Minneapolis MN: Ban on keeping lizards, snakes as pets in Minneapolis could be lifted

[ER12]

A rule that bans Minneapolis residents from keeping lizards, snakes, turtles and other reptiles as pets could be lifted next year.
The City of Minneapolis has confirmed that its wild animal code will be among the ordinances it will be reviewing next year, amid growing calls to loosen a rule some say is stigmatizing small reptiles.
Ordinance 74.50 states that “no person shall keep or allow to be kept any place in the city any wild, exotic, dangerous, or non-domestic animal or reptiles.”
Owners can get a special permit costing $750, the Minnesota Daily reports, but this is valid for just 21 days.
St. Paul reptile store manager Sara Szabo is starting to collect signatures for a petition to loosen the restrictions, even though she says the rules are rarely enforced.
“The only time they enforce it is if people are being really dumb,” she told the Daily. “If you decide to bring a 16-foot Burmese python to a park and scare everybody with it, you deserve to get hit with a fine.”
Rather than restrict keeping reptiles as pets, the ordinance was initially enacted to tackle animal abuse and restrict circuses, the Daily notes. According to MPR, the ordinance passed in early 2008.
The rules are somewhat looser in St. Paul, KARE 11 reports, with people allowed to keep non-venomous snakes as pets, for instance, though owners do need the approval of their neighbors before they can get a permit.
Chris Smith, president of the Minnesota Herpetological Society, told the Daily: “A change in the ordinance [in Minneapolis] not only helps private owners, but it also helps educators to dispel myths and fears.”
Man accused of letting snake freeze to death

A man in St. Paul could be hit with a felony animal cruelty charge after being accused of leaving a pet snake to die outside his home.
The Pioneer Press reports the snake was left outside a property in the 1000 block of Lawson Avenue East after a dispute on Friday.
Police say a 27-year-old woman and her boyfriend were staying at a friend’s place when they got into an argument, which resulted in the friend (a 38-year-old man) ordering them out of the house – along with their possessions.
She is said to have asked him to leave the 3- to 4-foot-long snake on the porch so it wouldn’t freeze, but he is accused of leaving it outside, where it died from exposure to the cold, the newspaper reports.
http://bringmethenews.com/2014/11/26...uld-be-lifted/

[Spoons]

Holy crow. I live here and I didn't know there was a ban. I techinically live just across the border in River Falls for school, but I'd planned to move just outside the cities after school. It's a good thing I'm not planning to move directly into Minneapolis... Or St. paul, for that matter. I didn't even think to look, I'd checked Minnesota and saw that it was lawful to own snakes, I didn't know individual cities could hold their own bans.

Dang right I'll be signing that petition. That's scary so close to home!

[MarkS]

Yeah the MN herp society has been working with Minneapolis animal control for a while now trying to loosen up the regulations.

Nearly every town near the cities has some kind of municipal regulation regarding exotic pets. Coon Rapids for example has been in the process of passing regulations limiting the total number of animals that a person can keep (I think it's something like no more then 10 pets per household or some low number like that) which will pretty much destroy the livelihood of a local snake breeder and turn most reptile keepers that I know into criminals

The only way to know for sure what the regulations are is to go into the local city hall and ask for a copy of their animal ordinances though some municipalities now publish their local ordinances online.

[Spoons]

It looks like there's pretty heavy restrictions on most snakes - all venomous, all rear fanged colubrids, all snakes over 8 feet, all boas, many species of python - but not ball pythons, which is a relief. It makes me afraid to mention my ball to future landlords... They might just lump him in with the rest and refuse to rent to me!

I guess I'm waiting to get my rainbow boa until I live somewhere that allows them. That's pretty disappointing.