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

Section 6-3-2, Limits On Exotic Animals, sets a hard numeric ceiling: no person at any one residence may at any time own, harbor, license, or maintain more than five permitted exotic animals as defined in Title 6. The definitions section narrows what counts as a permitted exotic pet considerably. S. Department of Agriculture and under state law as approved for keeping as a pet, and permitted exotic pets are limited to species commercially available at typical retail pet shops in the area, specifically non-venomous snakes, non-poisonous small reptiles, non-poisonous amphibians, tortoises, ferrets, potbelly pigs, exotic birds, sugar gliders, degus, hedgehogs, domesticated silver fox, and non-poisonous insects.

Anything outside that list falls under the separate, much broader wild animal definition, which the code treats as categorically unreasonable to keep in a residential setting. A wild animal is any animal not commonly domesticated, listed as protected by federal or state law, or perceived as wild or predatory, or any animal whose size, growth propensity, vicious nature or other characteristics would constitute an unreasonable danger to human life or property if not kept safely confined. The code lists examples by name: alligators, crocodiles and caiman; bears; the cat family other than domesticated cats, including cheetahs, cougars, leopards, lions, lynx, panthers, mountain lions and tigers; the dog family other than domesticated dogs, including wolves, part-wolves, foxes, coyotes and dingoes; porcupines; non-human primates; raccoons; skunks; venomous fish and piranha; venomous snakes and lizards; and weasels, martens, wolverines, badgers, otters, ermine and mink. None of these wild animals qualify as permitted exotic pets, so keeping one at a residence is outside Section 6-3-2's five-animal allowance entirely.