Marengo revisits sale of snakes

MARENGO — The City of Marengo will draft an amendment to its exotic animal ordinance to allow constrictors to be sold and kept in Marengo.

A public hearing will be conducted before each of the three readings of the revision before it is passed into law.

Dylan Pritchard, owner of Corn Fed Frags on Eastern Avenue, asked the council in March to allow the sale of snakes in his shop. The council tabled the issue in April until it could question Pritchard further.

Pritchard said in March that the snakes he wants to sell can’t live in the wild in Iowa because of the weather, and he must follow Iowa law. Iowa Code 717F prohibits the keeping of venomous snakes and reticulated pythons, anacondas and African rock pythons. Pritchard won’t be selling those snakes, he said.

Marengo’s Ordinance 56 prohibits any poisonous, venomous, constricting or inherently dangerous member of the reptile or amphibian families including rattlesnakes, boa constrictors, pit vipers, crocodiles and alligators.

Allowing Pritchard to legally sell constrictors, ball pythons and boas could be a matter of striking a few words from the current law, he said.

“I’m the only pet store in Iowa not selling snakes,” Pritchard told the City Council during the May 22 city council meeting.

Councilman John Hinshaw said he looked for statistics for incidents involving pet snakes in Iowa and couldn’t find any. They must be rare, he said.

Most cities go by Iowa law, said Pritchard. No poisonous snakes, no reticulators, no alligators. Fines for owning prohibited animals are massive, he said.

State law requires that Pritchard, as a store, have an adequate enclosure. Most snakes have to be kept separate, he said. “Currently I can house 12.”

Pritchard said he sells snake care items so he knows snakes are being kept in Marengo already.

Councilman Bill Kreis was on the council when it passed the exotic animals ordinance. “It was for larger animals,” he said. He couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to own them.

Kreis wasn’t thinking of snakes at the time, he said.

The council required that animals that are allowed be registered so firefighters can be alerted to wild animals if they have to enter a house.

“But people just don’t register them,” Kreis said.

Pritchard said he wants to build his online base. He sells a lot to the Quad Cities and Minnesota.

Even if a snake escapes, which is unlikely, it can’t survive in Iowa’s temperatures, Pritchard said.

“From a retail side, I’m for it,” said Kreis. But he’s had people contact him about it. The thought of snakes drives them nuts, he said.

City Attorney Gage Kensler said the city can’t pass an ordinance contrary to state code, but the city could remove from the ordinance the types of snakes Pritchard wants to sell.

That will allow people who live inside the city limits to own snakes, said City Administrator Karla Marck.

Marengo’s current ordinance allows temporary housing and display of wild animals for educational purposes, for use in the county fair and for community festivals, but it doesn’t allow permanent possession of the animals inside the city limits.

Pritchard would like the city to allow both the sale and ownership of snakes, but he’ll settle for selling right now if the council doesn’t want to allow both.

If a resident reports a loose snake, police can call Pritchard to take care of it, Pritchard said. “I get calls all the time,” he said. His phone number is on his building and on Google.

Families love to come into the shop to watch his albino snake, Pritchard said.

“I would love to have one for the library,” said Library Director Jackie Jordan.

“You bring people to town,” said Councilwoman Karen Wayson-Kisling. That’s good for Marengo’s economy.

Even if people in Marengo can’t own the snakes, people could come from out of town to buy the snakes in Marengo. They might stay to eat or visit other businesses, Wayson-Kisling said.

The council asked Marck to draft an amended ordinance before the next city council meeting, June 12. That gives everyone time to read the ordinance before conducting a public hearing, said Kreis.

Pritchard needs to be at the meeting to answer questions for the public, said Hinshaw.

Councilman Travis Schlabach and Councilwoman Jenni Olson were absent from the May 22 meeting.