Duluth, MN Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Duluth Legislative Code Section 6-82(d) lists a pet shop business among the activities the city council licenses by fee resolution, alongside kennels, grooming shops and nuisance wildlife removal businesses; the city animal shelter is the only exempt operation. Section 6-83 requires an annual license from the city clerk's office before anyone establishes, operates or maintains a pet shop in the City of Duluth, with renewal applications due at least 30 days before the term expires. Because pet shops carry animals for sale, the section adds requirements the other Article VIII licensees do not carry: every pet shop license application or renewal must be accompanied by a corporate surety bond to the city of $3,000, kept at that level throughout the license period to guarantee payment for veterinary or other care the animal control officer orders and to secure the licensee's compliance with the law, and a commercial general liability insurance policy covering the pet shop's operations for $300,000 per year in bodily injury and $50,000 per year in property damage, filed with the city clerk.

Section 6-89(a) separately bars any pet shop licensee or employee from misrepresenting the breed or age of an animal kept for sale as an inducement to buy it, and Section 6-89(b) bars selling any species listed among the prohibited nondomesticated animals in Section 6-72. Section 6-88 requires pet shops to report significant pet-illness outbreaks to the animal control authority and forbids displaying a maimed, sick or disabled animal in a store window.