Chicopee, MA Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

In the City of Chicopee, Massachusetts, § 144-9 is a single sentence: the keeping of wild animals must meet all requirements of state and federal laws and fish and wildlife laws. The section names no species and prints no local list of banned or permitted animals; the City Code hands the standard to those other bodies of law. Chapter 144 was adopted on 10-6-2015 by Ord. No. 15-52.

Wild animals still sit inside the chapter's vocabulary. Section 144-1 defines an animal as any live, vertebrate or nonvertebrate creature, domestic or wild, excluding Homo sapiens, so the definition is not limited to pets. A pet is defined separately as any nonfarm animal kept for pleasure, and a vicious animal is any animal that constitutes a physical threat to human beings or other animals. Section 144-8 adds that minimum standards of animal care must meet all requirements of state and federal laws.

Displaying non-domesticated animals as a business is a permitted category. A zoological park is any facility, other than a pet shop or kennel, displaying or exhibiting one or more species of domesticated or nondomesticated animals. Under § 144-2, operating a commercial animal establishment, a term that covers zoological parks, circuses and performing animal exhibitions, requires a permit, with annual fees of $100 for a zoological park, $125 for each circus and $50 for each performing animal exhibition.

Enforcement runs through animal control officers, humane officers, police officers and Board of Health officials, who are empowered under § 144-6 to issue citations. Interfering with them in the performance of their duties is itself a violation of the chapter.