Parker, TX Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

03(A)(1) states that prohibited wild animals 'include the definition and regulations of the Tex. Health and Safety Code, subch. E, entitled Dangerous Wild Animals, as set forth in Tex. 116,' and adopts those regulations 'to the extent legally permissible,' making a violation of the state provisions a violation of the city section. The ordinance states plainly that 'the dangerous wild animals listed in Tex. Health and Safety Code, Ch. 822 are prohibited in the city,' and incorporates those statutory sections by reference as if fully set out in the local code.

03(A)(3) fixes the adoption to the state law as it existed on the date of Ordinance 697 and as it may later be amended, so the local ban tracks any future state amendments automatically. 03(B): 'Prohibited animal does not mean a gerbil, hamster, guinea pig or laboratory mouse or rat,' so those common small pets remain lawful regardless of the wild-animal ban. 01 independently lists examples such as foxes, opossums, raccoons, squirrels, leopards, panthers, tigers, lions and lynx as animals that commonly exist in a natural, unconfined state, unless certified for medical, biological, herpetological or other scientific research, and that definition applies 'regardless of state or duration of captivity,' meaning a captive-bred exotic is treated the same as a wild-caught one under the code.