Manitou Springs, CO Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

070(A) makes it unlawful to sell, barter or give away any baby chicken, rabbit, duckling or other fowl under eight weeks of age as a pet, toy, premium or novelty, and bans dyeing or otherwise coloring them, though breeders and stores engaged in commercial breeding and raising are exempted from that specific ban. Subsection B separately targets informal sales: it's unlawful to sell, trade, barter, lease, rent, give away or display a live animal on a roadside, public right-of-way, commercial parking lot, or at an outdoor special sale, swap meet, flea market, or similar event.

That ban carries three exceptions, so the ordinance functions as a restriction on venue rather than a citywide retail prohibition: an agent of a business licensed by the Colorado Department of Agriculture to operate a pet store, an event primarily for selling agricultural livestock (hoofed animals or fowl raised for food, dairy or fiber), and a tax-exempt nonprofit organized to provide humane sanctuary or shelter for abandoned or unwanted animals. In practice, a licensed brick-and-mortar pet store or a shelter adoption event can lawfully sell or display animals in Manitou Springs; what's barred is the unregulated curbside or flea-market sale.