Canton, OH Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 505.13 of the Codified Ordinances, adopted by Ordinance 123-2007, makes it unlawful to knowingly keep, maintain, or possess within Canton any dangerous or carnivorous wild animal or reptile, any vicious or dangerous domesticated animal, or any other animal or reptile of wild, vicious or dangerous propensities. Subsection (d) lists 34 categories the city irrebuttably presumes dangerous regardless of individual temperament, among them venomous colubroid, crotalid and elapid snakes, apes, baboons, bears, bison, cheetahs, crocodilians 24 inches or longer, constrictor snakes over six feet, coyotes, deer, elephants, foxes, game cocks, hyenas, big cats such as jaguars, leopards, lions, lynxes and pumas, rhinoceroses, sharks, swine, tigers, wolves, scorpions, birds of prey, venomous fish, poisonous spiders other than tarantulas, stinging insects other than honey bees, and bats.

Two carve-outs exist: subsection (b) lets a domesticated dog or cat that individually meets the dangerous-animal definition stay if its owner keeps it confined to a fenced back yard with a six-foot stockade or solid-screen fence set back four feet from property lines, and muzzles and restrains it off the property. Subsection (e) exempts licensed menageries, zoos and circuses that meet zoning, sanitation, and containment conditions and keep 50 feet from any residence. Subsection (f) lets the Director of Public Safety grant a scientific, educational or commercial exemption after a written application, inspection, and a decision within 120 days.