DECATUR DAILY (Alabama) 25 September 13 Falkville considers ban on big snakes, all pythons (Cody Muzio)
When Terry Lambert pulled up to his home Tuesday night, he said he was bringing dinner for his family.
But it wasn’t takeout in his SUV and he wasn’t feeding people. He was bringing rats for his 28 ball pythons.
An ordinance discussed in Falkville’s Town Council work session that same night, however, could evict Lambert’s scaly pets.
“My kids had to pay $5 each to go to the snake show at school with poisonous snakes and anacondas the length of the gym,” Terry Lambert’s wife, Melissa, said, while holding one of the pythons. “But I can’t have my pets that are like a part of my family?”
The controversy came after the Lamberts’ house caught fire in August.
Terry Lambert ran inside and returned with an armful of snakes, reports of which Falkville Mayor Bob Ramey said disturbed several residents.
“Less than half a block from his house,” Ramey said, “you’ve got the grammar school and high school. Less than a block the other way is a nursing home.”
Terry Lambert said it’s a simple matter of education.
“People are saying it’s huge pythons and poisonous snakes,” he said. “It’s not. I’m not going to have something that can harm me or harm my kids. There has never in the history of time been an instance of a ball python killing anyone.
“There’s more chance of getting West Nile virus walking around in this town than of these snakes hurting anybody.”
The ordinance the council discussed would be a variation of one passed by the city of Madison, which bans ownership of venomous snakes and Indian pythons, reticulated pythons and rock pythons that are more than 8 feet in length. Other animals deemed dangerous or exotic are also included.
The Lamberts said none of their snakes fall under those criteria — his largest is about 4 feet and won’t grow any longer — but the council is also considering adjusting the ordinance to lower the size limit or to outlaw pythons of any species. Town attorney Larry Madison said he will do more research and bring a revised ordinance before the council at a later date.
The snakes are kept inside the Lamberts’ garage in plastic boxes in a wooden cabinet, each with its own water bowl, small room and the snake’s name written on the front.
“This one,” Terry Lambert said, holding his largest snake, “we’ve had for eight years. It was my daughter’s birthday present when she was 7. This was what she wanted.”
“Each one can be held in your hand and each one has a name, just like anyone else’s pet,” Melissa Lambert said.
Madison said he understands concerns about the snakes.
“A few years ago, a guy in New York said he didn’t think a snake could eat a child, but it did,” he said. “He kept a python in his house and it ate his 2-year-old child.”
Melissa Lambert said she didn’t understand who would be bothered by the snakes. All of their neighbors, she said, volunteered to help take care of the snakes while the family has been displaced by the fire.
But Ramey said the council had so many complaints from upset residents that he couldn’t ignore the issue.
“The citizens of the town just forced us into doing something,” he said, adding that the council is trying to do the will of the town’s residents.
Link