McCracken County, KY Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Rescue Permits (2026)

McCracken County Code § 50.07 makes it unlawful in unincorporated McCracken County to sell, own, harbor or keep as a pet any wild or exotic animal not indigenous to the United States, any wild animal native to the United States, or any venomous reptile. The ordinance creates no county wildlife-rescue permit of its own; instead it defers entirely to outside credentials, exempting only state and federal conservation officers, licensed nuisance wildlife officers and licensed rehabilitators from the possession ban. A person who wants to rescue, foster or rehabilitate wild wildlife in the county therefore must already hold the applicable state or federal rehabilitation license before Animal Control will treat the possession as lawful; the county itself issues no separate rescue authorization.

McCracken County Animal Control enforces the chapter and, under § 50.99(I), takes possession of any animal held in violation upon a first conviction. The Fiscal Court adopted this framework by Ord. 2013-2, passed May 28, 2013, as part of Chapter 50's animal control scheme. Because the carve-out turns on licensed status rather than intent, a well-meaning resident who picks up an injured raccoon or hawk without the state or federal credential is still in violation the moment the animal is kept, sold or harbored, not merely displayed for profit.