Killeen, TX Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 6-152 lists prohibited animals by taxonomic family rather than by common name alone, then bans owning, breeding, selling, displaying, or importing any of them. Reptiles covered include venomous lizards such as the Gila monster, pit vipers and true vipers, coral snakes and other elapids, several named colubrid species, crocodiles, alligators and caimans. Prohibited mammals include big cats such as ocelots, tigers, jaguars, leopards and cougars; wolves, wolf-dog hybrids, dingos, coyotes and jackals; weasels, skunks and raccoons; bears; kangaroos and opossums; sloths and armadillos; elephants; monkeys, chimpanzees and gorillas; porcupines; and hoofed animals such as antelope, deer, bison and camels unless kept on properly zoned agricultural property.

Scorpions, recluse and widow spiders, bats and skunks round out the list, and the animal services manager can add any other species found to threaten public health or safety, though the section explicitly excludes caged birds, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, hedgehogs and lab rodents from that catch-all. The ban covers keeping the animal as a pet, keeping it for sale, display or exhibition, breeding it, or importing, selling or transferring it into Killeen, with a narrow exception for transporting the animal to a veterinary clinic.

Zoos, veterinary clinics, licensed wildlife rehabilitators, approved zoological parks, circuses, performing-animal exhibitions and schools are exempt, and the animal services manager may issue temporary authorization to care for an injured, orphaned or immature native wild animal before it is released or transferred to a licensed rehabilitator.