Clarkstown, NY Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 290-18, Prohibited uses, lists operations the Town bars outright in every zoning district outside the incorporated Villages of Nyack, Upper Nyack and South Nyack, which run their own separate codes. ' This targets fur farms, exotic-animal breeding operations and standalone research colonies, not an individual keeping a single unusual pet informally. The section carries one exception, added by amendment on April 9, 1975: primates may still be kept and used 'for laboratory and experimental purposes, within the same premises,' as a permitted accessory use, but only in zoning districts where a laboratory use is itself already allowed, such as the Town's LO, LIO or M Districts.

Elsewhere in Chapter 290, § 290-20K separately lets homeowners in the R-160 through R-10 Districts keep ordinary domestic animals, up to five cats or dogs and 25 fowl, plus one horse or cow per acre, so the exotic-species ban in § 290-18C is best read as targeting commercial-scale and laboratory breeding of the four named species, layered on top of the household pet allowance for conventional animals. A use prohibited under § 290-18 cannot be authorized by variance or special permit because it sits outside the Use Table altogether; an owner running an unlawful fox or mink operation faces a zoning enforcement action from the Building Inspector rather than a permit denial.