Popular Exotic Pets
Forbes.com
2006 May 10
Ruth David
Photo courtesy of Forbes.com

New York - Haley R. Hilderbrand wanted her high-school yearbook picture to be striking. So the 17-year-old senior decided to pose alongside a Siberian tiger in a family-run animal sanctuary in Kansas. Bad move: The animal went berserk, attacked and killed the girl.

Spurred largely by Hilderbrand's death, Kansas passed a law banning dangerous exotic animals as pets. And the growing interest in adopting animals that belong in the jungle, not in high-rise apartments, is prompting many other states to tighten their laws.

About two dozen states, including California, Vermont and New Hampshire, already ban exotic pets--usually defined as any animal that is not a dog, cat, fish, horse or rabbit. Maryland is moving to strengthen its laws, and Florida legislators are drafting laws to stop an invasion of giant snakes.

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Rockfish are Big and Plentiful
Fredricksburg.com
2006 May 11
Ken Perrotte
Photo courtesy of Fredricksburg.com

WE ASSEMBLED a group for our traditional spring trophy rockfish (striped bass) trip in the Chesapeake Bay recently and had our usual successful outing with captain Ryan Rogers and his well-outfitted Midnight Sun boat.

Eighteen lines, most rigged with 80-pound-test Spiderwire line leaders, were in the water as we trolled Maryland waters just north of the mouth of the Potomac River. The umbrella rigs featuring white and yellow sassy shads and hefty bucktail jigs, set at varying depths and distances from the boat, must have given the appearance of a bountiful morning buffet to any big rockfish traversing the bay either to or from its spawning area.

We boated at least 14 fish on the trip, including several in the 31- to 33-inch range that were quickly returned to the water. The minimum length for keepers this year increased to 33 inches and the fish we released would have gone into the ice chest in year's past.

The increase worked out well for our group, though, as everyone ended up with keeper fish ranging from 36-42 inches. The filets looked great and tasted wonderful.

Rogers said recent news reports about bay rockfish being overwhelmed with mycobacteriosis have impacted the number of anglers charter boats are taking out this year.

Mycobacteriosis is a zoonotic disease that can affect all organs and tissue of the fish in the severest cases, In the worst cases, infected fish sometimes appear emaciated or have scar tissue or lesions on the skin.

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