Ottawa County, MI Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 300.1.8.4 of the Code of Ottawa County reads: no person shall keep any exotic animal or type of animal which is objectively a hazard to the community because of a threat to safety or of disease, and for purposes of the subsection, exotic animal means any animal that is native to a foreign country and is not native to any state of the United States. The ban is narrower than a blanket prohibition on all non-domestic species: the animal must be objectively hazardous, either because it threatens public safety or because it carries disease risk, before keeping it becomes a violation.

The section sits in Article VIII, "Keeping of Animals," alongside general care duties such as feeding, sanitary housing, shelter and veterinary attention that apply to every animal owner in the county, exotic or not. The Ordinance treats a violation here more seriously than an ordinary at-large or leash citation: Section 300.1.11.1 states that, in accordance with MCL Section 333.2441, a violation involving cruelty or dangerous exotic animals may be considered a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment for not more than ninety days, or a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or both, rather than only a civil infraction.

As with the rest of the chapter, the Ordinance does not apply within a city or township that has adopted its own animal control ordinance under MCL Section 287.290.