Licensing Your Animal Facility

The following special purpose licenses are required for people or facilities keeping animals within the Municipality of Anchorage

• Animal Litter License: A person who sells or reconveys not more than three litters of dogs and/or cats in a calendar year. Each litter must be registered with the Animal Care and Control.

• Animal Rescue License: person or organization who accepts animals for the purpose of finding a permanent adoptive home for the animals and does not maintain a central facility for keeping animals, but rather uses a system of fostering in private homes, or boarding or keeping in licensed commercial facilities.
• Animal Rescue Shelter:A facility used to house four or more stray, homeless, abandoned or unwanted animals and that is owned, operated or maintained by an animal welfare organization, organization for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or other nonprofit organization, or by a person or persons devoted to the welfare, protection or humane treatment of animals, for the purpose of finding a permanent adoptive home.
• Commercial Facility License: A person or facility that boards or grooms dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, and/or horses for fees or services, or reconveys four or more dogs or cats in a calendar year, or breeds more than three litters of dogs and/or cats in a calendar year. A pet store is a commercial facility.
• Multi-Animal Facility License: A person or facility with four or more dogs, four or more cats, four or more rabbits, four or more ferrets, four or more horses, or any combination of seven or more of the animals listed above.​
• Mushing Facility License: A person or facility, including a dwelling unit, residence, or business premise that owns, houses, possesses, or acts as custodian of four or more dogs over the age of four months, that have been trained to be harnessed and pull sleds, carts, vehicles with humans and/or cargo for the sport of mushing whether for recreation, competition or remuneration.

Download the Special Purpose License Application for Animal Litter, Commercial, Multi-Animal, and Mushing Facility Licenses.

Download the Rescue License Application for Animal Rescue and Animal Rescue Shelter Facility Licenses.

Download Animal Waste Guidelines for facilities.