                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

REGULATION OF KEEPING OF ANIMALS AND FOWL (§ 3.2-6544)

A. Any locality may, for the preservation of public health, regulate by
ordinance the keeping of animals or fowl, other than dogs and cats, within a
certain distance of residences or other buildings or wells, springs, streams,
creeks, or brooks, and provide that all or certain of such animals shall not be
kept within certain areas.

B. Any locality may, by ordinance, prohibit cruelty to and abuse of animals and
fowl; and may regulate or prohibit the running at large and the keeping of
animals and fowl and provide for the impounding and confiscation of any such
animal or fowl found at large or kept in violation of such regulations. Any such
ordinance may require that owners of any exotic or poisonous animal found
running at large pay a fee to cover the locality&#8217;s actual cost in locating
and capturing or otherwise disposing of the animal.

HISTORY: Code 1950 §§ 15-20.1, 15-20.2; 1952, c. 694; 1954, c. 94; 1962, c.
623, §§ 15.1-517, 15.1-870; 1997, cc. 411, 587, § 3.1-796.94:1; 1999, c. 663;
2008, c. 860.