Harrisburg, PA Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Rescue Permits (2026)

Section 3-509.5 of the Harrisburg Codified Ordinances is the only City permit provision that touches wildlife rescue. Subsection B bars any person from keeping or permitting to be kept any wild animal as a pet without a permit from the City. Subsection C creates the rescue pathway: the City issues a temporary permit for the keeping, care and protection of an infant wild animal native to this area that has been deemed to be homeless. The permit is temporary by its own terms, and the section as printed sets no fee, application form or duration.

Subsection D gives the Chief of Police the power to release, or order the release of, any infant wild animal held under a temporary permit that is deemed capable of survival. The decision on when the animal goes back belongs to the Chief of Police, not the keeper.

Subsection A is a separate ban: no person can keep a wild animal or a vicious or dangerous animal for display or exhibition, free or for a fee, though zoological parks, performing animal exhibitions and circuses are carved out. Section 3-511.1 adds safety precautions for exhibiting a carnivorous wild animal in a public setting: the animal stays in a cage, a barrier stands no less than six feet away from the cage, and a qualified trainer is present at all times.

Section 3-511.2 then ties City possession rules to state wildlife law: no person can purchase, display, sell or possess any wildlife in the City except as permitted by the Pennsylvania Game and Wildlife Code. A Harrisburg temporary permit therefore sits alongside, and does not replace, whatever that Code requires.