Snake ordinance passes first reading

MARENGO — The Marengo City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance that will remove boa constrictors from the list of wild animals prohibited in town.

The council will have to approve two more reading before the ordinance becomes law.

Councilman Travis Schlabach asked if the city should have the snakes registered.

It’s not hard to do, said Dylan Pritchard, owner of Corn Fed Frags in Marengo, who asked the council to change the ordinance so he could sell small snakes.

Marengo Police Chief Ben Gray said the City of Marengo requires registration of only dogs and cats.

City Attorney Gage Kensler confirmed that the City doesn’t require registration of other pets, such as gerbils or hamsters.

“Which one’s going to kill you?” Schlabach asked.

Pritchard said the snakes that the City is in the process of allowing in town will not kill people.

Gray said that, ironically, he had taken a snake call the day of the council meeting, though he’s not sure the three-foot snake belonged to anyone.

“I’m not an animal control officer,” said Gray. He tells people who call about snakes or bats to call animal control.

“I deal with life and safety issues,” said Gray.

“The only animals we’re going to pick up are dogs,” Gray said. He has nowhere to place other kinds of animals.

Councilmembers Karen Wayson-Kisling, Jennifer Olson, Bill Kreis and Jon Hinshaw voted in favor of amending the ordinance.

Schlabach voted no to the ordinance. “I’m scared to death of them, Dylan,” he told Pritchard.

Pritchard assured Schlabach that the animals are “smaller than what you are imagining.”