Social Boa Wins Fight to Stay Put

ORANGE — B.C. the boa constrictor has won his battle with City Hall. The 10-foot reptile will be able to keep living at his home on Shattuck Place.

Last month, B.C.’s owner, Mike Courtney, asked the City Council for an exemption to an ordinance prohibiting snakes more than six feet long.

This week, amused council members voted to create a “snake conditional use permit” that would grant a waiver of the ordinance if a snake is proven to be harmless.

The council made its decision after John Godlewski, administrator of current planning, reported that most of the cities he had surveyed allowed snakes longer than six feet. Large snakes are not a threat if they have been handled frequently by humans and properly “socialized,” Godlewski said.

Courtney called the council’s decision a victory for all snake owners.