Opinion ID: 1815835
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Is the ordinance irreconcilable with Iowa Code section 110.23 and therefore unconstitutional?

Text: Kent asserts the ordinance is irreconcilable with Iowa Code section 110.23 and therefore invalid. See Iowa Code § 331.301(1), (4). As we noted in division I, however, a county, under home rule, has the power to enact an ordinance on a matter which is also the subject of statute if the ordinance and statute can be harmonized and reconciled. City of Council Bluffs v. Cain, 342 N.W.2d 810, 812 (Iowa 1983); see Green v. City of Cascade, 231 N.W.2d 882, 890 (Iowa 1975). Iowa Code section 110.23 provides: Any person may possess not more than two game birds or fur-bearing animals confined as pets without being required to purchase a license as a game breeder, but the person shall not be allowed to increase the person's stock beyond the original number nor shall the person be allowed to kill or sell such stock. Game birds or animals confined as authorized in this section must be obtained from a licensed game breeder or a legal source outside of this state. (Emphasis added.) Kent asserts this Code section specifically authorizes citizens to keep fur-bearing animals, such as lions, as pets. Consequently, he argues the ordinance providing that dangerous animals may not be kept as pets is irreconcilable with state law and cannot stand. The district court rejected Kent's argument, as we do now. We remain unconvinced that the legislature intended the term fur-bearing animals to include African lions. Although generally we give the ordinary meaning to the words in a statute, we will not permit the literal meaning to prevail over or frustrate the legislative intent. Welp v. Iowa Department of Revenue, 333 N.W.2d 481, 483 (Iowa 1983). A workable and practical construction must be given to the language. In re Marriage of Cernetisch, 376 N.W.2d 598, 599 (Iowa 1985). We view statutes dealing with the same subject matter together. Id. at 600. Iowa Code section 110.23 exempts certain persons possessing fur-bearing animals from a licensing requirement contained in section 110.1. The latter section prohibits a person from possessing a wild animal, the protection and regulation of which is desirable for the conservation of the resources of the state, without first obtaining a license. Iowa Code § 110.1 (emphasis added). Section 110.1, therefore, is focused on the resources of our state, which do not include lions from Africa. Our view that these sections are intended to conserve Iowa wildlife finds support in an opinion of the Iowa Attorney General. See 1944 Op. Iowa Att'y Gen. 167-68. We hold there is no irreconcilable conflict between the ordinance and state law, and trial court rightly held the ordinance was not unconstitutional on this ground.