Sedona’s new ordinance banning the display of “exotic” animals without proper permitting and insurance requirements is scheduled to take effect on Thursday, Sept. 11, following the Tuesday, Aug. 12 approval of Ordinance Chapter 6.20 by the Sedona City Council.

The vote on the consent item was 5-1 with Councilman Derek Pfaff dissenting. Vice Mayor Holli Ploog was absent.

Most directly affected by the new ordinance is Animal Haven, which has been busking in Uptown with reptiles as a self-described education exhibit while taking donations.

“I support the underlying intent of this ordinance, which is for me, anyway, primarily animal welfare,” Pfaff said. “In terms of displays on the sidewalks. I realize that some of our business owners don’t like that. I realize that some of our tourists don’t like that, but the fact is, they don’t own the sidewalks, it’s public space. There is some version of this ordinance that I could support, but this really isn’t it. … From the very beginning, I said that I don’t think we should be regulating what occurs on private property if permission of the landowner. And yet, we still have the language in here requiring licensure.”

The ordinance requires any person displaying any wild or exotic animal within Sedona city limits to have a license from either the Arizona Game and Fish Department or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Additionally, it requires any display or performance of wild or exotic animals on public property “including rights-of-way, requires liability insurance naming the city as an additional insured in an amount reasonably acceptable to the city but in no case less than $1 million per occurrence and $2 million general aggregate policy limits,” the ordinance reads.

The first violation of the ordinance, police may issue a written warning, a second violation is a fine not to exceed $2,500 for each animal on display.

“I think public safety is certainly an issue, but I look at this with an eye of animal welfare as well,” Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella said during the meeting, responding to a public comment. “It is precisely because animals, whether they be wild, exotic or domestic, are sentient beings that we need to publicly affirm their right to being handled in a responsible manner. So that is why I’m in support of some regulation like this.”

Pfaff asked City Attorney Kurt Christianson to elaborate on licensure requirements for reptiles in Arizona.

“The ordinance just requires that they get a license in order to display wildlife or exotic wild or exotic animals for educational purposes, and that includes a wildlife holding license,” Christianson said. “Those are $20, those are available from the Arizona Game and Fish, and [it’s] a two-page application, and it’s good for three years. So it doesn’t specify that it has to be for certain animals. It’s just you have to get a license that qualifies you to handle them.”

While not mentioned directly by the city, the actions of John Duff were frequently cited during discussions and in the ordinance itself; but bills of attainder are unconstitutional because they are legislative punishment without a due process.

Duff was the operator of Northern Arizona Rescues and Reptile and frequently busked with reptiles in Uptown. After being arrested by the Sedona Police Department on Nov. 17, 2023, for eight felony counts of cruelty to animals and three misdemeanor charges of animal abuse and over 50 animals seized in varying states of starvation, he pleaded guilty to three counts of animal abuse in Yavapai County Superior Court and had a sentencing hearing on March 24.

In Uptown on March 30, Duff was found by SPD in violation of his probation. “[Duff] was interviewed and made a statement about him caring for reptiles because assistants weren’t doing a good enough job,” the NEWS’ police blotter reads.

“The City Council is aware of incidents of persons being bit, and an incident in city limits leading to the death of eight wild animals and others with scale rot, respiratory issues, mite infestations and organ damage due to starvation among wildlife that were used in display, performance, and/or kept in unsanitary conditions leading to an animal cruelty conviction,” the public notice of the ordinance reads.

Seven members of the public spoke against the ordinance, the majority of whom affiliated with Seth Byerley’s Animal Haven, which has been busking with reptiles in Uptown. Also occasionally reverberating during the council discussion was the squawks of Nikki, a military macaw, whose owner spoke against the ordinance.

“When he’s walking down the street with a parrot, which is something you don’t always see, so people tend to say, ‘hey, can I get a selfie? … How do we make sure that person is protected? Because this law is not intended for that,” Kinsella asked.

“The key difference is whether you are trying to display your animal or you’re just walking with it,” Christianson said, adding “there’s not a way that I can see to completely distinguish,” between walking with an animal and displaying it within Kinsella’s example.

“Whatever they’re doing isn’t even going to affect Duff, because he’s on probation,” Byerley said to the NEWS prior to the June 24 City Council meeting. “[Duff] can’t touch an animal for three years, and so anything that they’re doing is only going to affect other groups that take care of people’s animals, and so they’re only hurting other citizens that need the help of groups like ours that literally, they can turn their animal over to us and we will take care of it, and we don’t charge a fee for that. The only way that we support these animals is by [busking] doing these exhibits.”

Duff is “no longer allowed to do it, and he does it by proxy,” Sedona Police Cmdr. Chris Dowell said to council on May 27.

“[Animal Haven] is a separate group than the one with Mr. Duff and [after] he was not able to exhibit our animal group decided to start exhibiting [in Uptown],” Byerley said. “I just want to point to the fact that in the last two years, the animal exhibit has not had any trouble whatsoever. … There are multiple groups in town, so making an ordinance that affects every group over one person or one thing that has an incident is, I believe, overshot.”

Animal Haven’s social media shows Byerley’s first Facebook post for Animal Haven was on May 10, 2024, and its first recorded donation on its public Venmo feed was on Aug. 4, 2024, after Duff was first arrested on Nov. 17, 2023, further Duff’s account “Northern Arizona Rescues and Reptiles,” has been reposting Animal Haven en masse.

Among the opponents of the ordinance was Mike McAllister, a board member of Arizona United Animal Care and Business Coalition that represents “animal caretaker rights,” its website reads. McAllister believes the Sedona ordinance “was a major hit” to animal caretakers and the Sedona ordinance “goes above and beyond” what other municipalities require.