More than a thousand Lewis County residents got up close and personal with an 11-foot King Cobra, a trio of young cougars and a variety of other exotic animals Saturday at the Phoenix Exotic Wildlife Association’s annual meeting.
The event… featured numerous speakers who ranged in expertise from veterinarians and animal owners to state legislators and an animal communicator.[...]
The Phoenix Exotic Wildlife Association is a Chehalis community service organization that works to protect and maintain the rights of private animal ownership through responsible behavior. The event, which was free to attend, is held annually by the association [...].
Animal experts answered questions and displayed birds, mammals and reptiles at booths throughout the day, which culminated with an hour-long show by Anacortes-based organization Predators of the Heart. Director of that organization, Dave Coleburn, introduced the audience to venomous snakes, an alligator, a gray wolf, and three young cougars, among other animals. [...]
Coleburn asked the crowd to howl in unison after he brought out Tahoe, a gray wolf, who then reciprocated by howling back. Children were given the opportunity to sit on the back of an alligator, hold a boa constrictor and stand on stage with the cougars.
Coleburn told the volunteers on stage that “you might be the last people in Washington” that have the opportunity to have hands-on experience with a cougar legally. He was referring to House Bill 1418, a measure passed by the state Legislature last year that restricts the ability of people to own big cats, wolves, venomous snakes and a number of other potentially dangerous animals.
The bill was “grandfathered” to allow those who already own the animals to keep them, but they cannot be transferred or purchased and no new animals will be allowed.
“Whenever you remove the private sector, then the animals have no place to go,” Coleburn said, adding that it is too expensive for most citizens to afford AZA certification that is now required. “Unless the private sector can jump in and raise them and take care of them, they are doomed for extinction in some cases.”[...]
“Those guys are for rights in general,” said Hall, who up until last year owned an adult cougar named Jake. “Not just for animals.”
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