by Ryan C. McKeen
In the midst of a massive budget crisis, our State Legislature spent the final hours of its session debating…..get this……drumroll please…..passing a bill to protect stupid people from owning dangerous animals. Yep. Can’t make this stuff up.
The bill would add only gorillas, chimps and orangutans to the list of wild animals already prohibited under existing state law: lions, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, ocelots, bobcats and other big, wild cats — as well as wolves, coyotes and bears. Hartford Courant.
My favorite part of the Courant article:
One issue that had stalled the bill’s progress, for example, was the proposed ban on wolverines. It turned out that ferrets, which many people own as pets, are related to wolverines, and ferret owners expressed concerns about that part of the bill……
Were legislators too scared to cross the powerful ferret lobby or they lacked the brainpower to distinguish between a ferret (big rat) and a wolverine (either the comic book hero or the animal that kills moose)?
The article goes on to say the bill does not ban cobras, crocodiles, elephants, and hippos.
That leaves the question: What protections are in place when a pet elephant stomps on an owner?
The answer: Just call his name a camera crew and Dick Blumenthal will be there.