Your pet may be next

The Deltona, Florida City Council is pitching a fit because they can't prevent a man, Brian Radenberg, from keeping 50 venomous snakes inside his home.

Weird? You bet. I wouldn't go visit him. But who is this council to tell Radenberg how to live in his own home, particularly if there is no public health issue?

Radenberg has obtained all of the necessary state permits, and no one has ever complained or reported an injury from his slithery buddies, but the Council nonetheless is mewling impotently over its lack of "authority" to tell Radenberg what to do in his own home.

"In two weeks, there will be another public hearing where the city will discuss requiring warning notices on homes with dangerous reptiles."

Anything to cause this apparently law-abiding man with a strange but legal hobby as much grief as possible.

This case reminds me of how the St. Paul, Minnesota City Council recently banned the ownership of sugar gliders, small marsupials from Australia, not because of any reported problems, but because Bill Stephenson, the St. Paul animal control supervisor, "thought" that there might, maybe, possibly be a problem with one of them sometime in the future.

"Stephenson acknowledges they're cute but says he's looking out for people, as well as the sugar gliders. He said he's unsure of what danger they could pose to people or the environment." (emphasis mine)

So no problems have cropped up with sugar gliders, and he doesn't know of any risks at all to owning them, so they'd better just ban them anyway and be done with it. Isn't it nice of them to decide for their residents what pets are just too much trouble for one to live with?

Here's some more nonsense from the St. Paul nanny-staters:

"Animal control employees did research and found that sugar gliders take a lot of maintenance, make a lot of noise and can smell."

It's a good thing my four cats are no longer in that state. You should see the maintenance, noise and smell they cause. They'd be on the naughty and banned list for sure.

Especially Linus. He's a holy terror.