“I don’t think this is what the City Council had in mind when they wrote the leash law,” Rierson said. The 7-year-old herpetological society has non-profit status and recently purchased a $1 million liability insurance policy - Kimball is a friend but not a member - but Rierson said Kimball was essentially doing the same thing his group does and ought to have the same rights “I’ve been told by every other officer that it was okay for me to have them in the grass as long as they’re right next to me.” Rierson said. Only once was he asked to pick up a nearby snake, which he did until the complaining party left the park. Once or twice a summer, Animal Control comes around after a report from a park visitor. The group also visits Pet Smart, day cares, schools and other public events. Jesse Rierson, vice president of a reptile appreciation nonprofit called the Sioux Falls Herpetological Society, goes to Sertoma Park once or twice a week in the summer to let kids meet snakes. Kimball's not the only snake lover who frequents public spaces. “In the summer, it’s every weekend,” said Kimball’s fiancé, Jennifer Loguidice. He’s a fairly regular fixture at city parks in the warmer months, appearing alongside his fiancé and fellow snake appreciators. The impetus for the leash law ticket on April 1 was what Kimball calls an “educational meet and greet,' which amounts to being present in public with snakes and welcoming the curious. He got interested early, got an albino Burmese python from his father as a birthday present at age 7, and has been an evangelist for the animals ever since. ![]() “It was one of those things like riding a bike: You fall off, you want to get back on and try again,” Kimball said. A cottonmouth snake bit him when he was a child. His own love of snakes grew out of an attempt to conquer fear. “What better way to give back than to help people understand these misunderstood creatures.” “That’s my purpose in life: To let people know that snakes aren’t killers,” Kimball said. The North Carolina native and lifelong snake enthusiast considers it a mission to ally the public’s fear of his preferred pet. That’s actually the reason Kimball was at the park in the first place. “Some people are very scared of snakes, too, so that’s something they need to take into consideration,” DeJong said. Non-venomous snakes are legal to own, but that doesn’t mean all park visitors will take in a python as a welcome sight. She also said snake lovers should be cognizant and sensitive to the aversion many feel toward the creatures. They’re welcome in public, but should be held or kept in a container. She did say that said Animal Control does not expect snake owners to leash their pets in public. “I wasn’t there to hear the conversation,” DeJong said. Most would have been for dogs, but the ordinance doesn’t make a distinction.ĭeJong declined to discuss the words exchanged between Kimball and the officer he met on Saturday, which came after a call from a woman who’d noticed Kimball’s largest snake, a thick 4-year-old boa constrictor named Lucy. ![]() The city issued 253 citations for animals running at large in 2016.
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