Assembly Bill 11144 was introduced on November 6, 2020. The bill amends New York’s Environmental Conservation Law. It seeks to prohibit certain wildlife and fish from being imported into the state and also creates new regulations regarding the operation of live animal markets.
The bill would provide that the New York Department of Environmental Conservation must create an animal importation ban list by December 31, 2021. Initially, the list would include all bats, rodents, and primates (unless the species is listed as exempt). The Department may include other species if it determines that “prohibiting the importation into the state is necessary to protect public health and safety, native wildlife or fish, or agricultural interests of the state.”
A second portion of the bill covers “live animal markets.” The market definition is “a retail food market where, in the regular course of business, animals are stored alive and sold to consumers for the purpose of human consumption.”
While the bill may not have overreaching consequences for herpetoculture, it is important to be aware and informed. It will need to be monitored to address possible unjust species listings. For example, banning the importation of all rodents is beyond problematic but there would likely be species exemptions.
Read the bill and view other details at https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=A11144&term=&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y
This is a late introduction but the New York session does not adjourn until 12/31/20. This bill or similar will likely return in 2021.
AB 11144 was introduced and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation. Committee members can be found at https://nyassembly.gov/comm/?id=15.
The bill sponsors are Assembly members: Jo Simon, William Magnarelli, David McDonough, and Alfred Taylor.
Stated justification of the bill: JUSTIFICATION:
“Thousands of viruses reside in animals and 75% of recently emerged infectious diseases that affect humans have wildlife origins. Exploitation of wildlife through hunting and the live animal trade has made these human-animal interactions the perfect epidemiologic setting for a spillover. The zoonotic jumps of viruses from wildlife to humans has become a serious health issue. Improving management, sanitation, along with disease surveillance of live animal markets it is possible to strengthen our state’s capacity for coordinating outbreak preparedness, prevention, and attain early detection and response to future virus outbreaks from wildlife sources.”
