Arlington County, VA Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Rescue Permits (2026)

1 exists, and during that period it makes the transportation, importation, translocation, harboring, and sale of foxes, skunks, and raccoons unlawful. The section carves out a specific exception: a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (the predecessor name for the state wildlife agency now known as the Department of Wildlife Resources) may harbor and translocate foxes, skunks, and raccoons in the practice of rehabilitating those animals, provided all applicable state regulations are followed. 2 separately recognizes properly licensed wildlife rehabilitators and wildlife exhibitors as exempt from the general prohibitions on keeping wild or exotic animals and on keeping venomous reptiles, so a state-licensed rehabilitator handling a raccoon, fox, skunk, or other listed wild species for rehabilitation purposes is not treated as violating either the rabies-emergency transport ban or the wild-animal-possession ban, so long as the person holds the required state license or permit and follows the applicable state rules.

The ordinance does not itself create a separate County wildlife-rescue permit; it defers to and relies on the state licensing and permitting system administered by the Commonwealth of Virginia.