Dane County, WI Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Chapter 47 of the Dane County Code of Ordinances, the county's animal control law, devotes section 47.41 specifically to skunks. Unlike most exotic-pet rules that regulate size, caging or permits, Dane County's approach is a flat prohibition: no one may sell, offer for sale, give away, trade, possess, or assist in selling, giving or trading any live skunk within the county, full stop. There is no permit path, no grandfather clause and no distinction between a descented pet-store skunk and a wild-caught one, the text bans possession itself, not just commercial dealing.

The provision traces to Sub. 1 to OA 32, 2006-07 (published 04/19/07), which amended the chapter's purpose clause (47.02(3)) to state the ordinance exists in part for "regulating the possession and sale of wild and domestic skunks within the County of Dane." Enforcement runs through the county's animal control apparatus, the Department of Public Health for Madison and Dane County and its humane officers, plus Dane County Sheriff's deputies, both authorized under section 47.06 to act as "officers" for the chapter. Because the ban sits inside the general animal control chapter rather than the zoning code, it applies countywide, including inside incorporated cities and villages that have not adopted a conflicting municipal ordinance (section 47.05 lets a stricter municipal provision control within that municipality). A resident who acquires a pet skunk, even from an out-of-state breeder, is in violation the moment it is kept in the county.