Can my neighbor keep a pet chimpanzee at home?
Q: My neighbor just brought home a chimpanzee to keep as a pet. He has always tended towards exotic pets, such as his ferrets, but I think this is too dangerous. Is he allowed to keep a pet chimp? — Norm
A: No. The type of pets you can keep is regulated by law. Standard household pets, such as dogs and cats, are exempt, as are less common but safe animals such as rabbits, parakeets, and ferrets.
The types of animals on the list will depend on where you live and can easily be found online. Some animals are too dangerous to normally be kept as pets. Examples include elephants, tigers — and your neighbor’s chimpanzee.
The list contains no real surprises and includes most larger predatory species. A permit to keep one of these animals a permit will need to be obtained after the prospective owner proves the necessary skill and experience to keep both the public and animal safe.
There are other animals that can be kept as pets that require a less stringent permitting process. Examples include wolverines, alligators and ocelots. While obtaining a permit is easier for these animals, it is still difficult, and the applicant will need to show the skills and facility for proper care and safety.
To see if your neighbor can keep his chimpanzee, you will need to check your state and local rules, as well as any homeowners association restrictions. If you live in a condo, it is a safe bet the chimp is not allowed there.
After you find out whether the type of animal is allowed in your community, you will need to determine if a permit is required. If it is, the final step is to check and see if your neighbor has the right one. If not, call the wildlife commission or animal welfare.
Even if your neighbor has taken the appropriate steps to have his new pet, you should still reach out to animal welfare if you think that you are in danger or the chimp is not taken care of. Three words that could stop development: Robert Is Here family behind the popular home of A vote against the project would and housing developments exotic fruits and thick shakes is reject the application, but a vote in to the east of the proposed project, asking thousands of fans to help it favor would advance the application but mostly farmland to the west. defeat the plan. to a state review. A second, It’s leased farmland, with crops of
“Throw some common sense final vote before the commission okra, green beans and squash over out there instead of throwing dollars would likely come later in the year the years, according to Heather into it,” owner Robert or in 2020. Moehling, head of marketing at Moehling said Wednesday during The Robert is Here vote offers a Robert is Here and Moehling’s a break from loading mangoes at high-profile test of the commission’s daughter-in-law. the property where he’s been eagerness for more development More than 15,000 people have working since he was 7 years old. in the Redland, an agricultural signed Robert is Here petitions
Commissioners were set to take region at the edge of the Everglades urging county commissioners to their first vote on the project during that’s home to most of the reject Treo’s request to lift a 2007 a meeting at the Stephen P. county’s farming industry.
Clark Center in downtown Miami. There are other apartment complexes
Developers have encroached into Miami-Dade farmland for decades, but none has yet gotten as close to the most iconic outpost of Miami agriculture as the Treo Group.
The Miami firm requested looser development rules that would allow up to a 497-unit apartment complex across the street from the Robert Is Here fruit market just outside Florida City. The
deed restriction limiting development on the farmland located at West Palm Drive and Southwest 192nd Avenue.
The restriction limits construction to a residential development to a project less than half that size. Treo points to nearby subdivisions and apartments, as well as a tight housing market, to justify the larger project as a natural step for farmland within the county’s urban-development zone. The developer has agreed to make 32 of the units on the property priced in the “workforce” range, which targets buyers or renters earning about $70,000 a year.
“As the population of Miami-Dade county grows, more and more individuals will be cut off from having the opportunity to acquire residential units,” Treo wrote in its request for expedited approval of looser development limits on the 20-acre undeveloped farm. The “lack of available housing inventory will only increase the housing affordability issues that plague the County.”
Miami-Dade’s planning staff recommended commissioners reject the proposal, as did the county’s Planning Advisory Board. County zoning staff suggested a compromise that would allow Treo to build 327 units, and the developer has agreed to the recommended cap.
That’s still 65% larger than the cap previous owners offered Miami-Dade commissioners in 2007 when the property secured a slightly looser land designation. Development plans stalled during the housing crash, and a property that sold for $5.1 million in 2006 ended up getting bought by Treo for $2.6 million in November.
Robert is Here sits to the west of the proposed development. It gets its name from its owner. In the late 1950s, when young Robert was 7, his father had him selling cucumbers at a coffee table set up in the field. When the crops grew too high, a sign let neighbors know the stand was in business for the day. It read “Robert Is Here,” and the name stuck.
It’s since grown into one of the top destinations in South Dade, with emus joining tortoises, goats, and other livestock in a free petting zoo in the back, and the line for fresh-fruit shakes sometimes stretching past the guitar player who sets up by an antique truck on weekend afternoons. Heather Moehling said the top sellers are probably mangoes and the strawberry-key lime shakes.
Heather Moehling estimated visitors at about 1.5 million a year. Robert is Here hopes to tap customer loyalty to block the development plan. “We need your help,” reads the sign above the milkshake counter. “Visit one of our cashiers to stop a zoning change directly in front of our business.”