Burlington, NC Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 6-14(a) makes it unlawful for anyone to keep, maintain, possess or control an exotic or wild animal inside Burlington, and subsection (b) states flatly that permits for keeping such animals 'are not authorized,' closing off any local licensing path. Section 6-2 defines an exotic or wild animal as one ordinarily confined to a zoo, ordinarily found in the wilderness in the United States or another country, a species not indigenous to the United States or North America, or an animal likely to make a reasonable person fear bodily harm, disease or significant property damage, with named examples covering non-human primates, wolf hybrids and other wild canids, wild felid hybrids, mammals and non-venomous reptiles over fifty pounds at maturity, and all venomous reptiles.

The definition expressly excludes animals customarily kept in North Carolina as household pets, livestock, federally classified service animals, aquarium fish and birds. Subsection (c) exempts pet shops, zoological gardens, scientific research labs, treating veterinarians, permitted wildlife rehabilitators, religious displays and USDA-licensed exhibitors, but even those exempt animals must meet state wildlife commission and federal Animal Welfare Act confinement standards and cannot appear on a public street or sidewalk except in a fully enclosed cage; a leash and muzzle alone do not count as adequate restraint.

Under Section 6-65's civil penalty schedule, a Section 6-14 violation is Level III, the code's top tier, fined $100.00 for a first offense rising to $500.00 for a third or later offense.