College Station, TX Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Sec. 822.103 is written broadly. The prohibition covers anyone who would own, harbor, or have custody or control of a dangerous wild animal, so it reaches beyond legal owners to anyone housing or handling such an animal, and it applies for any purpose, with no carve-out in the quoted text for temporary keeping.

The registration itself has strict mechanics. A certificate is issued by an animal registration agency, the statute's term for the agency designated to register these animals, and it is not transferrable. If a registered animal changes hands, the certificate does not follow it; the new keeper needs a certificate in their own name. Each certificate is valid for one year after its date of issuance or renewal, which makes registration an annual obligation, and the agency can revoke a certificate before the year runs out.

Fees are capped by the statute rather than left open-ended. The agency may establish and charge reasonable fees, but the fee charged to an applicant may not exceed $50 for each animal registered and may not exceed $500 for each person registering animals. A keeper with many registered animals therefore stops accruing fees once the $500 per-person ceiling is reached.

Animals commonly regulated as dangerous wild animals include large cats, primates, venomous reptiles, wolves, and bears. Ordinary household pets are not what this registration scheme targets, but anyone in College Station keeping an animal in the dangerous wild animal class needs the paperwork before the animal, not after.