Wayne County, NC Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 10-1 defines an inherently dangerous mammal as any live member of the Canidae, Felidae or Ursidae families, including hybrids, that is not customarily domesticated. The definition specifically reaches non-domestic canids such as wolf hybrids (a wolf crossed with a domestic dog), any wild felid over 15 pounds that is not a domestic cat, and any member of the bear family, while expressly excluding domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) and domestic cats (Felis catus). Section 10-7(a) makes it unlawful for any owner to keep such an animal within the county at all, an outright ban rather than a permit or registration scheme.

S. Department of Agriculture or Department of the Interior; traveling fairs, circuses and carnivals; and any inherently dangerous mammal that was already registered with the animal control program before the chapter was adopted on August 21, 2018. Section 10-7(c) makes owners of any inherently dangerous mammal personally responsible for every cost Wayne County incurs recapturing an animal that escapes, and for shelter or euthanasia costs if the animal has to be taken in. Because the ban is countywide rather than zoning-based, it applies the same way inside agricultural areas, subdivisions and commercial parcels; the county's separate zoning ordinance, referenced but not printed in this code, does not carve out an exception for a private exotic-animal collection.