Bringing a snake to canada?

Question

A good friend of mine is moving to canada for school, and possibly wants to become a resident after her term is done.

She owns a burmese python, and although cant have it in her dorms (understandable) has arranged another place for it to live. its almost 4 years old, and close to 7ft long.

After some research both her and i cant find what the laws are for bringing a snake to canada.

Any help would be much appriciated!

Answer 1

Canada is NOT a place to keep a 7-foot burmese python. Those snakes are way too big to keep indoors (no landlord or subdivision will allow it), and climate does not allow her to keep it outside for about 10 months of the year. Not to mention that there is a municipal by-law in pretty much every major city in Canada that bans snakes of that size and breed unless you own a licensed zoo.

So my advice to your friend would be to either shoot further South (Southern USA) where she could build it a proper caged home in her backyard, or donate the snake to a local zoo or something before she moves. Do not (and I mean DO NOT) simply let it go in the Everglades like so many irresponsible Burmese Python owners have already done, it is ruining the natural habitat in Florida. Those things are eating people's pets in their own backyards here.

Here is an example of such by-law for the town of Markham, Ontario:

http://www.markham.ca/NR/rdonlyres/ED6FA...

As you can see, Burmese Python is a prohibited animal to keep. You can check the specific by-law for the city you are moving to and see if it is any different there. But chances are, it is prohibited.