Hello All,
Some things have come up regarding this years St. Jacobs Expos and I wanted to post the information here to keep you all informed about what's going on and what we're doing about it. Please feel free to post any comments or suggestions here in regards to any of the issues we are currently facing.
As most of you know, the
May 27th expo has been cancelled due to various issues. The first being that there was a recent death in the family which has prevented me from finding the time I need to organise and properly advertise the show. Secondly, although I try my best to avoid this, our date conflicted with the Kemptville expo and I don't want our vendors to be in the position of having to choose between expos. It's not a competition and it wouldn't be fair to anyone. The third issue involves a new Animal Control officer of Woolwich County who has been trying very hard to put an end to the show we have been holding reputably for six years now. Because of the general public’s lack of knowledge about exotic pets, we have been forced to make some temporary changes to the October 21st expo. I will outline these changes below.
Expo Changes
The sale and keeping of boas, pythons and tortoises in Woolwich County is prohibited. For more information
click here. Since 2001, town council has granted us a 12 hour exemption to this by-law so that we may sell and display the prohibited animals at the show.
Recently Matthew Goldsmith, Woolwich County Animal Control/Municipal Law Enforcement Officer, has requested that the exemption be revoked and that the entire expo be made "display only" on all animals. Knowing that this wouldn't be good for anyone, we fought this recommendation on May 1st and won - with a few minor changes.
1. Animal Control must be notified 14 days prior to each event and allowed to inspect the expo on the day of operation. This is really nothing new as we have had visits from animal control and the local Humane Societies in the past.
2. Pythons and boas no larger than 6.6 feet (as is our usual restriction) and tortoises may still be displayed at the expo but can no longer be sold.
I realize this will cause problems for those of you who specialize in these species, but for the moment there is nothing that can be done to change this new restriction in time for October. However, it has been suggested that we return to speak with Woolwich Town Council some time this year to help educate them about these animals in hopes to have the by-laws changed for good. We will not back down on this issue and will continue to fight it until we see some results that might actually benefit the reptile hobbyists of St. Jacobs and Elmira, Ontario.
Keep your fingers crossed for us and if anyone would like to help or read the minutes of the council meeting feel free to contact us at
stjacobs_reptile_expo@yahoo.ca.
More Information
St. Jacobs Reptile Expo Website
Newspaper article - Woolwich Observer - Page 1
Newspaper article - Woolwich Observer - Page 2
Newspaper Comic - Woolwich Observer - Exotic Pets
Township of Woolwich Website
If Admin would kindly keep this thread open I will continue to post updates as things happen.
Lisa Pawley
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