King's list of prohibited animals makes fascinating reading

YorkRegion.com
Sept. 14, 2016
By Tim Kelly

Do you know the difference between a swan and a screamer?

That was a key question asked by Mayor Steve Pellegrini during discussion to update the township’s 15-year-old animal control bylaw Monday night.

If you want to know what a screamer is, check out the handy, dandy picture I’ve included with this column. By the way, it’s one of the prohibited animals - along with swans - that you can’t have on your property in King.

There is a long and fascinating list of other prohibited animals you can’t have in the urban area of the township, as well. Some are pretty obvious.

Don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to live next to a neighbour who had tigers, lions, cougars, bears, leopards, elephants, rhinos, hippos or hyenas.

Hmmm … elephants. Interesting that the Township believes it has to tell residents in a bylaw they can’t have elephants on their property. I guess you never know what people will want to have as a house pet.

But the list goes on.

I was interested to discover pigeons and doves made this list. There have been fights in Vaughan over pigeon-racing clubs, but I suppose in King, you can’t have pigeons at all, so it’s a non-issue.

Some of the list-makers were pretty obvious, such as venomous snakes like pythons, boa constrictors and such. These things can kill their owners and anyone else they bite if they get loose. You also can’t own alligators or crocodiles or any poisonous insects and amphibians such as rattlesnakes and cobras.

In King, believe it or not, you can’t own a horse, but there are exceptions to that rule, of course. If you live in the rural section of the township and meet the zoning requirements, as those who live on horse farms know, you can obviously own the animals. The prohibition applies to the urban, residential zones and also includes donkeys, mules, zebras and ponies.

Don’t think you can get away with owning seals, fur seals and walruses either, or chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys or lemurs.

There are a lot more animals on the list and for much more, check out the updated animal control bylaw which passed at the Township meeting Monday night. It can be found on the township’s website at www.king.ca.

Best to stick with your domestic dog, cat or goldfish or maybe a hamster or guinea pig.