Lafayette, LA Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

00, imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both. This dovetails with § 10-71's definitions: a 'wild animal' is one not tame by nature that, because of habit, mode of life or natural instinct, cannot be completely domesticated and would create a reasonable likelihood of hazard to the public, with the Lafayette Parish Council authorized to adopt a specific list of wild animals after recommendations from the animal care center advisory board; an 'exotic animal' is defined as a nonnative animal, similarly subject to a council-adopted list built from advisory board recommendations.

Section 10-122(a)-(c) also regulates the transport side of the same problem: any dog or cat three months or older shipped in by an out-of-state carrier must arrive with a veterinarian's certificate of current rabies inoculation and good health, animals under three months need a health certificate from the point of origin, and any carrier must show proof of adequate ventilation and humane care on request. Because Chapter 10's territorial-applicability clause in § 10-72 extends the article across both the City of Lafayette and unincorporated Lafayette Parish, the wild-and-exotic-animal ban reaches the full consolidated government's jurisdiction, not just the incorporated city.