Bloomfield, NJ Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

The Township's exotic animal rule sits in Chapter 134, Article III (Dogs) of the Bloomfield Township Code. Section 134-29 defines a "hybrid animal" as the result of the breeding of a domestic animal and a wolf, coyote, wildcat or other wildlife, and all subsequent generations of such hybrid. The definition also sweeps in any animal that is advertised, registered or represented by its owner to be a canine or feline hybrid, so a wolf-dog sold under a breed label and a cat marketed as a wildcat cross are covered by what the owner claims, not only by pedigree.

Section 134-30(C) is the prohibition: no person shall keep or harbor any hybrid animal in the Township. The same section requires a license from the Municipal Clerk for any dog kept or harbored in the Township, and subsection B requires that no one keep or harbor any dog except in compliance with the article. The word "harbor" matters because it reaches a person who houses an animal without owning it, such as a friend or boarder.

Because the ban sits among the licensing provisions, a hybrid cannot be brought into compliance by paying a license fee. Section 134-33 sets the ordinary dog fee at $22 for a spayed or neutered dog and $25 for a dog that is not, but nothing in § 134-30(C) offers a license route for a hybrid.

This page covers the hybrid ban in Chapter 134. Chapter 586, adopted by the Bloomfield Board of Health, separately makes it unlawful under § 586-1 to keep or maintain swine, goats, cattle, horses, other livestock, or ducks, geese, pigeons, chickens or other fowl on any private or public plot of land or other premises in the Township.