Johnston County, NC Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 4-3 defines 'inherently dangerous mammal' to include three families: Canidae, meaning wild or hybrid dog-family members not customarily domesticated, such as wolves and wolf-dog hybrids, but not domestic dogs; Felidae, meaning wild cat-family members weighing over 15 pounds not customarily domesticated, or their hybrids, but not domestic house cats; and Ursidae, any member of the bear family or hybrid. Section 4-15(a) then flatly bars any owner from keeping such an animal within the county. The only exemptions in § 4-15(b) are a nonprofit that owns or harbors the animal for research and is licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or Department of the Interior; traveling fairs, circuses and carnivals passing through; and an inherently dangerous mammal that is registered with the Animal Services Department and for which the owner maintains adequate care, confinement and housing facilities, effectively a permit-style carve-out rather than an open door.

If a registered or unregistered inherently dangerous mammal escapes, § 4-15(c) makes the owner liable for every cost the county incurs recapturing it, and if Animal Services ends up sheltering or euthanizing the animal, the owner must reimburse the county's reasonable costs for that too. Because the prohibition is a keeping ban rather than a licensing scheme for the general public, an owner who wants to keep a wolf-hybrid, a large wild cat, or a bear in Johnston County outside the three exemptions has no lawful path to do so under this chapter.