Woodbury, MN Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Section 5-49 defines "non-domestic animals" broadly: big cats such as lions, tigers, cougars and bobcats; wild canines like wolves, foxes and coyotes plus any wolf-dog hybrid; raccoons, skunks and squirrels; venomous, constricting or otherwise dangerous reptiles and amphibians including rattlesnakes, boa constrictors and alligators; and a catch-all covering bears, deer, non-human primates and game fish. Domesticated house cats and dogs are excluded. Section 5-50 then makes it unlawful to own, care for, or have custody or control of any animal on that list anywhere in the city, subject only to three exceptions: animals specifically trained and actually providing assistance to a handicapped or disabled person, animals temporarily in the city as part of an operating zoo or a veterinarian's clinic, and licensed traveling exhibitions keeping the animals for exhibition or show.

Section 5-51 goes further and bars offering any of these animals for sale within the city, closing off a local pet-trade workaround. Enforcement runs through the animal control officer, community service officer, or police officer, the same officials empowered elsewhere in chapter 5 to impound, quarantine, or in extreme cases destroy an animal that presents an immediate danger. Because the prohibition is possession-based rather than permit-based, there is no license path for a resident to keep a wild or hybrid animal as a household pet; the only lawful presence of a listed species in Woodbury is transient (zoo, vet, licensed exhibit) or working (a trained assistance animal).