Burlington, WI Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 104-16, Keeping of wild and vicious animals, contains Burlington's exotic-pet rule at Subsection B: no person shall keep or permit to be kept any wild animal as a pet, full stop, with no size, species, or permit exception written into that clause. Subsection A adds a related but distinct ban covering display and exhibition rather than pet-keeping: no person may keep or permit to be kept on their premises any wild or vicious animal for display or exhibition purposes, gratuitously or for a fee, though that ban does not reach zoological parks, performing animal exhibitions, or circuses.

Subsection D allows the licensing authority to issue a temporary permit for the keeping, care, and protection of an infant animal native to the area that has been found homeless, which is the only mechanism in the section for lawfully holding a wild animal, and it is temporary and rescue-focused rather than a pet-keeping license. Read together, the ordinance treats permanent private possession of wild animals, whether as pets or as display pieces, as prohibited conduct in the City, reserving lawful contact with wild or exotic species to licensed institutions, temporary wildlife rehabilitation permits, or animals under governmental control addressed elsewhere in the section.