Alameda, CA Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

6 of the Alameda Municipal Code makes it unlawful for any person to maintain a wild or exotic animal, reptile, fish or insect on premises they own, occupy or control anywhere in the City. The ordinance defines the covered animals by cross-reference to state and federal wildlife law: any species listed as endangered, threatened or a candidate species under the California Fish and Game Code or the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, species listed under Fish and Game Code Section 2118 and its Title 14 regulations, fully protected fish under Section 5515, fully protected reptiles or amphibians under Section 5050, fully protected birds under Section 3511, and any venomous animal, whether or not it has been rendered harmless.

A person who already keeps such an animal may continue to do so only if they hold a valid permit from the California Department of Fish and Game and the animal does not become a public nuisance; that exemption does not let the person add, replace or breed additional animals beyond what was on hand when the ordinance took hold. Enforcement runs through the City's Animal Control division, which can seize an animal maintained in violation and treat it as it would any other unlawfully kept animal under Chapter VII.

The section traces to Ordinance No. , part of the City's general animal-control chapter alongside abandonment, propagation and rabies-quarantine rules that share the same enforcement structure.