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City of Seward wants to take away my snakes!!Help!!

J

jordy1380

New member
Ok, so the other day, I had an officer come up to my door because they got the general complaint about dogs barking...etc. After he whined to me about the dogs, which are inside for most of the day, he asked to see my snakes. Me, thinking nothing of it let him in my house(which I should have made him get a warrant) to see my snakes. He saw only 4 of the snakes that I own, but told me that I needed a "kenneling permit" since I had more than three. They fall under the category of "wild or exotic species" which means they fall under the kenneling category. The link to the ordinance is here and the info is about half way down the page under Regulation of Animals within the Corporate Limits http://www.cityofsewardne.com/Buildi...itycode/c6.pdf. You can type 212 in the search engine to get there. Anyways, since I need to get the permit, I have to go get signatures from people that live within 200ft of my house. There is a crazy lady that lives next door to me will not sign and I think she is the one who called the cops. I talked to her to get her to sign and gave her several instances where snakes are better than cats or dogs and she replied "I don't like snakes!" to everything I said to her. She is just a renter and I know the home owner so I don't think that I should have any problem getting him to sign the petition. I will be trying to get a permit within the next few weeks just to keep the city cops happy, but if I don't get a permit then I want to know how many people would be willing to call or send letters for me.

I will provide numbers of the City Administrator as well as his office address if I don't get the permit. But I just wanted more people behind me because for all I know, I am the only snake owner in Seward Nebraska right now, or the only one that has a crazy old lady that lives next to me. I will post updates as the time comes, but it would be great to have people supporting me if I need to get the city ordinance changed. Thanks everyone!
 
Forgot to mention that they are smaller snakes like corns, kings, boas, and ball pythons. So it is nothing that is really dangerous to people even though the "don't like" snakes.
 
That is why when I look into buying a new house it will be outside of city limits. We're allowed to keep 'no more than 6 pets' (though I think that part is only referring to cats, dogs, and rabbits. And I'm only allowed to keep reptiles, amphibians, aquatics, etc.... only as pets, can't sell. Apparently only dogs, cats, and rabbits can be sold. I don't know, city regulations are weird.
 
In Denver, you can't have any snake over 6 feet long. So if you got a rat snake, and it got over 6 feet long, they could confiscate it. Laws are stupid, but you need to know what they are and follow them to prevent situations like this.
 
Yeah, laws are stupid, especially this one! According to this law, it is illegal to keep say...4 fancy mice, or 4 guinea pigs, or 4 gerbils!!! I don't think the city even realized this is the way that the ordinance sounds and actually is. I raised this point to the officer and he was like..."well if you don't get the permit then you can talk to the council..." I don't think he even got what I was talking about, but it sounded like he didn't really care I had snakes so hopefully it won't be a problem. I am pretty sure that the lady that called in was super exaggerating about the snakes and that is the reason that the officer wanted to check them out. He saw them and wasn't very surprised because they aren't very big. He didn't make as big of a deal out of it as the old lady next door to me is :uzi: but I will be keeping my snakes even if I have to work on the dang city council to get the ordinance changed!
 
Yeah, your best bet here is to take it up with city council. You may end up having to move if your neighbor keeps making a fuss about it.

This is why you don't let strangers into your house, and definitely if they can hold power over you.
 
Man our government sucks get that permit and then never again let a cop in your home without a warrant silly;) its like the golden rule,lol
 
BobbyHill said:
Yeah, your best bet here is to take it up with city council. You may end up having to move if your neighbor keeps making a fuss about it.
QUOTE]

I would think that my wife would make me get rid of the snakes rather than move considering we just bought the house a month ago. Anyway, I am hoping that I don't have a problem getting the permit. The cops haven't even asked me anything about it again and it has almost been a week but I will be turning in the papers this week.
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BobbyHill said:
Yeah, your best bet here is to take it up with city council. You may end up having to move if your neighbor keeps making a fuss about it.
I would think that my wife would make me get rid of the snakes rather than move considering we just bought the house a month ago. Anyway, I am hoping that I don't have a problem getting the permit. The cops haven't even asked me anything about it again and it has almost been a week but I will be turning in the papers this week.
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jordy1380 said:
BobbyHill said:
Yeah, your best bet here is to take it up with city council. You may end up having to move if your neighbor keeps making a fuss about it.
I would think that my wife would make me get rid of the snakes rather than move considering we just bought the house a month ago. Anyway, I am hoping that I don't have a problem getting the permit. The cops haven't even asked me anything about it again and it has almost been a week but I will be turning in the papers this week.
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Are you not able to delete posts on here or something?? I tried to get rid of it and it only posted more??:blowhead:
 
how did the old grumpy neighbor even know you had snakes? None of my neighbors know...do you take them outside often or something? And yeah...NEVER let in someone without a warrent. And please everyone learn from this and check out your laws tonight!
 
yep.. this is a great point and post.
Minneapolis MN you can not own any reptile period.
Saint Paul MN you can keep snakes but need a permit.
People need to check out their local laws.
 
tricksterpup said:
yep.. this is a great point and post.
Minneapolis MN you can not own any reptile period.
Saint Paul MN you can keep snakes but need a permit.
People need to check out their local laws.
Click to expand...

Some laws are not well publicized. I would never have known we needed a DNR permit to breed corns here if my friend Jack hadn't spoken with DNR guys at MARS last year. They are not forthcoming with that information.

No excuse, though... these are things responsible herp owners need to find out, in order to avoid further legislation against herp keeping.
 
Ok, so now the city police have told me that I must get everyone to sign my petition and if just one person doesn't sign then the permit is voided. I have already signed up to be on the agenda of the Seward city council meeting to discuss my case with the coucil and talk to them to allow my permit. I will probably need all the help I can get considering it is a small town and they want to keep everyone happy. If you have any useful information such as what points to raise or how to go about persuading them to allow the permit then let me know asap. I have already thought of an approach by telling them what I own and that the species of snakes I have have no record of ever injuring a person considering they will all be thinking of the Florida python case. If anyone has ever had a case like this or has any information then email me at [email protected] or send letters to 1239 Sunrise Drive, Seward Ne 68434. Thanks and all the help is appreciated!!
 
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