Burleson, TX Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 6-8(a) of the Burleson Code of Ordinances says a person commits an offense by keeping a dangerous wild animal. The § 6-1 definition covers a species other than a common domestic species that poses a potential physical or disease threat to the public regardless of state and duration of captivity. The listed examples are broad: venomous lizards, rattlesnakes, copperheads, cotton mouths and other pit vipers, coral snakes, cobras, boas, water snakes and pythons, and crocodiles and alligators; hawks, eagles, vultures, owls, and rheas; lions, tigers, bobcats, lynxes, servals, cougars, wolves, coyotes and hybrids of them, skunks, raccoons, bears, kangaroos, common opossums, sloths, elephants, and monkeys and other primates. Domesticated dogs and cats are excepted, and so are ferrets within the weasel family.

The list is not closed. The animal control authority can declare any species not listed prohibited if confining it within Burleson can be shown to constitute a threat to public health or safety. Hoofed animals such as antelope, deer, bison and camels are covered too, except where harbored on property zoned for agricultural use that is at least five acres, and § 6-8(c)(1) separately bars keeping them on parcels under five acres that are not zoned agricultural.

The affirmative defense in § 6-8(a) protects an animal kept as part of a circus, performing animal exhibition, zoological park, or by individuals keeping wild animals as properly permitted wildlife rehabilitators, as required by state and federal regulations. Section 6-8(b) separately makes it an offense to keep swine on any property within Burleson's corporate limits. High school agricultural educational programs have their own exception in § 6-8(f), with a council variance route in § 6-8(g).

Enforcement runs through the animal control authority. An impounded dangerous wild animal can be redeemed only by an owner or designee holding a certificate of registration issued by an animal registration agency, after paying all fees and signing an agreement to transport the animal outside the city limits immediately, never keep it in the city limits, and authorize its humane destruction if it comes back inside (§ 6-11(d)(3)). One that cannot be safely impounded can be disposed of immediately (§ 6-11(f)). A dangerous wild animal involved in a bite is not quarantined; it is euthanized and the brain submitted for rabies diagnosis (§ 6-4(f)).