Gary, IN Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 8-1 of the Gary Municipal Code defines wild animal as any live monkey, raccoon, skunk, fox, poisonous snake, leopard, panther, tiger, lion, lynx, or other warm-blooded animal normally found in the wild. Section 8-5(a) builds on that definition with two separate bans: no person may keep or permit to be kept on their premises any wild or vicious animal for display or exhibition, whether the display is free or for a fee, and no person may keep or permit to be kept any wild animal as a pet at all.

The display ban carves out an exception for zoological parks and performing animal exhibitions, both terms § 8-1 defines and both regulated as commercial animal establishments under § 8-70's permit requirement. The pet ban has no carve-out: a wild animal covered by the § 8-1 definition cannot lawfully be kept as a household pet anywhere in the city regardless of permitting. Section 8-5(b) allows the animal control center to issue a temporary permit for the keeping, care, and protection of an infant animal native to the area that has been found homeless, and the animal control center retains the power to order release of that infant animal once it is deemed capable of survival; that narrow provision is the only lawful avenue for harboring a wild animal, and it does not extend to full-grown or non-native species.

Violating § 8-5 is a code offense under the general animal-chapter penalty at § 8-2(a) because the section sets no separate penalty of its own, and a conviction automatically revokes any animal license or permit the violator holds. Enforcement is carried out by the animal control center and Gary Police Department officers under § 8-39.