No person shall be permitted:
(a) To harbor, feed or market, in any form, wholesale or retail, wild animals native to the State of Ohio, including but not limited to, foxes, skunks, racoons, opossums, squirrels and weasels (mustela).
(b) To import into the Village any such wild animals.
(c) To import, market, harbor or feed, in any form, wholesale or retail, within the jurisdiction of the Village other types of wild, feral or dangerous animals, including exotic animals not native to the State of Ohio.
(d) To perform surgery or other techniques on a wild, feral or exotic animal for any purpose including, but not limited to, neutering, spaying or removing scent glands.
(e) Exemptions and special provisions:
(1) “Wild or exotic animals” do not include those animals native to the farm and sold at auction or by private sale, such as horses, cattle, swine, poultry or other livestock; and those animals sold by pet dealers or by private sale, such as domestic cats, domestic dogs, domestic rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchilla, mice, hamsters, gerbils, rats, psittacine birds and non- poisonous, non-man-eating fish.
(2) Wild or exotic animals purchased or acquired prior to the adoption of this section are exempted providing:
A. The owner or harborer has a bill of sale and/or license issued by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife and/or the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Regulatory Enforcement and Animal Care, which verifies a prior date. The owner or harborer shall also provide a licensed veterinarian certification which verifies that the animal is wild or exotic. Persons owning, possessing or harboring a wild or exotic animal in the Village at the time of the effective date of this section may keep the animal until the animal’s death or removal from the premises where such animal is kept. Once the animal is removed, it may not be returned anywhere within the Village of Cardington without constituting a violation of this section.
B. Offspring of animals described in subsection (2)A. are not exempted by this section and shall be removed from the premises at the time they are weaned from the mother.
(f) Whoever violates any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.
(Ord. 93-4. Passed 5-3-93.)