Waverly council considers matching city—s dangerous-animal rule to Iowa list of risky snakes

Council person Berrigan opened a study-session discussion about the City of Waverly—s municipal code on dangerous animals, noting the city codecurrently lists "all venomous and constricting snakes" and asking whether the city should instead follow Iowa Code chapter 717Fand list the specific species the state treats as dangerous.

Berrigan said the local wording could be interpreted to make ownership of many commonly kept snakes illegal and suggested "we modify the City of Waverly code to simply match the state of Iowa code, so that we're not being more strict than the state of Iowa." The proposed change would specifically align the city—s dangerous-animal list with the state statuteincluding the state—s enumerated venomous species and the limited set of constrictors named in parts d and e of chapter 717F.

Dr. Mike Bechtler, a biology professor at Wartburg College who identified himself in the meeting as…