Terrebonne Parish, LA Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Terrebonne Parish Code § 5-14 flatly prohibits owning, possessing, selling or keeping any exotic animal or wild animal within the parish, and it does not carve out a permit process of its own: the only way to lawfully keep one is to hold a permit or license issued under some other parish ordinance, or under federal or state wildlife law. Enforcement runs through the Terrebonne Parish Division of Animal Control under § 5-4, which can issue a citation or summons; because § 5-14 does not set its own fine, a violation falls under the parish's general penalty clause, Code § 1-6, punishable by up to 30 days in the parish jail or a fine of up to $500, or both, with each day the animal remains in the parish counted as a separate offense.

The ban dovetails with the parish's rabies-control rules: under § 5-15(k), an exotic or wild animal capable of carrying rabies that bites a human, or is suspected of rabies exposure, must be euthanized immediately and its head sent to the state health department for pathology. Steel leg-hold traps used to remove a dangerous or nuisance wild animal are themselves banned under § 5-24 except when used by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries or its agents, or as otherwise allowed by state law, underscoring that wild-animal control in the parish runs through licensed state and parish channels rather than private keeping.