Every year kingsnake.com gets asked, "I want to hold a contest and give away a live animal, can I advertise this on your site?"

The answer is surprising to many: kingsnake.com and our other pet-related sites will not accept advertising for live animal contests.

No, it's not because we don't like contests.

Aside from the ethical problems raised by giving away live animals to people who may not, or cannot, care for them responsibly, many states have outlawed the practice, or limited the practice but regulate it in some manner. Some allow it with certain animals, and in certain circumstances, while others outlaw it completely.

Many of these laws have been on the books for decades, some having been written in response to specific problems. Often they were implemented in response to traveling carnivals that would offer goldfish, green iguanas, anolis lizards, turtles, or even baby alligators as inexpensive prizes in games of chance on the midway. Who hasn't seen goldfish bowls at the carnival?

Most, if not all, of these animals died horrible deaths at the hands of owners ill-equipped to deal with them, many times unsupervised children, and over the years many states took action to make the practice illegal or to limit what could and couldn't be offered as a prize.

Does your state have laws against animal giveaways? If so, you may be subject to criminal charges, either as the contest holder or the contest winner. What makes it even more dangerous and problematic is when the contests -- and prizes -- cross state lines. When that happens, a simple misdemeanor, can easily turn into a federal crime.

When a live animal contest crosses state lines, and the contest violates either the state laws of the contest holder or the prize winner, then according to the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, a violation of the federal Lacey Act statutes has occurred, regardless of the species involved. Thus a leopard gecko or ball python that may be 100 percent legal to purchase, keep, possess, and ship across state lines, is illegal as a contest prize instead of a purchase.

So, should you participate in live animal giveaway contests?

If you're a responsible pet owner with experience in the species offered as a prize, and the contest does not violate your state or local laws, or the contest holder's state laws, then there is nothing wrong with participating in a live animal giveaway. But do your homework first! Or that next "prize" might be more than you bargained for.