tiger aro nd town? Which town? How? (In What?) Mr. Green has had at least one escape and Modrich, Burdette, Moredock and Lindsey have had no escapes. This is a matter of public record.