Poisonous and venomous pets will be banned in Malta as will other dangerous animals such as bears and crocodiles, according to new regulations.

Once officially endorsed, Malta will finally have a list of dangerous animals that cannot be imported for private collections but only by licensed zoos. The list will be published in The Malta Government Gazette and could be amended periodically to add more species.

Drawing up such a list was not easy, Ivor Robinich, head of secretariat at the Parliamentary Secretariat for Animal Rights, said because there were thousands of species and only one definition so far: under the Dogs Act, a dog that bites or assaults a person is deemed dangerous.

They will now have 90 days to register them, tag them with a tattoo or get them chipped

The new regulations will allow the director of veterinary services to deem any animal as dangerous and could be added to the list. Such animals will only be allowed in zoos.

So far, the drafted list includes the camel and funnel web spiders, cobras, mambas, crocodiles, alligators and Komodo dragons.

Bears, red pandas, elephants, chimpanzees and all species of the feline family, except for cats, have also been banned, as have poisonous amphibians and scaled reptiles that are not part of the local fauna.

Apart from for public safety and animal welfare purposes, the regulations are also deemed necessary to protect endemic species.

Crocodiles, spiders on dangerous animal list

This development follows the floating of proposals earlier this year on how to regulate exotic and dangerous animals. The proposals were put for public consultation and will be published by the end of the year. Once the Cabinet approves the regulations, they will then be tabled in Parliament.

Funnel web spiders are on the drafted list. Photos: Shutterstock

Initially, it was being proposed that owners of venomous species would need to store an antidote as a precautionary measure. But according to Mr Robinich the decision for an outright ban of poisonous and venomous animals was made because of the difficulty of ensuring that both the owner and hospitals had antidotes in stock and that these were replaced once expired.

The parliamentary secretariat is not aware of any venomous snakes in Malta and the venomous spiders here are kept by experts.

Asked about animals on the list that are already in Malta and being kept as pets, Mr Robinich said that since these were imported when no such regulations existed, the owners could not be told to dispose of them.

Since these were imported when no such regulations existed, the owners could not be told to dispose of them

So far, the only control in place consists of documentation showing such species were subjected to Customs and border inspections and were checked by a vet. However, they will now have 90 days to register them, tag them with a tattoo or get them chipped, inform the director of any transfer and offspring and cover the animals with a third party liability insurance.

The regulations come in the wake of an incident at the Montekristo’s illegal zoo last month when a three-year-old boy was seriously injured by a tiger.

Once the regulations come into force, the owners of the establishment would have to register all the animals because the zoo is deemed a private collection, Mr Robinich said.

Among the proposals that had been made and put for consultation was the requisite of a licensed weapon but this has been dropped following talks with the Police Commissioner and the Weapons Board.

Instead, when a person seeks the approval of the director responsible for veterinary regulations to import an animal, an order to have a restraining device, such as a tranquilliser gun, could be issued. It will be up to the director to decide on the appropriate device to be used.

Some of the banned species

• Scorpions, except for those belonging to the Euscorpius sicanus species.

• Poisonous centipedes, except for those belonging to the native species occurring in the Maltese natural habitat.

• Marsupial carnivores such as the dasyurid, tasmanian devil, thylacine and numbat.

• Felines, except for those belonging to the Felis catus domesticus.

• Walruses, sea lions, rhinos, hippos and elephants.

• Gibbons, baboons and mandrills.

Please note:

All species of the family Hominidae or Ponginae, such as great apes, including gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans, except those belonging to Homo sapiens.