ARE EXOTIC ANIMALS ALLOWED IN EUREKA TOWNSHIP?

                                                          

 Is someone in your neighborhood keeping exotic animals as pets?  Eureka township
has adopted an ordinance which prohibits the harboring of exotic animals:  Ordinance 3, Chapter 7,  Section 3 - Exotic animals.

A. Purpose and Intent
It is the intent of the Town Board of the Township of Eureka to protect the public against the health and safety risks that exotic animals pose to the community and to protect the welfare of individual animals that are held in private possession.  By their very nature, exotic animals are wild and potentially dangerous and, as such, do not adjust well to a captive environment.

B. Keeping of Exotic Animals Prohibited
1. It shall be unlawful for any person to own, possess, keep, harbor, bring, or have in one's possession an exotic animal within Township limits.
 2. It shall be unlawful for the owner, possessor, or any other person in control of a lot, tract, or parcel of land within the Township or any residence or business premises situated thereon to knowingly permit any other person to be in possession of an exotic animal or exotic animals upon the property, residence or premises.

C. Exceptions
 The following shall be exempt from these regualtions under the conditions noted:
 1. Animal control officers

 2. Licensed veterinary hospitals or clinics

 3. Any wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the State who temporarily keeps exotic animals 
  within the Township when the purpose is to return the animals to the wild

  4. Any person who owned, possessed, kept or harbored exotic animal(s) on or before the
   effective date of this Ordinance, provided that all federal, state, and local licensing and/
   or approval requirements are met.  Any person who falls within this paragraph
   shall be permitted to hold, keep, harbor or maintain the number of exotic animals
   that person was legally permitted to hold, keep, harbor or maintain as of the date of
   adoption of this ordinance BUT SHALL NOT BE PERMITTED TO INCREASE THE
   NUMBER OF EXOTIC ANIMALS HELD, KEPT OR MAINTAINED WITHIN THE
   TOWNSHIP. (RESOLUTION 59, 8-13-2007.) This Resolution is applicable to any
    animals that are currently harbored in Eureka.

D. Violations and Penalities
Any person who violates any provision of this Chapter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor 
 and shall by punishable according to State law.  Each day that a violation continues shall
 constitute a separate offense.

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A LIFE SENTENCE: THE SAD AND DANGEROUS REALITIES OF EXOTIC ANIMALS IN PRIVATE HANDS 


Across the United States, millions of exotic animals are kept captive in private homes and in ROADSIDE ZOOS and menageries. The trade in exotic animals is a multi-billion dollar industry, and exotic animals are bred, sold, and traded in large numbers.

Monkey Kept as a "Pet"
View more images »

But these animals — including, among other species, lions, tigers, cougars, wolves, bears, monkeys, alligators, and venomous snakes and other reptiles — pose grave dangers to human health and safety. By their very nature, exotic animals are unpredictable and are incapable of being domesticated or tamed.
In many states, people are allowed to keep exotic animals in their homes and backyards without restrictions or with only minimal oversight. Every year, people are attacked and injured by exotic "pets" or exotic animals in roadside zoos; some of the attacks are fatal, and children have too often been the victims. In recent years, people have been mauled by tigers, attacked by monkeys, and bitten by snakes, just to name a few of the tragic incidents involving exotic "pets" and incidents involving exhibited animals. View a comprehensive list of all Exotic Animal Incidents that Born Free USA tracks.
Compounding the risk to the public, many exotic animals are carriers of diseases, such as herpes B, salmonellosis, monkeypox, and rabies, which are communicable — and can be fatal — to humans.
Further, the conditions in which privately-owned exotic animals are kept also raise serious animal welfare concerns. Most people cannot provide the special care, housing, diet, and maintenance that exotic animals require. Many animals who have become too difficult for their owners to care for, or who have outgrown their usefulness as "pets" or profit-makers, end up languishing in small pens in backyards, doomed to live in deplorable conditions, or are abandoned or killed. A very few lucky ones are placed in genuine sanctuaries to live out the rest of their lives.
The serious problems associated with the private exotic animal ownership have led groups as diverse as the American Veterinary Medical Association, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Animal Control Association, and the American Zoo and Aquarium Association to oppose the private ownership of certain exotic animals.   

Born Free USA


Minn. State Statute 343.20

Subd. 5. Animal control officer.

"Animal control officer" means an officer employed by or under contract with an agency of the state, county, municipality, or other governmental subdivision of the state which is responsible for animal control operations in its jurisdiction."

An Animal Control Officer can only be an Animal Control officer in the jurisdiction that he/she is employed. I am not aware that Eureka has employed an Animal Control Officer; are YOU!

Several complaints have been filed with the Township regarding Exotic Animals in the Township.

As of this date the Town Board has refused to enforce its Ordinance regarding Exotic Animals.

Perhaps the Town Board Supervisors will finally address the issue at its Monday, August 12, Town Board meeting. 

                  IF YOU ARE CURIOUS, CONCERNED AND INTERESTED IN THE

EXISTENCE OF EXOTIC ANIMALS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD IN SPECIFIC OR

IN EURKEA TOWNSHIP, PLEASE ATTEND THE AUGUST 12 TOWN BOARD MEETING.

                                    STAY TUNED!