Taylorsville, UT Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

The prohibition sits in chapter 8.10, Wild, Dangerous And Exotic Animals, inside title 8, Animals, of the Taylorsville City Code. Subsection A bars any person from selling, offering for sale, bartering, giving away, keeping, owning, harboring, or purchasing a wild, dangerous, or exotic animal, defined by reference to Title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Utah law or regulation, or the city's own title 8, and it sweeps in any animal already labeled a vicious animal or nuisance under that title. Subsection B carves out a narrow set of exceptions: animal shelters, zoological parks, veterinary hospitals, section 501(c)(3) animal welfare shelters, public laboratories, circuses, sideshows, amusement shows, and education or scientific research facilities.

Those organizations only qualify if they are licensed or permitted under title 8 and keep the animals restrained or confined so they cannot escape or injure the public; an unlicensed circus or an unpermitted private zoo gets no cover under subsection B. Subsection C makes any violation a class B misdemeanor, prosecuted the same as other title 8 animal offenses. The section was adopted by Ordinance 13-37 on December 18, 2013, and last amended by Ordinance 25-08, effective October 1, 2025. Community Development and Salt Lake County Animal Services, which handles animal control for Taylorsville under contract, are the agencies that field complaints about a resident keeping a snake, big cat, primate, or other prohibited animal, and Taylorsville Police can cite under the criminal penalty in subsection C when the animal keeper refuses to comply.