New Orleans, LA Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

City Code § 18-7 states plainly that "[n]o person shall keep or permit to be kept any wild, or exotic animal as a pet" anywhere in New Orleans, there is no permit path to legalize a wild or exotic pet once the animal falls in that category. The companion section, § 18-8, extends the ban to commerce: no person may offer wild or exotic animals for sale as pets within the city. The code carves out a narrow exception for transfers between accredited zoos and accredited educational institutions that already comply with all applicable state and federal regulations, but that exception runs only between institutions, not to a private household.

Separately, § 18-9 forbids keeping any "ferocious" animal in the city unless it is guarded around the clock, and § 18-10 authorizes the city's animal control agency or law enforcement to destroy a ferocious animal that cannot be safely captured. Enforcement runs through the Department of Health, whose director administers Chapter 18 generally, and the city's animal control agency, which handles seizure and impoundment. Because § 18-7 and § 18-8 sit in Chapter 18's general article rather than in a licensing division, there is no application process for a resident to keep a wild or exotic animal lawfully, the prohibition is categorical rather than permit-based, which is what separates it from lighter regulatory schemes elsewhere in the code, like the pet-store recordkeeping rules in § 18-15.