Kankakee County, IL Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Section 10-15, adopted by Ordinance No. 2018-05-08-79, defines a "pet shop" as any retail establishment where dogs and cats are sold, exchanged, bartered or offered for sale to the general public, and its restriction on sale, subsection (b), flatly states that no pet store shall sell, deliver, offer for sale, barter, auction, give away, or otherwise transfer or dispose of cats or dogs. The only carve-out lets a pet store collaborate with an "animal care facility" (a government-run shelter) or an "animal rescue organization" (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that does not obtain animals from breeders or brokers for compensation) to showcase adoptable dogs and cats on the premises.

The ordinance sits alongside section 10-14, adopted the same year, which separately bans selling or giving away a dog or cat from a public street, roadway, right-of-way, flea market or swap meet, with an exception for events the county authorizes in writing and for nonprofit shelter or rescue organizations. Together the two sections close off both storefront and flea-market commercial pet sales in unincorporated Kankakee County, funneling buyers toward licensed breeders, shelters and rescues instead.