Here is the thing. I live a small town that has an ordiance against snakes. My wife and I have been working hard to get this changed and the board is not in favor with our request and it will be the mid of Sep when they vote to allow snakes or not to.
Their ordinance says that a snake must be native to the State and cannot exceed 2 ft.
Our request is that no snake who's adult length may exceed 6 feet be permitted and the snakes must be house in an enclosure. (The board has shown major concern about people just letting snakes run loose in a house)
IT IS GAME TIME and I have a lot that I am working on, so here is what I need from you guys. Contact your village/city clerks office and ask them to e-mail me a copy of there ordiances against snakes to junk_mail_2_me@yahoo.com if they have any. If they do not please e-mail me their name, what city they represent, and there office phone number with a message saying we don't have any ordinances against snakes. Also Please have them/or yourself subject the message snakes.
Please do not think I am being lazy by asking for help like this as well, because I have already spent 2 hours finding different clerk of courts e-mail address the other day and got back 5 responses. My goal is to get at least 15-20 different citys/villages to be represented. I thought I could try calling on the reptile communtinty to help. As of right now my main focus this week is organizing my team of professional reps that deal with different organizations which this law does or will affect.
Just to give you guys a look at how I am planning this this is where I am at.
I am planning on making a small team:
Who I have:
One pet owner who uses snakes at part of his business in a music store, who has owned snakes for 20 years. (he has had the same ball for 22 who resides in his store) He also does some things with the local schools that involve his snake.
I am working on getting:
Local vet- who under current ordinance cannot work with snakes in the village limit. Talked with her secretary today.
A school teacher who currently used snakes as part of the teaching experience.
And then I am going to try to get a local teacher (high school bio) who can share how he would use snakes as part of the learning experience.
I am working on writing all of my main views in a paper along with supplying copy's of research. This is where the city ordinances can come in handy, as well as I am giving them information for VPI's book about snake bites, to show them these animals are harmless.
The City attorney has said that 6 ft is way to big for our village. So I have to win him over as well... This sucks but we must fight for our right to have other pets besides the dog and cat!
Any pointers are appreciated as to how we should go about this, and I will keep you all posted as to how this comes out.
Thanks in advance!
Matt Golie
