Keeping a zoo, and the end of mink and raccoon dog farming

Running a zoo in Estonia requires an activity licence from the Environmental Board (Keskkonnaamet) under the Animal Protection Act (loomakaitseseadus)⁹¹³. Mink and raccoon dog farms no longer have a licence route: the farm activity licence was repealed and, since 1 January 2026, keeping animals solely or mainly for fur is prohibited⁵⁷⁸. This page sets out what the acts in force today say.

Information as of 11 November 2026. Every numbered statement of this page was checked in the official text named below and re-checked by a second reviewer on 2026-11-11. The page is general information, not legal advice; the authority decides on every application.

What the activity is

The Animal Protection Act defines a zoo as a place where animals are kept permanently for public display on seven or more days a year¹. A zoo must be planned and built so that the animals' health and welfare are ensured and their escape is prevented². In a zoo, animals are studied, the public is informed about the species shown and their natural habitats, and information on animal protection is spread³.

Public display at an animal show, competition, fair, auction or other public gathering of animals is a separate case, allowed under the Veterinary Act⁴.

Under the Nature Conservation Act (looduskaitseseadus), keeping mink and raccoon dogs in artificial conditions needed a farm activity licence⁵⁶. That licence and its requirements (§§ 57¹ and 57² of the act) were repealed with effect from 1 January 2026⁵, and licences issued before 1 July 2021 for keeping mink and raccoon dogs were valid only until 31 December 2025⁶. Since 1 January 2026 the Animal Protection Act prohibits keeping, breeding and multiplying animals solely or mainly for the production of fur⁷⁸.

The legal act and the authority

Act: Animal Protection Act (loomakaitseseadus), §§ 28–32 on zoos and § 4¹ on fur farming¹³⁷. The general rules on activity licences come from the General Part of the Economic Activities Code Act (majandustegevuse seadustiku üldosa seadus, MSÜS).
Licensing authority: the Environmental Board (Keskkonnaamet) decides the zoo licence application⁹.
Supervision: state and administrative supervision under the Animal Protection Act is carried out by the Agriculture and Food Board (Põllumajandus- ja Toiduamet) and the Environmental Board¹⁰.
Register: the data of each activity licence are entered in the register¹¹; under MSÜS the register is the Register of Economic Activities (majandustegevuse register), whose controller is the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA)¹².

The Nature Conservation Act remains relevant for the animals a zoo acquires (see section 4)¹⁸¹⁹.

Who must apply

Anyone who keeps a zoo must hold an activity licence¹³. A company still being founded may apply by filing the document proving its founding in place of a registry code; the licence then takes effect at the earliest when the company acquires legal capacity¹⁴.

Whether an exemption applies is specified for the client's situation. Whether a given place is a zoo turns on the definition in section 1: permanent keeping and public display on seven or more days a year¹.

For mink and raccoon dogs the farm activity licence no longer exists⁵, and the fur-farming ban applies to animal keepers⁷⁸.

Requirements for the applicant

The Environmental Board grants the licence when¹⁵:

the zoo project meets the requirements for zoo planning, which are set by the Government of the Republic²¹⁵;
the applicant has staff with suitable professional training for work in a zoo; and
the applicant has sufficient funds to build the zoo and to carry out its tasks under § 28(4) (studying the animals, informing the public, spreading animal protection information)³¹⁵.

Further points from the acts:

Capital: the test in the act is sufficient funds¹⁵; the application includes a calculation of the funds needed for the next financial year with their planned source¹⁶.
Management and staff: the application lists the zoo's management posts with job descriptions and the posts still vacant¹⁶. Animal keepers must have the knowledge of anatomy, physiology, species behaviour and animal protection requirements needed to ensure the animal's health and welfare¹⁷.
Land: the applicant must show that it owns the land needed for the zoo or has the right to use it¹⁶.
Acquiring animals: under the Nature Conservation Act, animals of a local species may be removed from the wild to establish and add to animal collections for scientific, educational and commercial purposes; game animals may be removed for some purposes only if the place where they are kept is registered with the Environmental Board¹⁸. A seller of specimens of species in Annexes A and B of Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 must hand over a document proving their origin¹⁹.
Closing the zoo: the licence holder must ensure the animals' health and welfare and arrange their further life or euthanasia²⁰.
Anti-money laundering (AML/CFT): whether AML/CFT requirements apply is specified for the client's situation.

Documents filed with the application

Besides the general data under MSÜS (name and registry code, contact details, the activity, and the signatory and the basis of their right of representation)²¹, the application contains¹⁶:

About the applicant and the zoo

the zoo's name, if it has one;
a description of the applicant's activity so far and of its planned zoo activity.

Land and buildings

documents proving that the land needed for the zoo belongs to the applicant or that it has the right to use it;
an overview of the zoo buildings, or the zoo's building design with a description of how far the buildings are completed.

Animals

a list of the zoo's animal species with the Latin name of each species and the planned number of individuals.

Organisation and finances

a list of management posts with job descriptions, and the posts still vacant when the application is filed;
a calculation of the funds needed for construction and for running the zoo in the next financial year, with a description of the planned source of the money.

The application is filed with the Environmental Board; under MSÜS it may also be filed through the Estonian state portal (Eesti teabevärav, eesti.ee) or through a notary²².

State fee and processing time

State fee: whether a state fee applies is specified for the client's situation.
Time limit: the Environmental Board decides to grant or refuse the licence within 60 days of the application⁹. Under MSÜS the time limit runs from the submission of all required data; the authority may ask for additional data and may extend the time limit once by up to 30 days where the case is complex²⁴. These are the law's time limits, not a promise of a date or a decision.
Term: under MSÜS a licence is issued without a term unless an act limits it or the applicant asks for a shorter period²⁵.

What LexorCorp Global OÜ does and how to order

LexorCorp Global OÜ (registry code 12233761) offers "Activity licence application documentation" for licensed activities that have no service page of their own. For a zoo, the work covers:

the requirements of the Animal Protection Act for the activity, from its official text;
the application and the documents listed in section 5;
managing the filing and the written follow-up of the Environmental Board's questions.

The price is from €3,500, one-time. LexorCorp Global OÜ is not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added. Any state fee is paid by the client.

Not included: legal, tax or audit advice, the zoo's building design, the land, the staff or the funds, and any promise of the licence, a date or the Environmental Board's decision. LexorCorp does not prepare applications for mink or raccoon dog farming, because that activity is prohibited.

Order: order form

Sources

Loomakaitseseadus § 28 lg 1 — text in force from 01.07.2026
Loomakaitseseadus § 28 lg 2–3 — text in force from 01.07.2026
Loomakaitseseadus § 28 lg 4 — text in force from 01.07.2026
Loomakaitseseadus § 27 lg 1 — text in force from 01.07.2026
Looduskaitseseadus §§ 57¹, 57² — text in force from 01.09.2026
Looduskaitseseadus § 91 lg 21 — text in force from 01.09.2026
Loomakaitseseadus § 4¹ — text in force from 01.07.2026
Loomakaitseseadus § 81¹ lg 12 — text in force from 01.07.2026
Loomakaitseseadus § 29¹ lg 1 — text in force from 01.07.2026
Loomakaitseseadus § 60 lg 1 — text in force from 01.07.2026
MSÜS § 53 lg 1 — text in force from 01.09.2025
MSÜS § 8 lg 1, 4 — text in force from 01.09.2025
Loomakaitseseadus § 29 — text in force from 01.07.2026
MSÜS § 19 lg 4 — text in force from 01.09.2025
Loomakaitseseadus § 29² — text in force from 01.07.2026
Loomakaitseseadus § 29¹ lg 2 p 1–7 — text in force from 01.07.2026
Loomakaitseseadus § 3¹ lg 1 — text in force from 01.07.2026
Looduskaitseseadus § 58 lg 2¹ p 2, lg 2⁴ — text in force from 01.09.2026
Looduskaitseseadus § 56 lg 5 — text in force from 01.09.2026
Loomakaitseseadus § 32 lg 1 — text in force from 01.07.2026
MSÜS § 19 lg 2 p 1; § 15 lg 1 p 1–4, 7 — text in force from 01.09.2025
MSÜS § 19 lg 1; § 9 lg 1–2 — text in force from 01.09.2025
MSÜS § 19 lg 6; § 20 lg 1, 3 — text in force from 01.09.2025
MSÜS § 24 lg 1 — text in force from 01.09.2025

Sources are named in the text, without links. To see which of our services your company needs, open the Business Navigator.

Keeping a zoo, and the end of mink and raccoon dog farming, in Estonia