SPEECH OPPOSING SB245: My name is Zuzana Kukol. I have

SPEECH OPPOSING SB245: My name is Zuzana Kukol. I have been a Nevada resident since 2000. I am
here today to OPPOSE SB 245. I am a political refugee from a former socialist Czechoslovakia and I came
to the United States in search of personal and political freedoms I didn’t have in my old communist party
controlled country. I had to leave my friends and family, not knowing if I would ever see any of them
again. After spending 1 year in a rodent infested political refugee camp in Italy, I came to the USA ready
spend the rest of my life in a democracy, instead of the oppressive regime I was escaping.
I saw becoming a US citizen and getting exotic animals as a way to escape the dirty politics, and live a
peaceful life in a free country with my beloved pets. Little did I know that privately owning exotic
animals would be one of the most political journeys of my life. Lately, being a private owner of exotics is
being compared to a form of animal abuse by animal rights activists simply because the animals are kept
in cages (as required by the law). The problem is, wild is quickly disappearing, and soon the only way for
many species to survive is through captive breeding. Too many politicians are being brainwashed by
extreme animal rights groups, whose final goal is no animals in captivity. These vegetarian groups
specialize in exaggeration and often don’t bother with facts. The result is more demands for more
unnecessary regulations or bans, unfairly and unjustly describing the exotic animal owner as a complete
idiot unable to learn basic husbandry, and being a threat to our children. Almost nobody is asking for
proof of these propaganda based claims and slogans to be verified and backed up with facts and science,
instead of pure fiction and emotionally biased opinions and assumptions.
The fact is, in the last 5 years since 2008, 6 people died in Nevada (1.2 per year) by captive animals. Two
(2) fatalities (man in Las Vegas and a woman in Carson City) were caused by horses during rodeo event.
Four (4) fatalities were caused by dogs: two (2) kids died in Las Vegas in 2008 by pit-bull/terrier type
dogs, one (1) kid died in Senator Roberson Henderson district in 2012 by Mastiff type dog, and one (1)
man died in 2012 in Washoe County by unidentified dog breed. Nobody died in Nevada recently by an
exotic animal attack. The last fatal exotic animal attack in Nevada since 1990 occurred in USDA licensed
Clark County facility in 2001; trainer was killed by a tiger 12 years ago. This is a voluntarily accepted
occupational hazard, not a public safety issue. For comparison, in 2010 in NV, 158 people were
murdered, 254 died in traffic accidents, 547 by suicide and 4,811 of heart disease.
I have been involved with many species of animals since I was a kid: keeping reptiles, fish, dogs, rodents,
bunnies, riding horses, nursing a calf whose mother died, taking care of friend’s bull on our property for
2 years, until he got to be a dangerous animal which bulls are. He was sold to a farm for a stud, and to
this day, as a hands on animal person, I believe bulls are more dangerous than big cats we are keeping. I
have been a big cat owner for 18 years, from a bobcat to an African lion, but to this day my worst animal
related injury was by a horse.
I am a law abiding US citizen. When the time was right, I moved to the country to live on a large acreage,
and built spacious habitats for our domestic and exotic animals, Since are animals are not used
commercially, they are simply pets, regardless of their origin, some we bought, some were gifts, some
needed a new home. We are licensed by NDOW for non commercial possession of native cats, cougar
and bobcat, we are also permitted and inspected by Nye County. We invested a lot of money building a
large compound. We are currently building a 2nd barn, thus creating many local construction jobs. The
EXHIBIT Y Senate Committee on Natural Resources
Date: 3-28-2013
Page: 1 of 2
ban would make my animal property useless if I need to sell, because with a ban, it will prevent a new
exotic animal business to start in Nevada. Many sanctuary or zoo people started as exotic pet owners.
I am treated as guilty until proven innocent, for simply responsibly keeping exotic animals of my choice.
The bill sponsors, Senator Roberson and Manendo, refused to visit with us, the local hands on experts,
to see the truth of how our animals are kept responsibly in the rural areas. But they have been meeting
with the proponents of this bill, the Washington DC outsider group, HSUS. All we are seeing is
derogatory belittling, propaganda ridden, biased press statements about us, animal owners. I am having
an uneasy sense of Déjà vu as if I was back in the oppressive communist regime, where elections are a
joke and everything is decided behind the closed doors, where the opinion and desire of a few special
interest groups are more important than the desire and needs of the people these politicians were
elected to represent. I am not an idiot, and I object to being portrayed as such. I am a law abiding
taxpaying American citizen by choice, a true animal lover, not a public safety threat the proponents of
this bill want you to believe.SB 245 is NOT Nevada’s bill. It is a bill requested by a Washington DC animal
rights group, HSUS, Humane Society of the United States, which is not associated with local humane
societies; they just share a similar name.
SB245 does NOT address or improve public safety. It has no uniform caging standards for all types of
facilities holding the “dangerous wild animals”, it does NOT distinguish between good and bad owners.
It is discriminatory against small business and non commercial owners, as it exempts facilities based on
random bureaucratic tax status (non profit sanctuaries), resort hotel contract (casino with more than
200 rooms, bar, etc…), or private club affiliation criteria (AZA). What does nonprofit status, number of
hotel rooms, bar stools or alcohol have to do with animal welfare and public safety? It effectively bans
exotics in sparsely populated rural areas, but allows them in 40 million visitors and residents per year
resort hotel areas. Most Nevada counties and cities already have exotic animal regulations, we don’t
need more laws, we need better enforcement of the current laws. SB245 has an unreasonable mandate
by requiring a low deductible liability insurance for $250,000 that at the present doesn’t exist, and if it
did, nobody other than Bill Gates could afford it. Many innocent animals would be killed if no new home
is found if the non exempt owners can’t affords the expensive liability insurance, and their animals are
confiscated without a due process (even if their caging is perfect). Anybody supporting this bill will have
the blood of the euthanized innocent animals on their hands.
Just because other states have exotic animal bans does NOT mean Nevada should do the same. Nevada
needs to be embraced as unique freedom loving state, and should stay that way. Please do the right
thing, kill this bill that erodes on the freedoms of Nevada residents, and might even cause Nevada to be
involved in a federal lawsuit that is currently happening in the Ohio after they passed their exotic ban.
Nevada doesn’t not need this law; the wild and exotic animal regulation is already addressed on the
state level by NDOW and county/city wise locally. Animals are property, but SB245 prevents some from
acquiring more, while giving special treatment and more rights to others. Thank you for listening, and I
hope you will make the right decision by rejecting this freedom eroding, possibly federally and NV state
non Constitutional legislation, which states in Section. 1. :” All men are by Nature free and equal and
have certain inalienable rights among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty;
Acquiring, Possessing and Protecting property and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness”.
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