Carteret County, NC Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Article II of Carteret County's animal ordinance (§§ 3-21 through 3-24) lets the county or municipal animal control authority declare a dog "dangerous" when, without provocation, it has killed or severely injured a person, or "potentially dangerous" when it has bitten someone badly enough to cause broken bones, disfiguring lacerations, or require hospitalization, has killed or severely injured a domestic animal off the owner's property, or has approached someone off-property in a vicious, apparent attack posture. The designated person or board must notify the owner in writing with the reasons for the determination before the dog is treated as potentially dangerous, and the owner has only three days to file written objections with a separate appellate board, which must schedule a hearing within ten days; a final appeal from the appellate board goes to superior court, heard de novo.

Once a dog carries either label, § 3-22 bars the owner from leaving it unattended outside unless it is indoors, in a securely enclosed and locked pen, or another restraining structure, and bars taking it beyond the owner's property unless it is leashed and muzzled or otherwise securely restrained and muzzled; violating those confinement rules is itself a misdemeanor carrying up to a $100.00 fine or 30 days in jail. If a declared dangerous dog then attacks and causes injuries needing more than $100.00 of medical treatment, § 3-23 raises the stakes to a misdemeanor punishable by up to $5,000.00 in fines, two years in prison, or both, plus a $100.00-per-day civil penalty, and § 3-24 makes the owner strictly liable in civil damages regardless of fault. Law enforcement dogs, lawful hunting dogs, and dogs defending against a trespasser are exempt under § 3-21(b).