Pearland, TX Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Sec. 6-11(a) makes it unlawful to sell, offer for sale, barter, lease, give away, or display for a commercial purpose 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 within Pearland's territorial limits. This targets the pop-up curbside box of puppies or kittens rather than a licensed retail operation: subsection (b) exempts an agent of a business that holds a certificate of occupancy from the city authorizing it to operate a pet-selling business, so a brick-and-mortar pet shop with the proper certificate of occupancy can still sell animals on its own premises.

Subsection (b) also carves out livestock or poultry sold, bartered, leased, or given away as those terms are defined by state law, so agricultural livestock and poultry transactions fall outside this section entirely. The section works alongside Sec. 6-4's exemption for 'pet shop (small animals, birds or fish) as defined by the Pearland UDC' from the five-animal household cap, and both sections were adopted together in the wholesale Article I rewrite under Ordinance No. 528-11, effective November 10, 2025.