Oak Park, IL Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Chapter 5 defines ANIMAL broadly in section 5-1-2 as every living creature, domestic or wild, not including human beings, and then section 5-4-10 uses that breadth to bar private ownership of wild species: it shall be unlawful to keep any naturally wild animals, except birds or fish, within the Village. The prohibition sweeps in exotic and dangerous wild animals alike, since the code draws no distinction by species or size, only by whether the animal is naturally wild. Birds and fish are expressly carved out of the wild-animal ban, so an exotic bird or aquarium fish is not swept in even though it may not be a conventional domestic species.

The only other exceptions are institutional: zoological parks, performing animal exhibitions, educational institutions, veterinary hospitals, and animal shelters. None of those exceptions extend to a private home, so there is no permit process or licensing path by which an Oak Park resident can lawfully keep a wild animal, such as a big cat, primate, venomous reptile or wolf hybrid, as a household pet. The definition of DOMESTIC ANIMAL in section 5-1-2 reinforces the same boundary from the other direction, defining a domestic animal as any animal, except birds or fish, whose ownership is not prohibited under section 5-4-10, so the code treats section 5-4-10 as the dividing line between what may lawfully be kept as a pet in the Village and what may not.