Laws or regulations for New Brunswick Canada?

[Alkylhalide]

Is there anywhere online I can find the laws concerning keeping amphibians in captivity? The Maritimes seems to always be ignored and I cant seem to find it myself.

 

[FrogEyes]

Provincial regulations are generally listed online by the Queen's Printer for each province. They are usually part of the Wildlife Act, Wildlife Regulations, or something of similar wording. Exotic and native species are typically dealt with separately. So Google the former, but beware the perils of reading the legalese!

 

[Alkylhalide]

Thank you very much i tried looking at it at school but the school has it blocked? (Really??) i havent found anythin yet about exotic species. Im just curious on the actual legislations. Could i call the government to get it as well?

 

[FrogEyes]

Your best bet is to read it online. Finding someone to spell it out for you over the phone might be difficult. Even Fish and Wildlife officers [the usual department involved] will often not be intimately familiar with the laws. FYI, regulations concerning health, safety, or communicable diseases may also be involved, due to certain transmissable diseases, venoms, and other potential dangers.

Exotic species:
http://laws.gnb.ca/en/showdoc/cr/92-74
Fish and Wildlife Act [relevant to previous]:
http://laws.gnb.ca/en/showdoc/cs/F-14.1

I didn't find anything specifically on herps, but salmonellosis must be verbally reported within 24 hours of diagnosis, with a written report within a week. In Alberta, several turtles are prohibited from import and sale because of the liklihood of transmitting Salmonella.

 

[Alkylhalide]

Your best bet is to read it online. Finding someone to spell it out for you over the phone might be difficult. Even Fish and Wildlife officers [the usual department involved] will often not be intimately familiar with the laws. FYI, regulations concerning health, safety, or communicable diseases may also be involved, due to certain transmissable diseases, venoms, and other potential dangers.

Exotic species:
Exotic WildlifeFish and Wildlife Act
Fish and Wildlife Act [relevant to previous]:
Fish and Wildlife Act

I didn't find anything specifically on herps, but salmonellosis must be verbally reported within 24 hours of diagnosis, with a written report within a week. In Alberta, several turtles are prohibited from import and sale because of the liklihood of transmitting Salmonella.

I'm sorry to sound dumb, but Laws often confuse me, I just want to know if me having "Ambystoma mexicanum" is allowed where I live. I saw it says that "these exotic species are excluded from the act" which to me, means they are legal? And I also saw something mentioned about "Species and subspecies" being exempt. I see Ambystoma tigrinum In the list. Thank you for your help! It is very appreciated, I am searching everywhere to get a direct answer, because for me I would like to know, but it is all so confusing to me!
Am I just interpreting this wrong?
Thanks again!

 

[FrogEyes]

You are correct.

Under the Act, possession of wildlife is prohibited, which unless someone can point out a list of allowable native species, means that native NB herps cannot be possessed. Where exotics are concerned, that part of the act does not apply to Schedule A, which means *only* schedule A exotics are legal to possess. Axolotls are illegal, [eastern] tigers are not.

It's a bizarre list actually, with some resemblance to Alberta's first revision of the 1980's [in that the content is clearly biased by segments of the hobby and pet trade]. It appears to have been written largely by the pet trade or by hobbyists, based on animals popular in the trade or randomly picked from a book or list of favorites, and without any checking of facts.

Viz -

Phrynosoma spp Argentina Horned Toad (Lizard) [Phrynosoma do not occur in South America]
Lampropeltis doliata triangulum Milk Snake ["doliata" hasn't been used or correct in decades]

There is a mix of very recent [and not necessarily agreed upon] names, with names which SHOULD have been updated but weren't. Some groups are listed species by species for no apparent reason [Basiliscus, Phrynosoma, Chamaeleo, Uroplatus - why not the entire genera?], while others are blanket-listed by genus [Phelsuma spp.], and most are single species in larger groups which are equally suitable [Pyxicephalus, Ceratophrys]. There are numerous species which are purely "wish list", in that they're not available or only rarely so [Strophurus ciliaris, Egernia frerei]. There are animals listed by species, only to have the entire genus listed as well [Phrynosoma, Sceloporus]! The same happens with species and subspecies [Lampropeltis "getula"]. Potentially invasive species [for the province] are listed, apparently without consideration of the possibility of introduction [Ambystoma tigrinum, "Elaphe obsoleta", Trachemys]. There are spelling errors, which in scientific names is critical - a misspelled name is a taxon which does not exist [Riopa fernand, Stenodactylus stenodactylus, Pareodura pictus, Liolepis belliana].

Basically, this is NOT one of the better regulatory lists I've seen, as it really needed to be reviewed by one or more persons with more extensive knowledge.

 

[Alkylhalide]

Thank you so much for your information! Unfurtunatly i did not want to be right but its okay, I had to know for sure. Yes the regulations seem very.. Vague? Literally if i want an exotic pet then i have to chose from the list basically. Nothing other then what you see in a pet store is legal.
I just wanted to be aware of the law and i had troubles finding/understanding it. Thank you.
I cant believe there is such a small list of allowed species!

 

[FrogEyes]

There's nothing vague about it, but you're right - you have to pick from the list. This isn't unusual, as in the past there was no need for regulations to consider the possibility of people possessing "exotic" species other than those which were well-known as farm animals or pets. Herptiles were not a part of the equation and positive lists could be extremely short. Then the pet trade expanded and such micro-lists became unworkable in a market with thousands of species. Alberta went through this, expanding the list of necessity to include about 600 exotic species instead of about 15. After a decade of that, it was decided that a negative list of prohibited taxa was both more stable and more practical, and this is what BC has gone with as well. Rather than completely restructure the law, it was simply reworded [roughly] to 'all exotic species except those in the schedules of controlled exotics, are legal to possess and sell without restriction'.

Don't count on the species in the pet stores as being legal. Frequently they are not, especially with such a short and poorly-thought-out list like this. Store managers don't know taxonomy, can't ID species reliably, and rarely read the law. Much of that also applies to law enforcement as well, with the exception that a few of them MIGHT know the exotics law well. In many cases, enforcement won't exist unless there is a complaint or the species involved is especially obvious or dangerous.

 

[Alkylhalide]

Thank you! You are so knowledgable! I read in another forum(i dont remember which) they were talking about the exotic species law in new brunswick and somebody posted in january 2013 that the list is being reapealed because to many exotic species are being euthanized in pet stores and shelters so the law is no longer in effect until the new version comes out. Im not quite sure on how true this is. He said he called the spca about seein a illegal animal being sold in a pawn shop and they told him this.
I think it would be so much easier to just say whichs ones are banned and everything else is legal instead of the other way around. Like you said they base the list more on the common pets then all possible pets you could have. I have been doing research on ambystoma mexicanum and trigrinum and it doest make much sense in a "protecting the local wildlife" on why triginum is okay and mexicanum is not. There may be a reason i just have not found it yet. I hope they are in fact revising the list!