Unclear City Ordinances

[lizzy_troy]

Here is what my city ordinances say regarding owning ball pythons:

"Except as provided by subdivisions (b) and (c), a person may not own a wild animal or a dangerous wild animal inside the city. A person may own a wild animal: (1) Under the same provisions of subdivision (b) {**NOT applicable to ME; mostly educational, zoo, expo stuff**}; or (2) After obtaining a wild animal permit issued by the animal registration agency. The permit must be renewed annually from the issuance date."

"Wild animals shall include all types of animals, which commonly exist in a natural unconfined state and are usually not domesticated. This shall apply regardless of the state or duration of captivity. Such animals shall include, but are not limited to: skunks, raccoons, bats, weasels, squirrels, opossums, lesser pandas, binturongs, wolves, hybrids of wolves and canines, elephants, rhinoceroses, foxes, alligators, crocodiles, monkeys, ostriches, emus, prairie dogs, boas, pythons, anacondas, and all forms of poisonous or constrictive reptiles and other like animals."

So, there's "pythons" and "boas", which are HIGHLY GENERIC terms and, therefore, open for interpretation. In Texas, the animal registration agency is Texas Parks And Wildlife. The only snakes, excluding native game snakes and threatened/endagered species, that TPWD regulates are "All non-indigenous (species not native to Texas) venomous snakes and the following constrictors: African rock python (Python sebae), Asiatic rock python (Python molurus), green anaconda (Eunectes murinus), reticulated python (python reticulates), and southern African python (Python natalensis)." ((Due to recent laws, I'm pretty sure that there are some kind of limit or permits required for Burmese Pythons now, too))

Does this mean the the city code is unenforceable, since no permit to own ball pythons, carpet pythons, red tail boas, etc., exists? Or does this mean that I have to go digging and poking around at City Hall for some kind of weird city permit system? This is NOT the same as licensing like you would a dog, which my city doesn't do anyway. And my county doesn't have any regulations different from the state.

Thoughts?

[ajmreptiles]

I think you should follow through for a more specific answer, you should always be sure if you are legally keeping your animals. In a lot of places where fear mongering is prevailing in the creation of new limitations, you will find city trumps county which trumps state in terms of regulations.

[lizzy_troy]

I will definitely look deeper into this, and I will get this permit, if it exists. I just have a hard time with this ordinance because it's so vague and references a seemingly non-existant permit. lol

[Reinz]

I've recognized a handful of folks from the DFW area on this forum. Hopefully they will respond to this thread. Or maybe some never gave it no mind.

[Bluebonnet Herp]

To clear things up, Texas regulates Burmese pythons as Asiatic rock pythons. In addition, there are regulations on many native animals set by TPWD that restrict them to a certain amount (25 for white list species; 6 for black list species) without a permit.

As for your city, it seems that it is not open to interpretation at all. It's very clear they listed all constricting and "poisonous" (venomous) snakes as wild animals, specifically naming all boas, anacondas and pythons. Now, I'm not sure if TPWD is really your animal registration agency, as I would think you most likely have an animal registration agency for your city, but alas, I wouldn't know the details for that. Overall though, it seems pretty straightforward that essentially all snakes are listed as wild animals and will be regarded as such in the eyes of the law.

You really should contact TxARK about this.

[JoshSloane]

Once again government intrusion and unnecessary regulation strikes again! You would be surprised at how many municipal codes are routinely ignored by law enforcement. Calling the courts will get you nowhere. My advice is to call the non-emergency police number in your area and ask if they routinely cite individuals for this. I've done this in the past, and usually the duty sergeant has no idea what im talking about. Good rule of thumb is that if the cops don't know it's a law, you probably wont get cited for it.

My best tip? Vote republican, keep the government out of your life.

[bsd13]

Seems pretty clear to me. If you take out all the extra stuff you basically have this -

a person may not own a wild animal or a dangerous wild animal inside the city... Wild animals shall include... boas, pythons, anacondas, and all forms of poisonous or constrictive reptiles...

Basically it says "A person shall not own a wild or dangerous animal inside the city to include boas, pythons, anacondas, and all forms of poisonous or constrictive reptiles"

However it also says -

A person may own a wild animal... After obtaining a wild animal permit issued by the animal registration agency....

So get in touch with that agency and request a permit. You might also contact a local herp society and ask them for insight and ideas

[Bluebonnet Herp]

Once again government intrusion and unnecessary regulation strikes again! You would be surprised at how many municipal codes are routinely ignored by law enforcement. Calling the courts will get you nowhere. My advice is to call the non-emergency police number in your area and ask if they routinely cite individuals for this. I've done this in the past, and usually the duty sergeant has no idea what im talking about. Good rule of thumb is that if the cops don't know it's a law, you probably wont get cited for it.

My best tip? Vote republican, keep the government out of your life.

First of all, it's far better to either comply with a reasonable law, or lobby with a group like USARK and TxARK to get unreasonable laws changed. It only takes one nosy neighbor and before you know it, a herper is busted by the cops and the incident gets splattered all over the media like bird poop on a car in the wrong parking spot.
Second, republicans aren't solid either. Any politician can easily be bought out by groups like HSUS and PETA to lobby for ridiculous animal rights laws, and republicans are not an exception. A politician will do and say whatever it takes for funding and votes so he or she can keep their fat cat butt in power. Liberal or conservative, it just depends on what audience he wants to please.
That being said, whenever voting for someone, research must be done on their background to determine their views on animals. If they're pro-hunting, pro-agriculture, anti-animal rights, and especially pro-pet, then that's who to vote for if keeping one's animals is a priority for someone. Ties with HSUS and their ilk is a red flag. Again, many republicans are in bed with HSUS just like many democrats are. I know most liberals are guilty of siding with animal rights groups, but there's even a few exceptions on that front. Meanwhile, HSUS's most beneficial politicians have been right winged, such as former Ohio governor and presidential candidate John Kasich. (God forbid he wins the presidential election.) Therefor, one must research a candidate on an individual basis.
And first and foremost, always support USARK (and TXARK, for my fellow Texans) and be sure to call them for back-up when you need crap laws changed.

[Samong]

I'm doing this ridiculous dance as well over for a town in Georgia; you saw my post I'm sure since the dates are close. I would call everyone involved one at a time (Such as the city government, then whatever regulatory agency the code cites as being the authority on this issue, and lastly the police) and write down everything they tell you. Also go looking for definitions of these things within the ordinances; I found conflicting definitions for mine. In the definition of Wild Animal it specifically classifies reptiles as wild/exotic, yet elsewhere defines domestic animals(specifically including reptiles) as any animal that spends much of its time living with/being dependent on people. So are my snakes/geckos wild or domestic? For you they may define "pythons" and "boas" in another section and you may discover "python+boa" only covers specific species you don't have. The definitions part of the ordinance is equally important as the law part.

If there is a reptile society in your area call them and ask too; they are always working to protect the right to keep reptiles and often know the local law very well. I got on the right track after calling mine. If somehow you ARE expected to have a permit that society might be willing to help you change the law. Especially since ball pythons are such a gross far cry from the giant constrictors.

And here's the last part; check dates on when things were passed and compare that with the information you get from the city, the authority, and the police. You may find that something is on the books but is superseded by a modern law or something is so old that no one has even heard of it, much less enforces it. Lots of ferret laws come to mind for the last example.

Good luck!

[lizzy_troy]

I emailed an animal control officer (part of the police) that I have known for 8 years. I used to work with him, and I went to high school with his wife. Hopefully he'll give me an answer.