Southaven, MS Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 3-13 of the Southaven Code addresses wild animals. Under § 3-13(a), no person can keep or permit to be kept on their premises, or in any roadside zoo or pet store, any wild animal for display or for exhibition purposes, whether gratuitously or for a fee. The subsection does not apply to zoological parks, petting zoos, performing-animal exhibitions or circuses. The section lists no species. It turns on the definition in § 3-1: a wild animal is any animal that can normally be found in the wild state and is not ordinarily domesticated by man, whether raised in captivity or in the wild. Section 3-1 defines an animal as any live, vertebrate creature, domestic or wild, except homo sapiens, and a pet store as a place of business that sells birds, fish, reptiles or mammals intended for use as pets, not including commercial and hobby breeders.

Enforcement sits in § 3-13(b). The supervisor of animal control has the power to release, order the release or seize any wild animal being kept in violation of the section, federal law or state statute, and must notify the Mississippi Department of Wildlife.

Two neighboring rules matter for exotic keepers. Section 3-9(c)(2) caps legal animals kept as pets, other than dogs or cats, at three (3) when the animals have mobility that would allow them to leave the premises, excluding birds and fish. Vicious animals other than dogs, defined in § 3-1 as animals that constitute a physical threat to human beings or other animals, must under § 3-14(f) be confined within a building or secure enclosure and securely muzzled or caged whenever off the owner's premises. Under § 3-21(a), the animal control supervisor can destroy a vicious or feral animal when two listed conditions are met, including running at large or lacking a vaccination tag.