Iron County, UT Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 17.36.240 of the Iron County Code defines household pets narrowly: animals ordinarily permitted within a home and kept for company or pleasure, such as dogs, cats and birds, subject to the two-dog, two-cat, four-animal-total cap. The same section then draws a hard line by stating that household pets do not include inherently or potentially dangerous animals, fowl or reptiles. That exclusion means a resident cannot rely on the household-pet allowance to keep a venomous snake, a large constrictor, a big cat, a primate or any animal the county would classify as inherently or potentially dangerous.

Because the ordinance does not carve out a separate exotic-pet permit process within Chapter 17.36, keeping an excluded animal in a residential zoning district in the unincorporated county is not an authorized use under the household-pet provision and exposes the property to zoning enforcement rather than a licensing fee or registration requirement. Fowl are treated separately too: chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys are addressed instead under the domestic-animals rules of Section 17.36.250, which apply in the R-5, R-2, R-1 and R-1/2 districts and require compliance with setback and sanitation conditions rather than the household-pet cap.

The Iron County Building and Zoning Department's zoning administrator investigates complaints that a dangerous or excluded animal is being kept as a household pet, and the Sheriff's Office responds to public-safety concerns involving dangerous animals at large.