Minnetonka, MN Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 925.095 of the Minnetonka City Code prohibits any person from keeping, owning, harboring or otherwise possessing a wild animal within the city. The wild animal list has six parts: front-fanged venomous snakes of the viperidae and elapidae families, such as rattlesnakes and cobras; snakes over 8 feet in length; reptiles able as adults to cause substantial bodily harm to humans and domestic animals, such as python snakes and crocodilians; animals that can transmit rabies and cannot be vaccinated against it, except domestic animals such as cows; mammals considered wild by nature as a breed; and mammals with at least 25 percent of their heritage from those mammals. The section names wolf, fox, skunk, raccoon, mink, bobcat, deer and monkey, and excludes fish, birds, ferrets, hamsters and gerbils.

The only exception is display. Wild animals can be brought into the city for entertainment, education or display only by a zoo run by a governmental agency or tax-exempt nonprofit, the department of natural resources, a similar public educational or charitable organization, a circus or a city-licensed pet shop. That organization needs a permit from authorized city personnel and pays the fee in section 710, which prints $20.00 for a wild animal display permit. It cannot have wild animals in the city on more than 7 days in a consecutive 12-month period.

Permit holders must meet standards: liability insurance of at least $300,000 per person per occurrence for a non-governmental organization, a locked cage or secure enclosure whenever the public is near, a cage built so a child cannot put a finger or hand in to touch the animal, trained handlers only, secure transport, no sale or sale orders, and inspection of the display location before arrival and periodically during the stay. If a wild animal bites a person, it is forfeited immediately to authorized city personnel for rabies testing. Section 925.095 was last amended by Ord. No. 2025-05, effective April 19, 2025.