City Reptile Raid Prompts Campaign : Snake Enthusiasts Champion Law Change

Local snake enthusiasts, angered by a raid last week on a San Carlos man’s exotic collection, urged the San Diego City Council on Wednesday to consider changing the city ordinance that governs reptile collections.

A representative of the San Diego Herpetological Society asked the council’s Public Services and Safety Committee to form a more “reasonable” policy toward snake ownership and breeding within the city limits, by proposing that state definitions of what constitutes a “dangerous” snake be adopted.

The state identifies as dangerous particular species or families of snakes that have been known to harm people, the society’s representative said.

The city manager’s and attorney’s offices will consider the matter during the next three months, officials said.

“I’ve asked the city to clarify the law and given them a way to do it rationally,” said Dorothy DeLisle, a lab technician at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation and president of the 250-member Herpetological Society. “We just want to accomplish getting rid of the ambiguity in the law.”

At issue, say DeLisle and others, is the fairness of a city regulation that prohibits the keeping of “venomous or dangerous” snakes, including boas and pythons over 3 1/2 feet long and weighing more than 15 pounds.

The city ordinance offers no specific definition of what constitutes a dangerous snake and does not include the length and weight distinctions, a deputy city clerk reported. Those distinctions were added several years ago as a kind of “working definition” of dangerous by the county Department of Animal Control, which enforces the ordinance, said Sally Hazzard, director of the department.

“The city left the interpretation of the ordinance to the enforcement agencies,” said Hazzard, who added that the county made the definition of 3 1/2 feet, 15 pounds, after consulting experts, including herpetologists at the San Diego Zoo and in DeLisle’s group.

But members of the Herpetological Society denied that they contributed to that definition. Snake handlers at the zoo could not be reached for comment.

“Anybody with any logic knows that just because a snake is 3 1/2 feet long doesn’t mean it’s dangerous. Most snakes that size would never even bite you, let alone be dangerous,” said Cheryle DeWitt, a spokeswoman for the society. “We know not everyone’s going to agree, but we’d like to see a definition more reasonable. We don’t think it’s right for animal control to come in and confiscate our animals.”

Snake enthusiasts say there always has been some disagreement over the ordinance and its enforcement by county animal-control officers.

But the matter gained widespread attention last Thursday after officers confiscated 26 nonpoisonous snakes and two poisonous lizards from the San Carlos home of Gary Sipperley, a well-known snake breeder.

All of the snakes seized, most of them pythons, measured over 3 1/2 feet and 15 pounds, officials reported. Sipperley, who breeds at least 500 of the animals in his home, was not cited for any violations, they said. What will happen to him and his snakes will be determined at a hearing Tuesday before animal-control officials.

But some snake enthusiasts say the raid has

spread uncertainty among other owners.