List of animals classed as invasive species in Northern Cape

[CarlaSmit87]

For anyone interested, the following may not be kept in the Northern Cape from 01 January 2012 except on a permit which would be quite hard to acquire if you have not had a permit for the animal before. Would be quite nice if we could get one for each of the provinces?

FAUNA
All hybrids of an indigenous or exotic wild animal with any domesticated animal, a pet specie
or stock, which is not officially recognized by s national- or international studbook or register.

All hybrids of an indigenous wild animal with an indigenous wild animal or exotic wild animal

Mammalia
- All species of deer
- Barbary sheep
- Small Indian Mongoose
- Macaque monkey
- Mouse
- Stoat / Weasel
- Ship rat
- Grey squirrel
- Brushtail possum
- Red fox

- All species of exotic carnivores
- Dingo
- All species of exotic primates

- All exotic species of New World Rats and mice, hamsters, mole rats, Malagasy rats, Maned rats, volves,
lemmings and gerbils, excluding the golden hamster


Reptilia
- All venomous exotic snakes
- Iguana, all species
- All species of exotic tortoises, turtles and terrapins
- All species of exotic newts, salamanders including Axototl

- Brown tree snake
- Common Caiman

- Kenyan east african sand boas
- Chaco tortoise
- Sulcata african spurred tortoise
- Leaf turtle
- Bahamian brown / Brown or Cuban brown anole
- Common bearded dragon
- Bearded Inland / Central or Yellow headed dragon
- Box turtles
- Red- eared terrapin / Red-eared slider
- Mangrove monitor / Pacific monitor

- All venomous exotic amphibians
- Cane toad
- Common coqui

Arachnidia
- All venomous exotic spiders
- Tarantula, all species

Insecta
- Asian tiger mosquito
- Common malaria mosquito
- Yellow crazy ant
- Asian longhorned beetle
- Sweet potato whitefly
- Cactus moth, prickly pear moth
- Mediterranean fruit fly
- Cypris aphid
- Formosan subterranean termite
- Southern house mosquito
- Hissing cockroach
- Argetine ant
- Asian gypsy moth
- Singapore ant
- Mediterranean pine engraver beetle
- Big-headed ant
- Wood wasp
- Red fire ant
- White-footed ant
- Khapra beetle
- European wasp / German wasp
- Common wasp
- Little fire ant

[kinghero]

I think the list of what you could keep would be alot shorter.

[CarlaSmit87]

Lol agreed!

[michael]

This is sound scientifically based information at its best! My only objection to this list is its title, perhaps it could be revised along the lines of “Animal species we would don’t like and don’t want in the NC”.

Just out of curiosity where they state all exotic carnivores, does this include cats and dogs? Oh and the big question can they even identify a tenth of these mean invaders?

[Sico]

There are quite a few very interesting animals you COULD keep, I won't mention things I'm thinking of, as we'll likely just see the list revised with those on them, but if I was living in the NC, I would stock up on all that stuff before they add them. I just like giving the man the finger...
As far as the "scienctific" basis of this, technically ALL species of spiders are venomous (INCLUDING Tarantulas), other than Ulobiridae, and no-one would really be interested in those, and stating "All exotic tortoises, terrapins and turtles" and then proceeding to go and list species by name included in that all-encompassing exclusion is just really poor drafting.

[Bushviper]

All mice? So you cannot keep snake food? I understand all exotic rodents but this bans even the indigenous ones as well as all domesticated, laboratory mice. Chinchillas are rodents so bang goes that industry.

Why do they say all exotic tortoises, turtles and terrapins and then go list some tortoises. The only justification I can find is for the Spur thighed tortoise which will crossbreed with our Leopard tortoise.

I also doubt a Hawksbill turtle or Olive Ridley will escape from Kimberley and make its way to the Orange river and eat up all the jellyfish and anemones that occur in the coral reefs there. Was this once again insufficient knowledge overpowering a weak mind.

So all sand boas except the Kenyan East african sand boa are fine. This means the Egyptian Sand Boas, Rough-scaled Sand Boa - E. conicus, Sri Lankan Sand Boa - E. c. brevis, Elegant Sand Boa - E. elegans, Spotted Sand Boa - E. jaculus, Arabian Sand Boa - E. jayakari, Indian Sand Boa - E. johnii, Baluchistan Sand Boa - E. j. persicus, Desert Sand Boa - E. miliaris, Black Sand Boa - E. nogaiorum, West African Sand Boa - E. muelleri, "Somali" Sand Boa - E. somalicus and Tartar Sand Boa - E. tataricus are all fine and pose no more or less of a threat than the evil Kenyan one.

Do they know that the Brown anole, is the smallest of invasive species. Why not include the Green anole for that matter. They occur in exactly the same places so why would the one become invasive and the others not. If they are using the list of species that invaded the tropical state of Florida then they should have included Anolis cristatellus the Puerto Rican anole, Anolis distichus the Hispanolian gracile anole, Anolis equestris the Cuban knight anole, Anolis extremus the Barbados anole and lastly Anolis garmani the Jamaica giant anole.

Once again the Common caiman is banned but not the Caiman latirostris, Broad-snouted/Broad Headed Caiman, the Caiman yacaré or Yacaré (Jacaré) Caiman then the GENUS: Melanosuchus SPECIES: niger Black Caiman and GENUS: Paleosuchus SPECIES: palpebrosus Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman and the P. trigonatus Smooth-front(ed) Caiman or Schneider's Dwarf Caiman. These are obviously so different they would never become invasive but beware the Common caiman!

Why do they ban all primates and then add in the macaque monkey again. Is this a super sized ban? I can just imagine the spider monkeys escaping into the Tropical rain forests of the Northern Cape and swinging in the trees while waking the neighbours. Possibly they are scared they will be employed by the farmers to pick fruit in the hard to reach parts of the trees.

Same with the Dingo. Why mention it twice?

All exotic venomous spiders? I know we have a vegetarian spider and one or two families have no venom but basically that's like saying all spiders with 8 legs are banned. Do they have any idea what they are dealing with in any case? Is the shudder (grill in afrikaans) factor the biggest driving force in this legislation. I honestly think so.

Then we get to the ridiculous group. Who will keep a mosquito? The common wasp is banned. Have fun enforcing that you fools.

Go and apply for a permit for a wasp because you will probably have one in your garden.

This list has no scientific justification. No research was done into this list whatsoever. It is a pity it is so expensive to contest this in a court but it would be as funny as hell hearing their excuses. I am sure at some stage they will answer "because I said so".

They never even bothered to come to the workshop in Cape Town where representatives from the other conservation bodies and the public discussed these issues. Now they are trying to play catchup.

[Sico]

Aww BV, now you've given Natcon NC a whole list to update and add to their list of "things people might like so let's ban them, because living in an arid environment isn't bad enough"

[Westley Price]

Well all has been said above.

I just want to add; I guarantee a lot of our forum members (myself included) can draft a reptile list better that this one OFF THE TOP OF OUR HEADS, without even needing payment.

Heck, I'll do it in 30 minutes! This is ridiculous.

Why don't these guys ask for help? Imagine if the guys in charge had the clarity of mind to call in a few real conservationists as well as a few keepers.

I love the fact that they covered dogs and cats as well, haha. That just goes to show how naive the authors of this list are.

That little mistake alone is probably enough to get a positive outcome in court.

[michael]

Bv summed up the whole problem, money!! If there was money to take stupid issues like this to court conservation would be the laughing stock. Unfortunately while I would need to spend hard earned money fighting them in court they would just squander my taxes defending their half baked ideas. Even Cape Nature would be in for the high jump and would have to rethink their policies.
The real shame is that serious conservation issues are ignored while rubbish like this is entertained. I can’t believe that there is no quality control over what get published into law. The majority of the reptile species on this list would have a hope of surviving in the NC some were simply implicated because they became a problem elsewhere. This list is a pathetic attempt!

[Bushviper]

I see this is also in the legislation. Prohibitions regarding venomous wild animals
81. (1) Subject to the provisions of subregulation (2), no person may acquire, breed, keep, posses or trade in any wild animal that is venomous or potentially venomous.
(2) No person may keep in captivity at any facility other than a zoological facility, a wild animal that is venomous or potentially venomous.

Do they even know what they are looking at, Varanus, Telescopus, Heterodon, Thamnophis etc.

Under caging it states that if you have a Penguin it must have 2500 square meters of area to range in but a pair of Hyacinth macaws can be kept in a cage of 1.3 square metres. This is a parrot which is over one metre in length with a wingspan of 1.52 metres and this cage is adequate for two of them and a nesting box.

A baby Egg eater of 8cm long requires a cage of a minimum of 700 mm long and 700 mm wide and 500 mm high. Dont worry it gets better. Your 1.1 metre corn snakes cage has to be a minimum of 2.5 m long, 2 m wide, and 1 m high with a minimum floor space of 5m². A two metre carpet python would need a cage which is 3 m long, 2 m wide, 1 m high and if you have a pair then you must add another 2 m² to the cage.

When you see these sorts of regulations you know the people who drew them up are clueless. Did you know there are NO EXOTIC VENOMOUS AMPHIBIANS. A whole bunch are poisonous though.

I am sorry if Natcon NC is monitoring this and feels offended but I have no nice way of saying that these are the most ridiculous cage specifications I have ever heard of. It is impractical and in most cases you will have problems keeping the snake happy. If I have to put a three month old reticulated python in a cage that size it will never feed and probably die. A breeding male ball python of 1.2 meters long is happiest in a cage of 75cm x 35cm and 25 cm high. A female might prefer a cage about 20% larger, but your smallest cage would be too big for her.

[CarlaSmit87]

Must add I did not post the birds and fish, but here they are:

Aves
- Bank Mynah
- Common Mynah
- Chukar Partridge
- Mallard
- Northern Bobwhite
- House Crow
- Lesser Hill Mynah
- Greater Hill Mynah
- Nutria
- Red-vented bulbul
- Andaman Mynah
- Malabar Mynah
- Pagoda Mynah
- Common Starling

Pisces
- Walking catfish
- Grass carp / Chinese carp
- Common Carp
- Western Mosquito fish
- Silver carp
- Nile perch
- Bluegill sunfish
- Smallmouth bass
- Large-mouth bass / Green bass / Green trout
- Rainbow trout
- Blue tilapia
- Mozambique tilapia
- European perch
- Brown trout
- Brook trout
- Tench

Then there is also fungi & algae and flora.
Anyone interested in more of these documents from NATCON in northern Cape, send me a pm with your e-mail addy and I'll gladly forward it

[michael]

How do you competently determine cage sizes for specialized animals when you have no specialized staff dealing with these animals? Are we seriously expected to entertain this blatantly misguided legislation?

Your cage sizes amount to animal cruelty, and since when is controlling how people keep their pets got anything to do with your mandate? Did you take over the SPCA functions as well? I know you will retort that biodiversity conservation is your mandate and preventing exotic species becoming established is part of that, how are cage sizes for exotic animals related to this? You are picking at petty issues and this leads me to question the motives behind this.

In case you are wondering why you receive so many negative responses from reptile keepers to your subjective legislation, you may want to consider the following:
There is no reasonable dialogue between keepers and conservation in certain provinces, are you running a dictatorship?

I would really appreciate some kind of reasonable, defensible, feedback about this legislation from the relevant authority or any of the conservation authorities monitoring this site.

Best of luck trying to police this, I hope the experts who wrote this law will be hands on with its implementation too.