Bolingbrook, IL Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 8-25(a) closes with a blanket rule that no predatory mammal or bird of any species may be kept or raised within the village, on top of the farm-animal ban addressed elsewhere in that same subsection. Subsection (c) separately bars keeping or raising any dangerous animal as defined in the chapter, or a dog trained or used for dog fighting. Section 8-2 defines dangerous animal expansively: lion, tiger, leopard, ocelot, jaguar, cheetah, margay, mountain lion, lynx, bobcat, jaguarundi or any hybrid or similar feline; bear, hyena, wolf, coyote, or wolf-dog or coyote-dog hybrid; any member of the crocodilian family, poisonous reptiles, or any other life-threatening reptile; or any animal that is feral naturae in the eyes of the law.

Subsection (d) adds a wildlife-specific prohibition: no person may possess, harbor or keep any bird or fur-bearing animal deemed a protected species by the state department of conservation. That wildlife ban has its own narrow escape hatch, waived only for someone holding a salvage license or a falconry license issued by the state department of natural resources, meaning a licensed falconer's hawk is lawful where an unlicensed resident's owl or hawk is not. 00 fine under subsection (e), with each day of continued possession treated as a new offense.

The village animal control officer enforces this chapter and, under section 8-3, is authorized to humanely destroy an animal when necessary to protect life or property, a power that would reach an unlawfully kept dangerous or exotic animal.