Waukegan, IL Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Section 4-2(a) prohibits any person from keeping cattle, sheep, goat, horse, mule, swine, fowl, or other livestock at any place or upon any premises in the city, which reaches backyard chicken coops and small-scale poultry-keeping the same as a full farmyard. The only carve-outs are horses or mules kept as otherwise permitted by ordinance or other law, and animals the city itself keeps or uses for police or other official business under subsection (c). Subsection (b) declares any livestock or fowl kept in violation a public nuisance outright, giving the city police animal control broader footing to act quickly rather than waiting through a standard nuisance-abatement process.

Subsection (d) backs that up with an entry power: an animal control officer or law enforcement officer who believes the section is being violated can obtain the necessary legal process to enter the building or premises and remove the animal. A seized animal goes straight to the animal impounding facility or to a licensed veterinarian for evaluation if needed, and if the owner isn't home, officers must leave a written notice explaining that the animal was impounded under city ordinance and is in the custody of city police animal control.

Because Sec. 4-2 sits in the animal-control chapter, the general chapter enforcement in Sec. 4-19 applies: violations are civil offenses citable by any police officer or animal control officer, resolved either through court or the city's administrative adjudication process.