Sparks, NV Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 20.03.005, the city's animal-location standard within Chapter 20.03's use standards, splits animals into domestic household pets, allowed citywide subject to housing rules, and "high risk species," which the code bans from being fed or sheltered anywhere inside Sparks. Subsection C makes it unlawful for any person to create or establish a location or structure for the purpose of feeding, sheltering, or providing sustenance to a high risk species within the boundaries of the City, and the code defines both key terms broadly: feeding means leaving food, water or other sustenance outside of any building or structure, and sheltering means providing any type of shelter, whether temporary or permanent. The named high-risk species are the striped skunk, spotted skunk, raccoon, fox, bat, coyote, badger, bobcat, weasel, and feral cat, plus a catch-all for other high risk transmitters of disease.

The code goes further on cats specifically, defining a feral cat as one that exists in an untamed state, has reverted to an untamed state, or was previously a domesticated pet that has since been abandoned by its owner, so an abandoned former pet cat can fall under this same prohibition once it goes feral. Because the ban is written around the act of feeding or sheltering rather than mere presence, it reaches backyard feeding stations and improvised den structures as much as it reaches someone deliberately keeping one of these animals as a pet. The section notes it doesn't limit Washoe County's separate authority to enforce its own animal control provisions inside Sparks.