Sampson County, NC Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Rescue Permits (2026)

Sampson County's animal-control ordinance makes it unlawful to keep, harbor, breed, sell or trade any wild or exotic animal, a category defined in § 4-1-02.H(a)-(c) to include wolves and coyote hybrids, bears, wild cats, primates over twenty-five pounds, ten-foot-plus constricting or poisonous reptiles, and crocodilians. Section 4-1-02.H(d) then supplies the county's only carve-out from that ban: someone who holds a license from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission as a wildlife rehabilitator may keep such animals under the terms of that state license. Sampson County itself issues no separate rescue or rehabilitation permit; the county code simply defers to whatever the state license authorizes, so a rehabilitator working with an injured hawk, fox or other wild species in the unincorporated county must hold the state credential rather than any county paperwork.

Anyone keeping a wild or exotic animal without that state license is still subject to the county's general exotic-animal ban and its Chapter 4-1 civil penalty schedule, administered by the Sheriff's Office and the county Animal Shelter under § 4-1-01. A citation carries a $50 penalty for a first offense, $100 for a second offense within twelve months, and $200 for a third or later offense in that period, plus a possible Class 3 misdemeanor if the fine is not paid within thirty days. Because the exception is narrow, a rehabilitator operating outside the specific use described in § 4-1-02.H(d) loses the ordinance's protection and reverts to being subject to the general prohibition.