Cambridge, MA Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

020 of the Cambridge Municipal Code restricts every pet shop to offering for sale only arachnids, birds, mammals, amphibians or reptiles obtained from, or displayed in cooperation with, an animal care facility, an animal rescue organization, an animal sold or displayed for agricultural uses, or a dead animal sold or displayed as a breeder animal. That excludes animals bought from commercial breeders or brokers, the classic 'puppy mill' supply chain. Shops must keep records documenting the source of every animal they acquire for at least one year and make those records available immediately to the Director of the Animal Commission, an Animal Control Officer, a Police Officer or a Sanitation or Code Enforcement Inspector, and must post a sign on each cage naming the animal care facility or rescue organization the animal came from.

030 goes further and bans anyone, not just pet shops, from selling, exchanging, trading, bartering, leasing or displaying for a commercial purpose any arachnid, bird, mammal, amphibian or reptile on a roadside, public right-of-way, parkway, median, park, flea market, outdoor market or commercial parking lot, regardless of the property owner's permission; that section exempts animal-care-facility or rescue adoptions, state or county fair and 4-H exhibitions, agricultural animals, and breeder-carcass sales.