Minnehaha County, SD Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

08(A) of the 2017 Revised Animal Control Ordinance (MC52-17) prohibits housing or keeping an exotic animal as defined in the ordinance, except animals legally within the county when the ordinance was adopted; those grandfathered animals had to be registered with the Animal Control Officer within ninety days of adoption. 06 defines 'Exotic Animal' as any animal ordinarily found in an unconfined state and not usually kept as a household pet, listing lions, tigers, cheetahs, panthers, leopards, cougars, mountain lions, ocelots, alligators, venomous snakes, poisonous tarantulas or other arachnoids, scorpions, poisonous reptilians, wild members of the genus felis, lynx, bobcats, foxes, minks, skunks, raccoons, bears, non-human primates, wolves, and coyotes.

The definition specifically carves out domestic ferrets, livestock, and household pets, and states that an animal's alleged domestication does not change its exotic status; the Animal Control Officer or a designee decides exotic status for any species not listed. The prohibition exempts circuses or exotic animal exhibits that are validly and legally operating in the county for a specific, limited time, meaning a traveling show is not treated the same as a resident owner keeping a prohibited species long-term. Because the registration exception only protected animals already in the county before the ordinance's 2017 effective date, any exotic animal acquired afterward has no lawful path to being kept in unincorporated Minnehaha County.