Dearborn Heights, MI Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 6-67, in Chapter 6's Article IV on prohibited animals, sets three separate rules. First, keeping any poisonous reptile is prohibited within the city, with no stated licensing exception. Second, offering any reptile for sale in the city is prohibited unless the seller holds an appropriate state license. Third, keeping or selling a wild or exotic reptile or animal generally is prohibited unless the person holds the applicable state and/or federal licenses. City Code § 6-2 defines "wild exotic animals" for the chapter as animals not indigenous to the state, or not normally considered domestic animals, reaching non-native species such as large constrictor snakes, venomous species, and non-domesticated mammals kept as pets.

Section 6-66 works alongside § 6-67 by independently limiting lawfully kept animals to dogs, cats, canaries and small household pets, so a licensed exotic species is not automatically allowed on a residential lot in the city. The chapter's cruelty provision, § 6-86, separately makes it a misdemeanor to fail to provide any animal, including a lawfully licensed exotic one, with proper food, drink, shelter or protection from the weather. The city's animal control officer, defined at § 6-2, enforces Chapter 6, with the Department of Ordinance Enforcement under § 2-901 assisting.