East Brunswick, NJ Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Section 83-31.1, added 4-25-16 by Ord. 16-08, limits where an East Brunswick Township pet shop gets its dogs and cats. A pet shop can offer for sale only those dogs and cats that it has obtained from, or displays in cooperation with, an animal care facility or an animal rescue organization. The word only closes the list: the section names no breeder or wholesaler as a source. The rule covers dogs and cats and says nothing about other animals.

Subsection B protects the shelter side of the business. Nothing in the section prohibits a shelter, pound or other establishment from keeping, displaying or selling a cat or dog that has been seized, rescued or donated.

A separate licensing rule sits next to it. Under § 83-31, any person, firm or corporation operating a dog kennel or pet shop engaged in the business of boarding or housing dogs in East Brunswick Township pays a license fee established by N.J.R.S. 4:19-15.9: ten dollars ($10.00) a year for a kennel providing accommodations for ten or less dogs, twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for more than ten dogs, and ten dollars ($10.00) for a pet shop, unless that statute is amended to provide another amount. The license tax is in lieu of individual license taxes for such dogs.

The Director of Public Safety and/or Chief of Police and the Animal Control Officer have the primary duty of enforcing Chapter 83 under § 83-27, and § 83-29 bars anyone from interfering with them.