Exhibiting animals in a mobile exhibit

You can apply for a licence to exhibit a particular animal species in a temporary mobile exhibit without the requirement to display an animal of the species at the regular enclosure site.

What the licence is used for

Licence holders who exhibit animals in temporary exhibits use the licence to educate members of the public about the species permitted on their licence. Some examples of business conducted under the licence include educational talks at schools, children's parties and environment days organised by local councils where the licence holder informs members of the public about the animal and promotes an understanding of the ecology of the animal.

How to apply for approval to exhibit a species

You must submit a management plan for each of the species that you propose to acquire under the licence. The management plan must cover your general exhibition and dealing obligations. These obligations include:

• how you will exhibit and deal with the animal
• identifying the relevant risks associated with exhibiting and dealing with the animal
• identifying the relevant adverse effects associated with exhibiting and dealing with the animal
• identifying animal management matters relevant to animal welfare, human health, safety and wellbeing, social amenity, the economy and the environment.

What the licence is not used for

Some examples of activities the licence does not support include:

• displaying domestic animals in petting zoos
• abatement activities
• using animals such as snakes for domestic animal awareness training
• animals used for therapy
• training people not directly engaged under the licence on practices related to handling and daily care or management of the animals (excluding training related to native snake relocation).

What kind of animals may be used for mobile exhibit?

Category A, B and C1 animals may be obtained if you intend to obtain animals under the licence solely for the purpose of mobile exhibiting. You are not required to exhibit animals of these categories at the regular enclosure site and instead meet your exhibition requirements by exhibiting the animals off the regular enclosure site.

Category C1 species are some exotic species that have been regulated for mobile exhibits.

Regardless of how an animal is categorised under the Exhibited Animals Act 2015, all animals obtained under the Act must be held for at least 1 month prior to transfer off the licence.

If you intend to obtain a category A, B or C1 animal for mobile exhibit, you need to consider the following before applying:

• Species management – do you have proven experience for daily management of the species?
• Animal welfare – is the species appropriate for mobile exhibition?
• Are you able to meet all general exhibition and dealing obligations for that particular species or individual animal, both on and off the regular enclosure site?

Category A animal requirements

Private events, taking photos or filming the event and posting footage of the event on the internet, or any other similar activities, is considered exhibiting the animal and these activities must be detailed in the management plan. Exhibiting an animal in this way does not count towards the minimum exhibit requirements unless it is for film and television production in the form of a story, narrative or documentary.

Category B animal requirements

You must demonstrate prior proven experience in the daily care and management of the animal in your management plan. Category B animals obtained after 1 July 2016 which are used for mobile exhibit must be identifiable by a third party. This can be achieved by microchipping or using another approved permanent identification device recorded in the Exhibited Animals Regulation 2016 (the Regulation).

For category B species, you must meet a minimum exhibition requirement of being exhibited once a month in each calendar month of the year. Private events, taking photos or filming the event and posting footage of the event on the internet, or any other similar activities, are considered exhibiting the animal and these activities must be detailed in the management plan. Exhibiting an animal in this way does not count towards the minimum exhibit requirements unless it is for film and television production in the form of a story, narrative or documentary.

Category C1 animal requirements

C1 species can be obtained for mobile exhibit with no requirement to exhibit at the regular enclosure site.

As category C1 species will be moved off the regular enclosure site for exhibiting, they pose a much higher risk to biosecurity and human safety.

Due to the higher risks category C species pose, C1 species are assessed to ensure that they have a low risk of establishment in the event of escape, and if an establishment possibly did occur, the species would pose no more than a moderate risk of any adverse impacts on health, safety or wellbeing of a person, social amenity, the economy or the environment.

Licence holders permitted to exhibit category C1 species must meet their minimum exhibition requirements by exhibiting each species for at least 50 hours a month within each calendar month. Each category C1 animal must be identifiable by a third party. This can be achieved by microchipping or using another approved permanent identification device recorded in the Regulation.

Exhibiting a category C1 animal at a private event, taking photos or filming the event and posting footage of the event on the internet, or any other similar activities are considered exhibiting the animal and these activities must be detailed in the management plan. Exhibiting an animal in this way does not count towards the minimum exhibit requirements unless it is for film and television production in the form of a story, narrative or documentary.