collecting regulations?

[jay76]

Does anyone know what the regulations on field collection are in ontario? If I found a garter snake in my backyard, say, would I be able to keep it (in the name of education of course ;))

A recurring thought I've been having :)

Jay

[Kyle Barker]

Look at you provincial governments web site. Look up trapping restrictions or similar topics. Not sure about there but in bc its illegal to catch any animal at al with a permit(like anyone knows/cares).

kyle

[casacrow]

I believe that you require a permit to keep them in Lindsay. If you want to see something awsome head out to Reaboro in the spring. There are many dens around the train tracks leading into town and you will see thousands of garters.

-DONNY

[jay76]

Really? Reaboro? I'll have to make a day trip :)

[Kyle Walkinshaw]

I believe that you need permits to keep ANY wild specimens and I am also curious to find out how you can get pemits for keeping w/c's in Ontario and also I know you need a permit for capturing native species. Does anyone know how I could get either of these licenses??

[Jonathan Crowe]

For animals that are listed as specially protected or game wildlife under the <i><a href="http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/English/97f41_e.htm">Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997</a></i>, you need a licence to collect or hunt them (<a href="http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/English/97f41_e.htm#P381_15589">section 5</a>), a licence to keep them (<a href="http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/English/97f41_e.htm#P663_40828">section 40</a>), a licence to buy or sell them (<a href="http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/English/97f41_e.htm#P728_47585">section 48</a>) and a licence to breed them (<a href="http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/English/97f41_e.htm#P699_44655">section 45</a>). Doing so without such a licence is illegal, and, based on what I know and have heard, you're not likely to get a licence without a good reason. Reptiles and amphibians that are protected in this manner are listed in Schedules <a href="http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/English/97f41_e.htm#P1361_107421">4</a>, <a href="http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/English/97f41_e.htm#P1370_107545">5</a>, <a href="http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/English/97f41_e.htm#P1512_109736">9</a> and <a href="http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/English/97f41_e.htm#P1559_110632">10</a> of the Act.

Animals that are <em>not</em> protected under the Act technically require a small game hunting licence under <a href="http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/English/97f41_e.htm#P394_16721">clause 6(1)(h)</a> of the Act to collect from the wild. This includes all frogs (except bullfrogs), American toads, mudpuppies and newts, and eastern garter, ribbon, brown, red-bellied and ringneck snakes.

[jay76]

I might be reading this wrong, but 40 (1) seems to say that you can't keep live wildlife or live protected wildlife without a permit/license unless it's for consumption or personal education (single specimen)... but if you want to keep more than one wild animal of the same species for collection purposes or sale you need the license, even if the species in question isn't protected. It suggests that if I collected, say, a wild garter, I could do so without a permit, as long as I had only 1, and had no intention of breeding or selling it, and if questioned was just trying to learn more about them :). I'm not the best at reading legalese though... did I miss something? For instance, 6(1) seems to be contradicted by 40(2)(b).

I found this list of endangered/threatened/extirpated/extinct Ontario wildlife (it's the 2002 update) -

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/VTEEElist_2002_eng.pdf

[Jonathan Crowe]

Fortunately, reading legalese is my day job.

Two points where you're confused:

- <em>Catching</em> vs. <em>keeping</em>: section 40 deals with keeping; sections 5 and 6 deal with hunting and catching. Not the same thing. It's legal to keep a single specially protected animal for the purposes of personal education, but it's definitely <em>not</em> legal to go out and catch one.

- <em>Specially protected/game wildlife</em> vs. <em>all other wildlife</em>: sections 5, 40, 45 and 48 only deal with specially protected/game wildlife; section 6 covers everything else. Eastern garters are not protected.

So, if you had a small game hunting licence for them, you could collect eastern garter snakes. If you acquired the eastern garter snakes by another method (i.e., captive bred, or a long term captive from someone else), you wouldn't need a permit at all.

[jay76]

I knew I missed something. Thanks for the clarification, Jonathan.

[Christina]

Now we were under the assumption that you could catch one unprotected species if it was educational purposes for a child with out any permit at all.
Christina

[Lisa]

If you own the land where you find the animals do you still need a hunting licence?

[Jonathan Crowe]

I don't check these boards often enough; sorry for the late reply.

Christina:

You can <em>keep</em> (but <em>not</em> catch) <u>one</u> specimen of a <em>protected</em> species for educational purposes. That provision was meant to deal with animals that were already in captivity when the new law came into force in 1999. So your information got things a bit mixed up, there.

(Incidentally, the scuttlebutt is that this exemption will be tightened up so that vulnerable, threatened or endangered species will require a licence even if you only have one.)

Going out and hunting something is covered by some sort of licencing requirement, it's just a matter of which one. But keeping something is a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

Lisa:

The exception is if you are a farmer and it is your farm.