Positive By-Law Change Regarding Tarantulas As Pets In Oshawa, Ontario

Hey everyone, it's been a couple of yrs since I posted here, but I'm back again and wanted to share some positive news for those of arachnofans living in the Oshawa, Ontario area.

For the past 4 years, some pet stores here who sell (or want to sell) Tarantulas and some current Tarantula owners have been working with City to change the existing responsible pet owners bylaw to include Tarantulas and some other currently banned creatures. Below is a news article I'd like to share that was posted in the Oshawa This Week newspaper today:

The responsible pet owners bylaw includes a list of animals Oshawa residents are prohibited from owning as pets. A new exotic pets bylaw has been under debate for four years and at the December 6, 2012 corporate services committee meeting, councillors considered an expert-reviewed list of prohibited animals. With the new list, Oshawa residents would be able to own small marsupials called sugar gliders, Tarantulas and any non-venomous snake under an adult length of three meters, which removes the current ban on constrictors such as boas and pythons. Non venomous lizards will now be capped at a length of two metres.

Tarantulas are now allowed, but all other spiders and scorpions are still banned. Hedgehogs have been added to the banned list as well. Animals commonly banned in most municipalities would continue to be banned, including exoties like monkeys and farm animals including chickens and pigs. The list was reviewed by a Toronto Zoo veterinarian, a pet industry expert and Rob Laidlaw, executive director of Zoocheck, an animal protection organization.

This report goes on in detail regarding the other creatures being considered for allowance and I'm sure you can find it online in the Oshawa This Week's website. I have included the relevant portion about Tarantulas here for everyone on the site in this area and hopefully this will set a president for other cities.

Council is meeting again on December 17th to consider the proposed bylaw and I will post again to update everyone here. I hope this information has been beneficial and useful.

Grats!

While I'm not a fan of scorpions as they aren't cuddly little fuzzballs, I hope they change it to allow them as well. Just because Scorpions are about as dangerous as tarantulas.

cmcghee358 said:

Grats!

While I'm not a fan of scorpions as they aren't cuddly little fuzzballs, I hope they change it to allow them as well. Just because Scorpions are about as dangerous as tarantulas.

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I suspect it is because they have to start splitting hairs to make the scorpion exception unlike Ts which really are all relatively harmless. Scorpions cannot be said to be "about as dangerous as tarantulas" unilaterally. No T can bite you and cause very major medical issues but there are quite a few very potent scorpions out there which are available in the pet trade. It would require species/genus legislation and then enforcing becomes difficult as it would necessitate knowing your scorpions very well, etc.

While I don't necessarily agree with regulating blindly, I do understand it in some cases such as this one. Whether or not such animals should be regulated at all is debatable of course, but given the parameters already set out in that area I wouldn't say it is unreasonable to keep scorpions on the restricted list while tarantulas are not as tarantulas are entirely not dangerous but the same cannot be said of all scorpions.

In a way it is actually very smart legislation regarding exotics as it does make a good effort to distinguish, legitimately, dangerous vs. not dangerous pets with limits on snake and lizard size, distinguishing types of inverts acceptable, and so on. A good win for tarantulas keepers- recognition that they are not "highly venomous giant spiders" out to kill everyone they can get to.

Tarac said:

... No T can bite you and cause very major medical issues but there are quite a few very potent scorpions out there which are available in the pet trade...

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I was under the assumption that their were multiple OW species with a very medically significant bite.

Well everyone, it's official and I wanted to update this thread.

As of the Oshawa This Week's Newspaper publication on January 3rd, 2013, Oshawa (Ontario/Canada) has approved the proposed exotic pets by-law - Tarantulas are now on the allowed pets list for residents in this area.

I am sincerely hoping this will set a president for other areas in Ontario and eventually Canada wide. A big ^8!!!

nepenthes said:

I was under the assumption that their were multiple OW species with a very medically significant bite.

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+1!

Many of the OW species can put you in a world of hurt and require prescription painkillers and/or muscle relaxers to help you live through them and can cause heart palpitations. Those reactions would be considered "medically significant."

I believe, however, that the some of the scorpion species have toxins that are genuinely lethal, not "just" medically significant. If correct, that would be a reasonable reason (by the terms of the rationale behind this community's ban) to include scorpions on the restricted list.

I agree that this is definitely a step in the right direction, and I congratulate the tarantula hobbyists in Canada for a win!

Tarac said:

I suspect it is because they have to start splitting hairs to make the scorpion exception unlike Ts which really are all relatively harmless. Scorpions cannot be said to be "about as dangerous as tarantulas" unilaterally. No T can bite you and cause very major medical issues but there are quite a few very potent scorpions out there which are available in the pet trade. It would require species/genus legislation and then enforcing becomes difficult as it would necessitate knowing your scorpions very well, etc.

While I don't necessarily agree with regulating blindly, I do understand it in some cases such as this one. Whether or not such animals should be regulated at all is debatable of course, but given the parameters already set out in that area I wouldn't say it is unreasonable to keep scorpions on the restricted list while tarantulas are not as tarantulas are entirely not dangerous but the same cannot be said of all scorpions.

In a way it is actually very smart legislation regarding exotics as it does make a good effort to distinguish, legitimately, dangerous vs. not dangerous pets with limits on snake and lizard size, distinguishing types of inverts acceptable, and so on. A good win for tarantulas keepers- recognition that they are not "highly venomous giant spiders" out to kill everyone they can get to.

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They would have to ban certain hot genera but they could easily also include 3/5 species or make the common mistake of banning all Buthidae (largest scorpion family) just because it contains hot species.

KJMinniti said:

I believe, however, that the some of the scorpion species have toxins that are genuinely lethal, not "just" medically significant. If correct, that would be a reasonable reason (by the terms of the rationale behind this community's ban) to include scorpions on the restricted list.

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Hot scorpion species are very common in collections and are readily available. Plan on owning some myself.

Congrats on the legislature.

I assume this includes the majority of tarantula species? Or are certain species still banned in Ontario?

Octa said:

I assume this includes the majority of tarantula species? Or are certain species still banned in Ontario?

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The city of Ottawa bylaw, Octa, only allows for three (3) species of tarantulas to be kept legally: G. rosea, B. smithi, and A. avic.

Glad I live outside the city limits.