A new amendment to the Arlington County code prohibits wild and exotic animals as pets. See what animals are banned.

WASHINGTON — Arlington County, Virginia, is saying no to lions and tigers and bears — as pets.

A new amendment to the Arlington County code passed on Tuesday prohibits residents from keeping wild and exotic animals as pets.

“More than likely, we already know if somebody had a pet tiger,” said Chelsea Lindsey, a spokeswoman for the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. “This is not so that we can track you down, it’s just so that we know. So if there are issues going forward, we have an idea who has these animals.”

Residents who already have exotic animals in the banned lists should contact the Animal Welfare League of Arlington to sign up in a free registry in order to keep their pets.

The ban of wild and exotic animals does not include rabbits, rats, mice, ferrets, hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, guinea pigs and nonvenomous snakes. It does, however, include new standards for the care, handling and enclosure for snakes that weigh more than 25 pounds.

“Keeping wild and exotic animals as pets out of their native environment typically isn’t what’s best for the animal or for community members,” said Kurt Larrick from Arlington County’s Department of Human Services. “The driving force behind all of this has been the community. It was Arlington residents who came forward to ask for stronger protections for wild and exotic animals.”

The ban on wild and exotic animals is already law in neighboring jurisdictions and at the state level.

Below are all the animals that are prohibited under the new Arlington code.

Primates AP Photo/Joshua Paul, File Raccoons (Getty Images/iStockphoto/Anolis01) Getty Images/iStockphoto/Anolis01 Skunks Clyde Nishimura/Smithsonian’s National Zoo Wolves or wolf hybrids (AP Photo/Dawn Villella, File) AP/Dawn Villella Coyotes (Thinkstock) Getty Images/iStockphoto/SteveByland Squirrels (Thinkstock) Getty Images/iStockphoto Foxes (Thinkstock) Getty Images/iStockphoto/RT-Images Leopards (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) AP/Richard Vogel Panthers (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) ASSOCIATED PRESS/Ajit Solanki Tigers (AP Photo/Matt York) AP/Matt York Lions (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) AP Bears and other warm-blooded animals typically found in the wild (AP Photo/Chicago Zoological Society, Jim Schulz) AP Wildcats (including hybrids — bobcats, lynxes and caracals) (Barbara Statas/Smithsonian’s National Zoo via AP) Barbara Statas/Smithsonian's National Zoo via AP Ratites (flightless birds) (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) AP/Gene J. Puskar Alligators and crocodiles (Thinkstock) Getty Images/iStockphoto Venomous snakes and reptiles (AP Photo/John Bazemore) ASSOCIATED PRESS/John Bazemore Scorpions (except those in the genus Pandinus) Mike L. Baird/Getty Centipedes of the scolopendra genus (Thinkstock) Getty Images/iStockphoto/GlobalP The following spiders: widow spiders, recluse spiders, funnel-web spiders, banana or wandering spiders, trapdoor spiders, sand spiders and tarantulas (including the Mexican redknee tarantula) (AP Photo/Great Falls Tribune, Robin Loznak) ASSOCIATED PRESS/Robin Loznak ( 1 /19) Share This Gallery: Share on Facebook. Share on Twitter. Share via email. Print.

WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.