Haverford, PA Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 49-8 of the Haverford Township Code (Prohibited animals), amended August 12, 2013 by Ord. No. 2700, is the Township's exotic pet ban. It opens with a rule on swine: it is unlawful for any person to keep any pig, hog, or porcine animal at any place within the Township of Haverford. It then lists other prohibited animals, starting with all poisonous animals, including rear-fang snakes.

The list names animals by common and scientific name. It includes apes (chimpanzees, gibbons, gorillas, orangutans and siamangs), baboons, bears, bison, cheetahs, coyotes, elephants, hippopotami, hyenas, jaguars, leopards, lions, lynxes, Old World monkeys, ostriches, piranha fish, pumas also known as cougars, mountain lions and panthers, rhinoceroses, sharks, snow leopards, tigers and wolves. Crocodilians are banned at 24 inches in length or more, and snakes are banned when they exceed four feet in length, whether native or otherwise. Turtles (Chelonia) appear on the list, as do deer, defined to include all members of the deer family, for example white-tailed deer, elk, antelopes and moose. Gamecocks, meaning fighting birds, and roosters are also prohibited.

Section 49-1 widens who is responsible. A wild animal is any animal born outside domestic captivity, unsocialized to humans, exhibiting a fear of humans, or resistant to contact with humans, and an owner includes anyone who feeds or shelters an animal or permits it to remain on the premises. A person who harbors a wild animal can be treated as its owner. Section 49-11 separately bars anyone from feeding, harboring or sheltering wild animals.

Other animals are allowed only under § 49-10. Up to four backyard chickens are permitted on a lot under one acre with a Township license under § 49-12, and roosters are excluded. The Animal Control Officer enforces the chapter under Police Department supervision.