2006-07-13 09:19:27 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
They're very good bugs who don't hurt people & who eat the bugs we hate.
Maximum penalty - very bad karma!
2006-07-13 09:27:18 · answer #1 · answered by Funchy 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is not illegal!!!!
Claim: Killing praying mantises is illegal in (parts of) the USA.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1999]
When I was growing up in New Jersey, I used to find praying mantises in our driveway and back yard every once in a while. It was illegal in NJ to kill a praying mantis, as I remember.
Origins: The belief that it is illegal to kill a praying mantis (a crime carrying a $50 fine as a punishment) has been floating around since the 1950s, and we have no idea where this bit of insectoid legal apocrypha came from. There is not (and never has been) any federal or state law proscribing the killing of praying mantises. They're certainly useful insects that are best left alone since they eat a lot of other bugs we consider pests, but they're hardly an endangered species. (If they were endangered, killing them would carry a fine far heftier than $50.) Maybe because they're considered beneficial insects and have such an unusual posture (they're prayin', fer gosh sake!) people literally thought it a crime to kill them.
Check snopes.com!
2006-07-13 22:37:33 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
False.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/mantis2.htm
2006-07-13 16:25:52 · answer #3 · answered by sovereign_carrie 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Is it illegal? I have never been close enough to one to kill it.
2006-07-18 19:07:50 · answer #4 · answered by emmadropit 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is not illegal go to http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/mantis2.htm and check it out
2006-07-13 16:25:13 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
you get a find. put it this way... if theres one in your house.. and you cant pick it up... get the vaccum... you wouldnt be killing it.
2006-07-13 16:24:39 · answer #6 · answered by tansyangeni 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think they endangered or something, probably just a misdemeanor tho.
2006-07-13 16:23:08 · answer #7 · answered by rufftuff187 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i dont know but i would like to know
2006-07-13 16:22:50 · answer #8 · answered by tinkerbell85 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋