Animal Ordinances in Waukegan, IL

If you live in Waukegan or are thinking about moving there, animal ordinances are one of those things you probably won't think about until they affect you directly. Waukegan has 14 specific rules on the books covering different aspects of animal ordinances, and some of them might surprise you.

Wildlife Feeding

Waukegan bans any direct or indirect feeding of birds, gulls or other wild animals at the Waukegan Municipal Beach. The rule sits in the beach rules list of Section 11-42 and carries its own $100.00-to-$500.00 penalty schedule under Section 11-45.

Key details: Scope: Waukegan Municipal Beach only. Prohibited act: Direct or indirect feeding of birds, gulls, wild animals. First-offense fine: $100.00 (§ 11-45(a)). Third+ offense fine: $500.00. Governing section: Code § 11-42(j).

Section 11-45(a) fines any violation of Section 11-42 (other than the loud-music rule in 11-42(f), which is fined under Section 11-34 instead) on an escalating schedule: $100.00 for a first offense, $250.00 for a second offense, and $500.00 for a third or subsequent offense. Any beach parking permit the offender holds is also cancelled without refund for its unused portion.

This is one of the stricter rules in Waukegan's municipal code. If you are unsure whether your situation complies, it is worth checking with the city before proceeding.

Chickens & Livestock

Waukegan Code § 4-2 flatly bars keeping cattle, sheep, goats, horses, mules, swine, chickens, or any other fowl or livestock anywhere in the city, and declares animals kept in violation a public nuisance. Only horses or mules permitted under other law and animals used for city police work are exempt.

Key details: Governing section: Waukegan Code § 4-2. Covered animals: Cattle, sheep, goats, horses, mules, swine, fowl. Max penalty: Up to $750.00 civil fine (Sec. 4-19). Legal status: Declared a public nuisance outright. Exemptions: Permitted horses/mules and city police animals only.

Sec. 4-2 doesn't set its own dollar fine, so a violation falls under the animal chapter's general penalty in Sec. 4-19: a civil offense punishable by a fine of up to $750.00, with each animal or separate incident counted as its own offense. Officers can seize livestock or fowl on the spot under the section's entry-and-removal power, and the animal is held at animal control pending resolution.

This is one of the stricter rules in Waukegan's municipal code. If you are unsure whether your situation complies, it is worth checking with the city before proceeding.

Pet Limits

Waukegan Code § 4-5 limits any household to a combined total of three dogs or cats of licensing age at one time, unless the chief of police grants written permission for more. Owners seeking an exception must file a written request with the chief of police or a designee.

Key details: Governing section: Waukegan Code § 4-5. Pet cap: Three dogs and cats combined per household. Exception process: Written request to chief of police required. Max penalty: Up to $750.00 civil fine (Sec. 4-19).

A violation of the three-pet cap is a civil offense under the animal chapter's general penalty in Sec. 4-19, carrying a fine of up to $750.00, with each animal above the limit potentially counted as a separate offense. Citations can be contested through a hearing or resolved by paying the assessed penalty within the notice period.

Dog Leash Laws

Waukegan Code § 4-41 requires owners to keep dogs and cats under restraint at all times, barring them from crossing the property line unleashed or roaming an unfenced yard without a leash. A first offense costs $25.00, rising to $100.00 by the third, and repeat at-large animals must be spayed or neutered within 30 days.

Key details: Governing section: Waukegan Code § 4-41. First offense fee: $25.00 to redeem the animal. Repeat offense fee: $50.00, then $100.00 for 3rd+. Mandatory sterilization: Required within 30 days after 2nd offense. Exemption: Rescue or law-enforcement dogs only.

At-large violations carry an escalating redemption fee: $25.00 the first time, $50.00 the second, and $100.00 for the third or any later time, charged to the owner before the animal is released from city police animal control. A second or subsequent at-large violation also requires the dog or cat to be spayed or neutered within 30 days, and skipping that requirement leads to another impoundment.

This is one of the stricter rules in Waukegan's municipal code. If you are unsure whether your situation complies, it is worth checking with the city before proceeding.

Pet Store Rules

Waukegan pet stores cannot sell a dog or cat for anything beyond nominal consideration. Sec. 4-68 bans retail 'pet trader' sales outright, letting stores only host licensed breeders' animals bred on-site, shelter and rescue partnerships, or adoption events instead of walk-in puppy and kitten sales.

Key details: Rule: No retail sale of dogs/cats for consideration. Fine: $200.00 per animal, plus costs. Exempt: Licensed on-site breeders (Sec. 4-67). Exempt: Shelters, humane societies, rescues. Allowed: In-store shelter/rescue adoption events.

Sec. 4-68(d) fines a person or establishment $200.00 for each animal sold, delivered, offered for sale, bartered, auctioned or otherwise transferred in violation of the ban, plus costs, so a store moving several animals in one transaction is fined per animal, not per incident.

This is one of the stricter rules in Waukegan's municipal code. If you are unsure whether your situation complies, it is worth checking with the city before proceeding.

Mandatory Spay/Neuter

Waukegan does not order every pet fixed, but City Code Sec. 4-41 makes it mandatory the second time a dog or cat is caught running at large. After a second or subsequent at-large violation, the owner must have the animal spayed or neutered within 30 days of reclaiming it from city police animal control, or it stays impounded.

Key details: Trigger: 2nd or later at-large violation. Compliance deadline: 30 days after reclaiming animal. 1st offense fee: $25.00. 2nd offense fee: $50.00. 3rd+ offense fee: $100.00.

Redemption fees escalate from $25.00 to $50.00 then $100.00 for a third or later at-large offense, billed before the animal is released. A second or subsequent at-large catch also triggers the 30-day spay/neuter deadline under Sec. 4-41(c); missing it keeps the animal impounded. Citations are issued by Waukegan police officers or animal control officers on probable cause.

Beekeeping

Waukegan doesn't require a permit to keep bees, but it lets police order hives removed within five days once a neighbor complains that the bees are a vexation, annoyance, or danger, giving the city an on-demand enforcement tool instead of upfront registration.

Key details: Permit required: None, complaint-driven only. Standard: Vexation, annoyance, or danger to others. Investigating agency: Waukegan Police Department. Removal deadline: 5 days after notice. Governing section: § 15-8 (Code 1974 § 26-25).

Failing to remove hives within the five days given after a substantiated nuisance complaint is enforceable under the Code's general penalty, § 1-13(a): a fine of $25.00 to $750.00, with each day the bees stay past the deadline counted as a separate offense. Because § 15-8 sets no advance permit requirement, the only trigger for enforcement is an investigated complaint, not routine inspection.

If you are coming from a city with tighter rules, you will find Waukegan gives residents more flexibility on beekeeping.

Veterinary Clinic Zoning

Waukegan zones animal boarding facilities and shelters, including the boarding side of veterinary operations, as a conditional use limited to specific business and industrial districts, requiring six-foot privacy fencing for outdoor runs and a ban on siting an unenclosed facility next to residential property.

Key details: Governing section: UDO Sec. 9.02.B.3, Animal Boarding or Shelter. Outdoor privacy fence: Minimum 6 feet high. Outdoor boarding location: Interior side and/or rear yard only. Adjacency rule: No unenclosed facility next to residential use. Drainage rule: Runoff may not reach neighbors, ROW, or storm drains.

Operating an animal boarding facility or shelter outside the districts where Table 9.02-1 allows it, or without meeting the location, fencing, drainage, and safety standards of Sec. 9.02.B.3, is a zoning violation subject to enforcement by the Building Commissioner and Zoning Administrator; a facility built without the required conditional use permit in the B3 or R/LI Districts cannot legally operate, and Section 4.08.D allows revocation of a conditional use permit already granted where the standards are violated after approval.

Microchipping

Waukegan doesn't require every owner to microchip a pet, but Code § 4-16(b) requires any dog or cat impounded for certain violations to be microchipped before redemption at a $15.00 fee, and § 4-67(f)(8) requires every licensed animal breeder to microchip a dog or cat before selling or transferring it.

Key details: Governing sections: Waukegan Code §§ 4-16(b), 4-67(f)(8). Microchip fee: $15.00 charged before impound redemption. Breeder duty: Must microchip before any sale or transfer. No blanket rule: General pet ownership carries no chip mandate. Breeder penalty: License revoked for skipping the requirement.

There's no standalone microchipping fine; instead, an impounded dog or cat can't be redeemed until the $15.00 microchip fee is paid under Sec. 4-16(b) and Sec. 4-84(c)(1), on top of impound costs and any other fines owed. A breeder who skips microchipping a sold animal violates Sec. 4-67(f)(8) and faces immediate revocation of the breeding license under subsection (f).

Breed Restrictions

Waukegan does not ban dogs by breed; instead Sec. 4-101 lets the chief of police declare an individual dog 'dangerous' after an unprovoked attack, impound it during the investigation, and order humane destruction if it injured or killed a person or pet, subject to a seven-day appeal window.

Key details: Basis for declaration: Unprovoked bite, chase, or attack. Appeal window: 7 days to file, 21 days to hearing. Holding period: 10 days after written notice. Fine: Not less than $500.00 plus costs. Mandatory destruction: Required if dog caused a death.

Sec. 4-101(g) sets a civil fine of not less than $500.00 plus costs for keeping a declared dangerous dog in violation of the section, and the court can add restitution covering impoundment expenses, care and maintenance costs, and veterinary expenses; each dog or incident is a separate offense. A dangerous-dog citation also triggers the mandatory court appearance requirement under Sec. 4-19(d).

Compared to other cities, Waukegan takes a harder line on breed restrictions. The enforcement and penalty structure reflects that.

Exotic Pets

Waukegan Code § 4-2 makes it unlawful to keep any wild animal anywhere in the city, and Sec. 4-1 defines a wild animal as any undomesticated species not customarily suited to live in a home. City police animal control can enter a property to seize a prohibited animal and take it to a veterinarian or the impound facility.

Key details: Governing sections: Waukegan Code §§ 4-1, 4-2. Wild animal defined: Undomesticated species not suited to a home. Snake add-on ban: Sec. 4-6 separately bans poisonous/dangerous snakes. Max penalty: Up to $750.00 civil fine (Sec. 4-19). No permit exception: Only city police/working animals exempted.

There's no separate fine schedule in Sec. 4-2, so a violation is enforced under the animal chapter's general penalty, Sec. 4-19: a civil offense with a fine of up to $750.00 per animal or incident. The animal itself can be seized immediately under the section's entry power and held at animal control pending a licensed veterinarian's evaluation.

Compared to other cities, Waukegan takes a harder line on exotic pets. The enforcement and penalty structure reflects that.

Cat Rules

Waukegan lets residents manage feral cat colonies but only through a registered trap-neuter-return program. Sec. 4-49 requires any caretaker feeding or maintaining a feral colony to register with a TNR program the chief of police approves, and the city can still trap and remove colonies it decides to stabilize.

Key details: Registration required: TNR program approved by chief of police. TNR steps: Trap, neuter/spay, microchip, vaccinate, return. Colony seizure authority: Chief of police, humane removal. Seizure costs: Billed to the caretaker. Governing section: Sec. 4-49.

There is no set fine for operating a colony outside an approved TNR program in the text of Sec. 4-49 itself; the exposure is the seizure power in subsection (c), which lets the chief of police trap and remove an unregistered or destabilizing colony and bill the caretaker for every cost of that removal, with no fine cap stated in the section.

Compared to other cities, Waukegan takes a harder line on cat rules. The enforcement and penalty structure reflects that.

Bird Protection

Waukegan's bird-friendly design ordinance requires at least 80 percent of exterior glass, from ground level to 100 feet, to be bird-safe glazing on new or renovated city-owned buildings two stories or taller, but it does not reach privately owned structures.

Key details: Scope: City-owned facilities only, 2+ stories. Glass coverage required: 80 percent bird-friendly, ground to 100 feet. Threat factor standard: American Bird Conservancy rating ≤ 30. Adopted: Ord. No. 25-O-36, Feb. 3, 2025.

The article states requirements for city-owned facility design and construction rather than a citation scheme for private parties; noncompliance would be addressed administratively within the city's own building and procurement process rather than through the general Sec. 1-13 fine schedule that governs private code violations.

The rules around bird protection in Waukegan lean permissive, but that does not mean anything goes.

Pet Groomer Rules

Waukegan classifies pet groomers under 'Personal Services Establishment,' the same zoning category as barbershops and dry cleaners, expressly naming 'animal grooming establishments' in its definition. The use is capped at 3 off-street parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of floor area and is kept legally separate from animal boarding or shelter uses.

Key details: Zoning category: 'Personal Services Establishment' (UDO § 13.02). Named use: 'Animal grooming establishments' listed by name. Parking cap: 3 spaces per 1,000 sq ft of GFA. Bicycle parking: 1 short-term space per 1,000 sq ft GFA. Kept separate from: 'Animal Boarding, Hospital, or Shelter' use.

A pet grooming business operating in a district where Personal Services Establishment is not listed, or exceeding the 3-space-per-1,000-square-foot parking cap in Table 10.03-1, is an unpermitted or noncompliant zoning use subject to Waukegan's standard code-enforcement and permit-denial process, the same treatment given any other Unified Development Ordinance violation.

The Bottom Line

Waukegan is tougher than many cities when it comes to animal ordinances. Out of the 14 rules covered here, 7 are rated strict. If you are a homeowner, renter, or business owner in Waukegan, take the time to understand these requirements before they become a problem. Most violations come with fines, and some repeat violations can escalate.

Keep in mind that Waukegan can amend these rules at any council meeting. For the most current version of any rule mentioned here, check the specific ordinance page, where we track updates as they happen.