Wausau, WI Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Adopted by Ord. No. 08 Animals after findings that most pet-store puppies and kittens trace back to large-scale commercial breeding operations with documented welfare and consumer-protection problems, including an antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter risk the CDC has linked to pet-store puppies. "Pet store" is defined as any retail establishment where animals are sold, exchanged, bartered, or offered for sale to the public, but the definition excludes animal care facilities (municipal or county-run shelters) and 501(c)(3) animal rescue organizations that are not themselves breeders or brokers. The operative rule bars a pet store from selling, delivering, offering for sale, bartering, auctioning, giving away, or otherwise transferring or disposing of any dog or cat.

A narrow carve-out lets a pet store host shelters or rescues in-store to showcase adoptable animals, provided the store takes no ownership interest in those animals, charges no fee for the space, and does not keep the animals overnight. The ban does not touch private breeders who sell directly to the public or licensed rescues and shelters operating on their own. Enforcement runs through the City Attorney's office on referral from the Humane Officer.