Orem, UT Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 5-1-1(W) of Orem City Code defines 'Wild Animal' by an explicit list, alligators and crocodiles, bears, the cat family except commonly accepted domesticated cats, coyotes, foxes, wolves, porcupines, monkeys, apes and lemurs, raccoons, skunks, venomous snakes or lizards, venomous fish and piranha, and weasels except commonly accepted domesticated ferrets, and the definition applies 'no matter how domesticated they may be,' so a hand-raised fox or a de-scented pet skunk still counts. Section 5-1-7 then makes it unlawful for any person to sell, offer for sale, barter, give away, keep, or purchase any wild animal within Orem, with a narrow carve-out for the City animal shelter, a zoological park, veterinary hospital, humane society shelter, public laboratory, circus, sideshow, amusement show, or an education or research facility, and only if that institution provides protective devices adequate to prevent the animal from escaping or injuring the public.

The same section separately bars keeping any animal of a species prohibited or protected under Utah County, State of Utah, or federal law, layering local enforcement on top of state and county wildlife rules. People raising members of the weasel family for pelts as a business are expressly exempted from the sale restriction.