THE ADVOCATE (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) 23 June 06 WBR turns down snake ordinance (Roy Pitchford)
Port Allen: The City Council shot down on a 5-1 vote Thursday a proposed ordinance forbidding parish residents from keeping as pets any “poisonous, venomous or constrictor snakes” as well as big snakes such as pythons and anacondas.
The measure started out as a proposal to regulate the keeping of exotic animals in West Baton Rouge Parish, but during extensive discussion was amended to pertain only to certain snakes kept as pets.
When the proposal was opened for a public hearing, Michael Taylor, who lives off Rosedale Road, said plans for the ordinance began when one of his neighbors complained about a 9-foot Burmese python he owns.
Taylor said the snake is kept in a 600-gallon tank with three locks almost all the time.
He said he sometimes takes the snake outside where it is fed and washed in a large metal cage.
Taylor said he once owned six snakes, but lost five when he evacuated from Slidell after the hurricanes last fall.
The 9-footer is “very old,” Taylor said, adding that it would probably take four hours to crawl from where he stood to where council members sat, a distance of about 20 feet. He said he has a wife and children, and said such a snake kept under proper conditions is not a threat to anyone.
Taylor also said he believes the complaint of the neighbor has more to do with an old property dispute than the snake.
Matt Parsons, a Port Allen resident who manages Noah’s Quality Pets in Baton Rouge, said Taylor was correct about the lack of danger from a python kept under proper conditions.
Parsons said state law requires people with non-indigenous snakes more than 12 feet long to register them with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Department, but does not forbid ownership.
He said a bill to remove the 12-foot standard and require registration of all non-indigenous snakes did not make it out of committee during this year’s session of the Legislature.
Parsons said a snake such as the python Taylor owns would not survive in Louisiana’s climate if it was to escape.
Councilman Keith Washington urged passage of the ordinance, saying if he lived adjacent to such a snake he would be uncomfortable.
Parish legal adviser Lew Delahaye called the ordinance presented Thursday a compromise, and admitted some of its sections were “arbitrary.”
The proposed ordinance would have forbidden the sale, possession or ownership of a poisonous, venomous or constrictor snake, except by an institution of higher education, zoo, research facility or governmental agency.
It specifically outlawed African rock pythons, Indian or Burmese pythons, reticulated pythons and anacondas. It also forbade owning any snake more than 4 feet long.
When discussion dragged on, council President Larry Johnson suggested that the proposed ordinance be “returned to the calendar.”
He noted that only six of nine council members were present and suggested that the matter be deferred and brought back up on request of any member.
“I think we’re ready to take action,” Councilman Randall Mouch said.
Councilman Huey Brown moved that the proposed ordinance be rejected. The rejection was approved 5-1, with only Washington voting no.
WBR turns down snake ordinance