Arcadia, CA Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 4137.6 of the Arcadia Municipal Code is short: no person shall keep in or upon any premises any wild animal. It was added by Ordinance No. 1621, adopted 2-7-78. The reach of the ban comes from the definition in Section 4131.4, which says wild animals include any mammal, fowl, fish or reptile which is wild, exotic, dangerous, nondomestic, vicious or known to be dangerous or vicious, or belonging to a predatory species. The definition is not tied to a list of species. It turns on whether the animal is wild, exotic, dangerous, nondomestic, vicious or predatory, and it names four kinds of animal: mammals, fowl, fish and reptiles.

The printed text of Section 4137.6 carries no permit, no exemption for licensed keepers and no grandfather clause. Section 4131.2 shows the contrast by defining household pets to include cats, dogs, canaries, parrots and other kindred birds and animals kept as ordinary pets. Section 4131.1 covers domestic or domesticated animals other than household pets, including horses, ponies, mules, burros, cows, sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas and swine. Swine get a separate ban in Section 4137.5, which prohibits keeping any hog, swine, boar, pig or shoat anywhere within the City.

Keeping rules for animals that are allowed still apply. Section 4137.7 treats reptiles and fish as animals for the care and control rule in Section 4137.7.1, which requires sufficient good and wholesome food and water, bars leaving an animal without attention for more than twelve consecutive hours, and bars allowing any animal to constitute or cause a hazard or be a menace to the health, peace or safety of the community.

Dogs that turn dangerous follow a different track. Under Division 8 of Part 2, a dog is declared vicious and dangerous after a hearing, and the Hearing Officer, or a court on appeal, can order conditions, destruction or a ban of up to three years on owning any dog. That process is separate from the wild animal ban in Section 4137.6.