Middletown, OH Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

06 of the rabies-control chapter, titled Wild and Feral Animals, is Middletown's operative exotic-pets rule. 01, defines EXOTIC ANIMALS as other wild animals not indigenous to the State. The same section separately bars performing surgery on a wild animal to domesticate it, such as neutering, spaying or removing scent glands, and bars anyone from immunizing a wild animal against rabies. Middletown carves out three narrow exemptions in division (b): pocket pets such as hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, domestic rabbits and mice; wild animals purchased or adopted before the ordinance took effect, provided the owner can produce a bill of sale or an Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife license proving the purchase date, and the animal is confined so no one but the owner has contact with it; and animals held by research institutions, other government agencies, publicly supported zoos or circuses.

Division (c) requires that if a person is exposed to a wild or feral animal, the animal be impounded for sacrifice as soon as possible so it can be tested for rabies in a laboratory. 06 carry the same penalty scale as the rest of Chapter 1810.