Pender County, NC Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 6-2 defines "inherently dangerous wild animals" to include all felines other than the domestic house cat, such as lions, tigers, and leopards; nonhuman primates; bears; wolves; venomous reptiles or reptiles weighing 25 pounds or more, excluding turtles; and other non-domesticated carnivores, while expressly excluding emus, llamas, ostriches, alpacas, and pack animals as the code defines them. Section 6-131 then makes it unlawful for any owner or other person to possess or harbor one of these animals anywhere in the county. Two narrow exemptions apply: zoos, defined by NAICS code 712130, are exempt from the possession ban but must still comply with every other county ordinance and policy, and circuses, fairs, and other temporary events that use inherently dangerous wild animals, as the term is used in the unified development ordinance, get the same limited exemption.

The Board of Commissioners can add or remove species from the dangerous-animal classification after receiving evidence about an animal's habits, its capacity to be domesticated, and the hazard it would pose to the public, but only through that formal process, not by unilateral staff decision. The sheriff's animal control division and the health department enforce the chapter, and a violation carries the chapter-wide Class 3 misdemeanor penalty in section 6-162, a fine of no less than $50.00 and not more than $500.00, or the county may instead pursue an injunction or order of abatement under G.S. 153A-123 to remove the animal.