Animal Ordinances in Pennsylvania (2026)

Pennsylvania's Right to Farm Act limits municipal restrictions on normal agricultural operations including chickens and…

Allentown bans keeping livestock and fowl within the City. City Code Chapter 163 makes it unlawful to keep or maintain…

Bethlehem's Codified Ordinances flatly prohibit keeping cattle, sheep, swine, goats, llamas, alpacas, horses or fowl…

The City of Erie prohibits keeping any animal usually kept as a farm animal or livestock; owners receive a seven-day…

Philadelphia generally prohibits keeping chickens, poultry, and livestock; farm animals (other than pigs) are allowed…

Pottstown Borough Code Section 201 bans keeping any pig or other farm animal within Borough limits, expressly naming…

Reading's zoning code excludes livestock -- including chickens, other poultry, and fowl -- from the definition of…

Upper Darby Code § 222-30 bars keeping fowl, poultry, sheep, goats, pigs, or other domestic or wild/semi-wild animals…

Delaware County sets no rule on backyard chickens or livestock: this is municipal zoning. Each of the 49 boroughs and…

Franklin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, permits chickens as outdoor pets in every zoning district under Code §…

Penn Hills residents may keep up to four hens per property in a coop after registering with Code Enforcement, but…

Pittsburgh allows chickens, ducks, goats, and honeybees by right in any residential yard, but caps counts by lot size…

Scranton lets residents keep chickens, ducks, geese and other domestic fowl but the Health Director can order them…

Pennsylvania's Dog Law requires all dogs to be confined, leashed, or under reasonable control by their owner whenever…

Allegheny County parks require dogs and other domestic animals to stay on a leash at all times, except in areas the…

Allentown bars animals from running at large: on public property they must be on a leash no longer than six feet…

Bethlehem dogs must stay on a leash or other restraint whenever they leave the owner's premises, and letting a dog run…

Bucks County's Park System Rules require every dog, cat and other pet to stay under the owner's control on a leash no…

Dogs are allowed in Delaware County parks only on a leash no longer than six feet, and only in areas where dogs are…

Erie owners must keep dogs on a leash no longer than six feet whenever the dog is off the owner's property and on a…

Franklin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, bans letting any animal run at large on streets, public property and…

Lancaster County has no countywide leash law. Statewide, the Pennsylvania Dog Law requires every dog be confined to the…

Montgomery County has no countywide leash ordinance: your borough or township sets that. Statewide, PA's Dog Law…

The Municipality of Penn Hills, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania requires dogs be confined on their owner's property or…

Dogs and most other animals off their owner's property must be on a leash no longer than six feet, with a person able…

Pittsburgh bans dogs running at large on streets, sidewalks, or private property; owners must restrain dogs with a…

Pottstown bans letting any animal run at large and requires dogs on the street to be leashed with a lead no longer than…

Reading requires every dog in a street, sidewalk, park, or other public space to be leashed or chained, or heeled and…

Scranton forbids an owner or custodian from letting a dog run at large anywhere in the city, and defines proper…

Upper Darby Code § 222-6 requires every dog owner to keep the dog under restraint at all times and bars dogs from being…

York County requires every pet, animal or fowl in its parks to be on a tethered leash and under the owner's immediate…

Pennsylvania state law prohibits municipalities from enacting breed-specific legislation that restricts dogs solely…

Scranton has no breed ban; instead it targets any dog by behavior. Section 169-11 holds an owner liable for all damages…

Bethlehem does not regulate dogs by breed, but any dog of fierce, dangerous or vicious propensities, or a female dog in…

Pittsburgh has no breed ban. Under Code § 633.20, a dog is declared dangerous individually under Pennsylvania's…

Reading's Animal Control Officer or police can formally declare a dog aggressive or an animal vicious after a…

Upper Darby Code does not list restricted breeds. Instead §§ 222-20 and 222-21 regulate dogs by behavior: a dog that…

Pennsylvania bans breed-specific legislation, so no Lancaster County municipality may outlaw pit bulls or any breed…

Allentown cannot ban or restrict any dog breed. Pennsylvania's Dog Law (3 P.S. Sec. 459-507-A) expressly abrogates…

Erie has no breed-specific ban; Pennsylvania state law expressly prohibits any local ordinance from prohibiting or…

Philadelphia has no breed-specific dog ban. Pennsylvania's Dog Law preempts breed-specific legislation, expressly…

Pennsylvania's Bee Law requires all beekeepers to register their colonies annually with the Department of Agriculture…

Allentown requires a no-fee registration certificate from the Bureau of Health to keep domestic bees. Hives are capped…

Pittsburgh allows residents to keep honeybees by right as an accessory use, with hive counts tied to lot size and a…

Upper Darby Code § 222-27.2 caps how many bee colonies a lot may hold, scaled to lot size from two colonies on a…

Pennsylvania requires Exotic Wildlife Possession Permits for keeping bears, big cats, wolves, and other dangerous…

Allentown bans keeping any wild or exotic animal outside a zoo, veterinary clinic, humane society, or circus with…

Bethlehem bars keeping any wild or exotic animal, a term the code defines to include lions, wolves, venomous snakes…

Philadelphia Code § 10-106 bans keeping wild animals, lions, wolves, venomous snakes, alligators, primates, anywhere…

Pittsburgh outlaws purchasing, displaying, selling, or possessing wildlife anywhere in the city unless a Pennsylvania…

Pottstown Borough Code Section 202 makes it unlawful to keep any wild animal in the Borough, however it was acquired…

Upper Darby Code § 222-41 flatly prohibits keeping any wild animal as a pet and bars owning or displaying a wild or…

Chester County restricts high-risk exotic animals. Under Health Department §202, wolves, bats, skunks, foxes, raccoons…

You cannot own exotic wildlife in Lancaster County without a state permit. The PA Game Commission (34 Pa.C.S. §2963)…

Pennsylvania Game Commission regulations prohibit intentionally feeding bears and elk statewide, with deer feeding…

Bethlehem bars feeding any animal or bird in a City park outright. Section 941.02(c)(2) makes it unlawful to give…

Philadelphia Code Section 10-110 makes it unlawful to feed any pigeon in a public street, square, park, or other place…

Section 425-6 of Allentown's Code prohibits feeding waterfowl anywhere in the city's parks and at the municipal golf…

County Code § 141-7.A(3) bars feeding any animal or waterfowl in a Delaware County park unless the food is expressly…

Feeding bears and elk is always illegal in Pennsylvania, and deer feeding is banned in Lancaster County, which sits in…

York County bans feeding geese, ducks, deer, birds, squirrels or any other wild animal anywhere in its park system, and…

Pennsylvania sets no statewide cap on how many dogs or cats a household may keep. The line that matters is the Dog…

Allegheny County's Municipality of Penn Hills treats any household keeping more than six dogs as a commercial kennel…

Allentown does not cap household pets by number directly, but City Code Chapter 163 defines any place keeping more than…

Bethlehem limits any premises to six animals six months or older, regardless of how many owners live there, and treats…

Lancaster County has no hoarding ordinance, but Pennsylvania's animal-cruelty law reaches hoarding through the neglect…

Philadelphia caps a residence at no more than twelve adult dogs or cats combined, of which no more than two dogs and…

Pittsburgh caps households at five dogs and cats combined under City Code Section 633.12, though licensed kennels and…

Reading caps households at six dogs, six cats, or a combination of six before requiring City registration and a permit…

Scranton's zoning code limits any residential lot under one acre to a combined six dogs and cats over three months old…

Chester County requires all cats three months or older to be vaccinated against rabies. Under Health Department §202.8…

In the Municipality of Penn Hills, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, cats must be confined to the owner's property and…

Pittsburgh doesn't license cats, but any cat allowed to roam freely must wear a collar or tag with the owner's name…

Scranton makes it unlawful for a cat's owner or harborer to let it run at large in the city, alongside livestock like…

Upper Darby Code § 222-43 bans letting a cat run at large, and § 222-42 requires every cat off its owner's premises to…

Allentown does not license cats, but it does regulate them: cats over three months must have current rabies…

Philadelphia exempts sterilized cats from its at-large and leash law, and lets Animal Control sterilize and release…

Pottstown Borough Code Sections 205 and 206 let animal rescue groups and volunteer feral cat caregivers trap…

Philadelphia Code Section 10-109 bars animal shelters from releasing a dog or cat for adoption, and animal retailers…

Any dog or cat adopted from a City shelter or a nonprofit rescue in Erie must be spayed or neutered, by six months of…

City parks ban hunting, molesting, or feeding wild animals and birds, but Pittsburgh runs an official Deer Management…

Allentown pet shops cannot sell dogs, cats, rabbits, or guinea pigs at all; only adoption partnerships with shelters or…

Bethlehem pet shops cannot sell or offer for sale any dog, cat or rabbit under a 2024 ordinance amendment. Stores may…

Philadelphia pet shops cannot sell a dog or cat unless it comes from an animal care facility or rescue organization…

Pittsburgh pet shops and other commercial establishments may sell dogs, cats, or rabbits only if the animal came from…

Pet groomers in Allentown are zoned under the "animal service" use category, § 660-37.B, alongside boarding, training…

Pet grooming is a straightforward permitted use in most of Erie's commercial zones, but the C-2 General Commercial…

Philadelphia Code Section 10-103(6) makes every groomer, along with veterinarians, animal shelters, retailers, and…

In Franklin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, a veterinary hospital is not a permitted use anywhere in the zoning…

Philadelphia zoning files animal hospitals under "Boarding and Other Services," a use marked not-allowed in every…

Pottstown's Zoning Ordinance treats a veterinary office and kennel as a distinct land use: permitted by right in the…

In Penn Hills' EastGate District, veterinarian offices are permitted as by-right professional offices under the zoning…

Scranton's Zoning Ordinance defines an "animal hospital or veterinary clinic" at § 445-8 as a building for treating…

Bethlehem's park code makes it unlawful to hunt, harm, trap or throw projectiles at any animal, reptile or bird within…

Pittsburgh bars anyone from harming a wild or non-domesticated bird, including pigeons, and limits capture or trapping…

Molesting, trapping, hunting, capturing, killing or injuring any bird or mammal is banned in Allegheny County parks…

Franklin Township bars hunting, capturing or killing any bird or animal, game or otherwise, in any township park unless…

Erie's park rules make it illegal to hunt, molest, harm, frighten, kill, trap, chase, tease, shoot at, or throw…

Philadelphia's Animal chapter flatly bars capturing, wounding or killing any bird within the city, unless done in…

Upper Darby Township Code bars anyone from injuring, annoying or killing birds in a Township park, disturbing waterfowl…

Pittsburgh law limits who may capture or trap a wild or non-domesticated bird, including pigeons, to the city's Animal…