Ocean City bans pet reptiles from public places

Last week, the Ocean City Council voted to ban pet reptiles from public places, including the beach, boardwalk, sidewalks, streets, etc., and to prohibit resort shops from selling frogs or lizards that are more than four inches long. Owners of iguanas, snakes, turtles, and the like will not be allowed to bring their pet out in public, unless they are taking it to a veterinarian.

One man who will be affected by this new amendment to an old law is "Iguana Man," who is known for sitting on the Ocean City boardwalk with his 8-year-old pet iguana on his shoulder or lap, a sight that usually delights visitors to what is one of the east coast's most popular tourist destinations. He'll now have to take his iguana elsewhere--one of the Delaware boardwalks, perhaps--or leave it at home.

As I listened to callers debating the issue on 92.7 WGMD a couple of mornings ago, it became obvious that those who support the ban:

1. Have never owned a reptile, and
2. Think that people who own reptiles are strange.

Their support had little to do with whether or not reptiles pose a safety hazard when taken to public places (like the sidewalk in front of one's property), and was instead based on a dislike of the habit of keeping reptiles as pets in general.

I have never owned a reptile, and don't plan to. I don't want an iguana, and snakes creep me out. However, I know many people who enjoy their reptile pets just as much as I enjoy my cat (Punky, who was found in a box at the Sandy Fork gas station), and I don't see why the owner of an iguana should be prohibited from carrying his pet as he walks to a neighbor's house, or from sitting with the pet on the boardwalk, if his next-door neighbor is allowed to do the same with her small dog.

I don't quite understand the prevailing mentality in Delmarva beach towns, where all kinds of harmless activities are banned. For example, skateboarding and rollerblading on the boardwalk, walking dogs, smoking tobacco, etc. All of these activities are permitted in Virginia Beach, with no negative consequences that I have observed during my occasional visits to that beach town.

Can't we, on Delmarva, be similarly open to allowing people to do as they please on the boardwalk or in other public places, so long as they are not harming anyone else?