Gulfport, FL Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Article II of Chapter 5, titled Reptiles; Dangerous or Wild Animals, opens with section 5-13's blanket rule: it is unlawful for any person to keep, maintain or have in possession or control within the city any reptile or any dangerous or carnivorous wild animal, any vicious or dangerous domesticated animal, or any other animal or reptile of wild, vicious or dangerous propensities. Section 5-14 then makes that prohibition concrete with a 29-item list, expressly directed to be broadly construed, naming apes, baboons, bears, bison, cheetahs, elephants, hippopotami, hyenas, jaguars, leopards, lions, lynxes, old-world monkeys, ostriches, pumas, rhinoceroses, snow leopards, swine, tigers, and wolves, along with all snakes and all poisonous animals, constrictor snakes six feet or more in length, crocodilians thirty inches or more in length, piranha fish, sharks, tarantulas and other poisonous creatures, and game cocks and other fighting birds.

This is a possession ban aimed at exotic and dangerous animals kept as pets or for exhibition, and it is distinct from the wild-animal feeding and habitat provisions found in the city's park rules under Chapter 17. Because the ordinance dates to 1977 and its editor's note flags that the original ordinance did not expressly amend the Code, the section numbering (5-13, 5-14) was assigned at the codifier's discretion, but the substantive prohibition remains in force with no repeal on record. There is no permit or exhibition exception written into either section, meaning even a licensed handler cannot keep a listed species as a private possession within city limits; the ban is categorical, not permit-based.

Enforcement runs through the Gulfport Police Department and Pinellas County Animal Services for handling seized animals, and any violation without a listed penalty defaults to Code section 1-6.