Portage County, WI Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Chapter 4.9's definitions section, § 4.9.3(5) and (18), sweeps 'pet shop' into the broader term 'commercial animal establishment,' covering any person, partnership or corporation that buys, sells or boards animals other than a licensed kennel, animal shelter or veterinary hospital. Under § 4.9.15(1), anyone who keeps or operates such an establishment in unincorporated Portage County, the towns outside Stevens Point, Plover and the county's other cities and villages, must apply annually to the County Clerk for a permit and pay a fee equal to the county's multiple-dog kennel license ($80.00 for up to 12 dogs plus $12.00 per additional dog under § 4.9.4(5)).

The section explicitly steps aside where a municipality already licenses commercial animal establishments on its own. Section 4.9.15(2) requires a successful humane-officer inspection before a permit issues and bars anyone convicted of animal cruelty within the last 20 years from holding one; a false or withheld application fact is also grounds for refusal. The County may revoke a permit after a hearing under § 4.9.15(3) for noncompliance, and a revoked holder has ten days to humanely dispose of every animal on the premises under § 4.9.15(4), with proof of disposal required and no refund of the fee.

Section 4.9.15(6)-(7) requires every permit holder to release only animals free of obvious infectious disease, parasites or fractures, and to keep clean, well-ventilated, properly sized enclosures with daily record-keeping on every animal acquired and disposed of, open to inspection by a law enforcement officer, humane officer or the Health and Human Services Department at any time.