Where is the arctic fox legal?

Any of the following from any area outside the state of Alabama; any member of the family Cervidae (to include but not be limited to deer, elk, moose, caribou), species of coyote, species of fox, species of raccoon, species of skunk, wild rodent, or strain of wild turkey, black bear (Ursus americanus), mountain lion (Felis concolor), bobcat (Felis rufus)

"Species of fox" carries no species limit, and every arctic fox in the trade comes from outside Alabama, which is the trigger. Same answer as the fennec fox.

How this rule works: Alabama's prohibited list, not a permitted one, so absence from it means an animal is unrestricted. The official code site is a React app that serves nothing to a fetcher, but /api/rule/<number> returns the current rule as a PDF; use it, because Cornell LII's copy is the 2020 version and the current one differs. Two clauses do most of the work: everything the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act is banned by reference, and a block of mammals is banned when it comes from outside Alabama.

The department may not issue a permit for the capture, possession, import, or export of any game animal, including a hybrid of a game animal and a species listed in (b) of this section, for use as a pet

The arctic fox is an Alaska native and a furbearer, but that only confirms it is game; the clean list has no fox, and subsection (c) bars a pet permit.

How this rule works: The strictest structure in the country and the clearest. Subsection (a) bars possessing live game without a permit, (b) is a short clean list of species needing no permit, and (c) then removes the escape hatch: the department may not issue a permit for any game animal for use as a pet. So an animal missing from the clean list cannot be kept, permit or not.

Family Canidae-All species (W)

Every canid is restricted, and the department's caging table lists the arctic fox by name beside the bat-eared fox. No permit type covers pet keeping.

How this rule works: § 671(b) defines (D) detrimental and (W) welfare. § 671.1(a) lists permit types; none covers pet keeping. The only possession permit, Animal Care, requires lawful possession in California before January 1992.

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

Same answer as the fennec fox: on no Colorado list, so regulated, and no pet license exists. Chapter W-11 says noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited since 1983, and its wildlife park licenses are commercial or closed to new entrants.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated 1 May 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

"Category One Wild Animal" means, notwithstanding changes in taxonomic nomenclature, any wild animal, gamete or hybrid of any of the following: (A) A member within the family Felidae (including, but not limited to, lion, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, ocelot, jaguarundi cat, puma, lynx and bobcat) except Bengal cat pursuant to section 26-40a of the Connecticut General Statutes; (B) A member within the family Canidae (including, but not limited to, wolf and coyote); (C) A member within the family Ursidae (including, but not limited to, black bear, grizzly bear and brown bear); or (D) A member within the family Hominidae ...

Same answer as the fennec fox: every canid is Category One. Subsection (b)(1) allows a Category One animal only to a municipal park, zoo, public nonprofit aquarium, nature center, museum, or a USDA-licensed exhibitor, laboratory or research facility, so there is no private route.

How this rule works: Connecticut's official eRegulations text, served as a PDF. This is the operative rule for every animal on this map, and it sorts wild animals into four categories. Category One (four mammal families) and Category Two (a long specific list) may be possessed only by institutions; Category Three, which is Connecticut's own native species, bars import and export but not possession; Category Four, the state endangered, threatened and special concern species, needs a permit. An animal in none of the four is not restricted by this section. The definitions in subsection (a) do more work than the lists: 'wild animal' reaches invertebrates, and 'domestic animal' is defined in a way that takes the pet rabbit and the ferret out of the scheme entirely.

a person shall not import into the District, possess, display, offer for sale, trade, barter, exchange, or adoption, or give as a household pet, any living member of the animal kingdom, including those born or raised in captivity, except the following

None of the seven categories covers a wild canid, so the arctic fox is barred the same way the fennec fox is.

How this rule works: A closed list and one of the shortest in the country. Subsection (j)(1) bars importing, possessing, displaying, selling, trading or giving as a household pet "any living member of the animal kingdom, including those born or raised in captivity", except seven categories: domestic dogs, domestic cats, domesticated rodents and rabbits, captive-bred common cage birds, non-venomous snakes and fish and turtles, ferrets, and racing pigeons. No lizard, no amphibian and no invertebrate fits any of them. Read from the D.C. Code rather than from a reproduction: the seven categories and their exact wording are what every cell in this jurisdiction turns on.

Order Carnivora (weasels, ferrets, cats, bears, wolves, etc.) - All species, except that European ferret (Mustela putorius furo) may be sold, purchased, exhibited, or held as a pet without a license or permit

Same as the fennec fox. Vulpes is not among the four canid genera in the inherently dangerous tier, but the license rule takes all of Carnivora, and § 27-5-4(b)(1) issues those licenses only to dealers and public exhibitors.

How this rule works: Georgia sorts wild animals into three tiers and none of them is a pet tier. Rule .03 prohibits outright, and its only pet-relevant entry is the monk parakeet. Rule .04 is inherently dangerous animals needing a license AND liability insurance: all Felidae, four canid genera, bears, hyenas, kangaroos, great apes, crocodilians, the venomous snake families and a short list of fish and scorpions. Rule .05 requires a license, and it works by taxonomic order rather than by species, which is why it is so wide: all Carnivora, all hedgehogs, all lagomorphs, all marsupials, all primates, and all rodents except six named genera. The thing to read before any of it is O.C.G.A. § 27-5-4(b)(1), because it says who a license is issued to: the wild animal trade and public exhibitors, plus no-cost permits for science, education, a capuchin monkey for a person with a permanent disability, and grass carp for a pond owner. No pet. So an animal on .04 or .05 is not a permit animal for a keeper, it is a no, and the rule proves it by writing express "may be held as a pet without a license" exceptions for exactly two animals, the European ferret and the sugar glider.

Vulpes (all species in genus) fox

The arctic fox is Vulpes lagopus on current taxonomy and was long filed as Alopex lagopus. On the current name the Part A genus entry reaches it; on the old one it is on no list and barred by Hawaii's default rule. Banned on either reading.

How this rule works: Part A animals may be brought in by a university or a licensed exhibitor under permit and may not be kept as pets. Part B, published separately as AR-71RB, is the private and commercial use list and was checked as well: it runs to hoofed stock, giraffes, otters, seals, macropods and three named parrots, and contains none of the animals in this dataset.

No person shall possess, offer for sale, trade, barter, exchange or importation into the state of Idaho any fox, skunk or raccoon, except as provided in subsection (2) or (3) of this section.

"Any fox" carries no species or nativity limit, so it reaches the arctic fox as well as Idaho's own, and the deleterious exotic animal list separately takes all non-native canids. The only exceptions are fur farms holding domestic fur-bearing animals and public parks, zoos, museums and educational institutions with an Agriculture permit, so there is no pet route.

How this rule works: An Agriculture statute that bars anyone from possessing, selling, trading or importing "any fox, skunk or raccoon", with two exceptions: fur farms holding domestic fur-bearing animals, and public parks, zoos, museums and educational institutions with an Agriculture permit. There is no pet exception and no species limit on "any fox". IDAPA 13.01.10.200.07(a) cross-references it.

A member of the family canidae of the order carnivora, including but not limited to wolves, coyotes, and jackals. However, a dangerous wild animal does not include a domestic dog.

A canid other than the domestic dog, the fennec fox's position. § 717F.3 bars owning, possessing, breeding or importing a dangerous wild animal, and the only route was the 2007 registration.

Existing owners: An owner in possession on 1 July 2007 could keep the animal after implanting an electronic identification device within sixty days and registering with the department by 31 December 2007. No new route exists.

How this rule works: § 717F.3 bars owning, possessing, breeding or importing a dangerous wild animal. § 717F.1(5) defines the class by family and order rather than by species name, so the boundaries are read off the taxonomy. § 717F.4 grandfathers animals already owned on 1 July 2007.

Fox (Genus Cerdocyon, Genus Lycalopex, Genus Otocyon, Genus Urocyon, and Genus Vulpes);

The arctic fox is Vulpes lagopus, inside the last genus named, the fennec fox's position. The section bars importing, transporting into Kentucky, and possessing.

How this rule works: Three lists. Section 4(1) is prohibited species, injurious to native ecosystems. Section 4(2) is inherently dangerous exotic wildlife. Section 7 is the permit-exempt list. Anything on none of the three may be possessed, but a transportation permit is needed to bring it into the state. KRS 65.877, cited in the regulation itself, lets local governments prohibit inherently dangerous wildlife outright.

6.No person shall transport, possess, purchase or sell any live foxes or coyotes taken outside the state of Louisiana. Live foxes and coyotes obtained from outside the state of Louisiana prior to the enacted date of these regulations and in possession of properly licensed persons shall be exempt.

The rule's stated purpose is to "prohibit the importation and exportation of any species of foxes", and D.6 bars possessing any live fox taken outside Louisiana. Every arctic fox comes from outside the state, so there is no route in. The fennec fox cell reads D.6 the same way.

How this rule works: States its purpose as prohibiting the importation and exportation of any species of foxes or coyotes. D.1 bars taking, possessing, buying or selling live foxes except under the rule; D.6 bars possessing any live fox or coyote taken outside Louisiana. The licenses it offers are a trapper's license and nongame quadruped exhibitor and breeder licenses, defined as business licenses. Cached as LA-la-fox-and-quadrupeds.txt.

Family Canidae All Species in Family Canidae (Canids)

Every canid is Category 1, and the permit goes only to exhibitors, rehabilitators, USDA-registered laboratories and accredited research facilities. The domestic ferret is the only carnivore on the Unrestricted List.

How this rule works: Maine is a closed-list state and § 7.06(4) is the sentence that makes it one: "A person may not possess any species that has not been categorized", and an uncategorized species "will not be eligible for a permit under this chapter". The four categories are the Unrestricted List, the Prohibited list at § 7.18(1), and Restricted Categories 1 and 2. Category 1 permits go only to exhibitors, rehabilitators, USDA-registered laboratories and accredited research facilities, so it is not a pet tier; Category 2 is open to "an individual with demonstrated experience". § 7.05 and § 7.06(5) are the route for getting an unlisted species classified.

A person may not import into the State, offer for sale, trade, barter, possess, breed, or exchange a live: (i) fox, skunk, raccoon, or bear; (ii) caiman, alligator, or crocodile; (iii) member of the cat family other than the domestic cat; (iv) hybrid of a member of the cat family and a domestic cat if the hybrid weighs over 30 pounds; (v) member of the dog family other than the domestic dog; (vi) hybrid of a member of the dog family and a domestic dog; (vii) nonhuman primate ...; or (viii) poisonous snake in the family groups of Hydrophidae, Elapidae, Viperidae, or Crotolidae.

Caught twice, by "fox" in clause (i) and by the dog family clause, the fennec fox's position. There is no private permit: the exemptions run to zoos, sanctuaries, research and licensed exhibitors. Subsection (e) preserves stricter county and municipal rules.

Existing owners: Lawful possession on or before 31 May 2006 may continue, but only if the keeper gave written notification to the local animal control authority by 1 August 2006, with the number and type of animals and a photograph or a description of a tattoo or microchip. That window is long closed.

How this rule works: Maryland's dangerous animal list, on the General Assembly's own site. Eight clauses and nothing else: fox, skunk, raccoon or bear; caiman, alligator or crocodile; any cat other than the domestic cat; a cat hybrid over 30 pounds; any dog other than the domestic dog and any dog hybrid; non-human primates; and venomous snakes of four named families. A misdemeanor, and subsection (e) says in terms that counties and municipalities may go further. Note COMAR 15.11.16.01, titled List of Prohibited Animals, is an agriculture rule about feral swine and is not this provision.

"Wild animal" means a skunk, fox, raccoon, or bat.

Banned twice. The arctic fox is a "fox" under the rabies law, which bars possessing one outside a fur farm, a no-contact zoo exhibit or research, and it is non-native exotic wildlife appearing on none of Montana's white-list classifications, the same ground that bans the fennec.

Existing owners: Held for at least 6 months before 1 January 1982.

How this rule works: Defines "wild animal" for this part as a skunk, fox, raccoon or bat and bars possessing one except in a fur-bearing enterprise, a zoo exhibit with no public contact, or research, or if held for 6 months before 1 January 1982. Cached as MT-mt-rabies-and-menagerie.txt.

1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the importation, transportation or possession of the following species of live wildlife or hybrids thereof, including viable embryos or gametes, is prohibited: ... (d) Mammals: ... (10) Foxes................................................ All species in the genera Vulpes, Fennecus, Urocyon, Alopex, Lycalopex and Pseudalopex

The prohibited list names the genus Alopex, the arctic fox's old genus, as well as Vulpes, its current one, so it is barred on either taxonomy. Permits for prohibited species go only to accredited zoos, universities, scientific institutions, commercial aquaculture and nonprofit educational exhibitors. NAC 503.140(4) preserves county and city ordinances, and Clark County, Las Vegas and Henderson are all stricter than the state.

How this rule works: Two lists: 503.110 prohibits, 503.140 names species that may be possessed, transported, imported and exported without a permit. Nevada counties and cities are frequently stricter than the state, notably Clark County, Henderson and Las Vegas.

(b) All species not specifically listed under the categories of non-controlled, prohibited, or controlled shall be designated as prohibited.

The controlled table names the gray, fennec and red foxes and no arctic fox, and an unlisted species is prohibited by default. Fis 804.03(a) issues no permit for a prohibited species, and the waiver in Fis 802.05 is closed to every permittee category but exhibitors.

How this rule works: Readopted in full by Document #14558, effective 21 April 2026. Four buckets and a closing rule. Fis 804.02 is the non-controlled possession list, Fis 804.03 the prohibited list, Fis 804.05 with Table 800.2 the controlled table, and Fis 804.04(b) then says "All species not specifically listed under the categories of non-controlled, prohibited, or controlled shall be designated as prohibited." Fis 803 runs the same three-way split for importation against Table 800.1. The number beside a species in either table is the permittee category from Fis 802.01: 1 is an individual, 5 an exhibitor, so a species marked 5 alone cannot be held privately. Fis 802.05 is the waiver for unlisted species and subsection (c) closes it to categories 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7, which leaves only exhibitors.

Carnivora Canidae--Nondomestic dogs / Ursidae--Bears / Felidae--Nondomestic cats ... The potentially dangerous species shall not be kept as a pet, for hobby purposes or in situations, which, in the judgment of the Department, could adversely affect the health of the animal or which could constitute a hazard to the public.

Same answer as the fennec fox. An exotic canid is a nondomestic dog under 4.8(a), and 4.9(a)3 bars keeping a potentially dangerous species as a pet; the permit at 4.8(b) is for zoos, researchers and exhibitors.

How this rule works: NJDEP's own courtesy copy of the whole of N.J.A.C. 7:25. Subchapter 4 starts at 7:25-4.1 and carries the definitions, the permit requirement at 4.2, the three species lists at 4.3, 4.4 and 4.8, the pet bar at 4.9(a)3 and 4.15(b), and the state endangered list at 4.13. The three list PDFs the Division hands out are extracts of this.

Mammal | Dog, wild | Canidae | Vulpes (sp. variety) | Fox (any type) | IV | State Protected Species

The arctic fox is Vulpes lagopus on current taxonomy, inside the Vulpes "any type" row in Group IV; on its old genus, Alopex, it is unlisted and the default clause sends it to Group IV anyway. Group IV importation is prohibited for the general public and allowed only for scientific study, department approved restoration, zoological display, temporary events, use as a service animal, or by a qualified expert. 19.35.7 NMAC is an importation rule, so it governs bringing the animal into New Mexico rather than keeping one already here.

How this rule works: The roughly 1,300 row table that 19.35.7 NMAC points at and that earlier research could not obtain. Every row gives a family, a scientific name, a common name and a roman numeral group. Group I is semi-domesticated and needs no importation permit. Group II is not known to be invasive or dangerous and needs a permit. Group III presents minimal or manageable concerns and needs a permit with specific provisions attached. Group IV is prohibited to the general public. The list is reached from the download page rather than a direct file URL, and the site needs a User-Agent header.

no person shall import, transport, possess, purchase, barter, transfer, sell, offer for sale, exchange, propagate or release or cause to be released within New York State any of the following live native or non-native dangerous animals including those which are captive bred in any of the following orders, families and individual species or subspecies including all subspecies and hybrids thereof: ... (1) Canines in the Family Canidae (with the exception of domesticated dogs and captive bred fennec foxes (vulpes zerda));

The Canidae carve-out names the fennec fox and nothing else, so the arctic fox is a wild animal that § 11-0512 bars as a pet.

How this rule works: New York answers exotic and native animals through two entirely separate mechanisms, and the famous one is the smaller. § 11-0103(6)(e) is a closed "wild animal" list, six clauses long, that § 11-0512 then bars keeping as a pet: primates, Felidae, Canidae, Ursidae, a named set of large constrictors and monitors plus all venomous reptiles, and Crocodylia. It carries two express carve-outs that decide cells on this map, for registered Felis catus hybrids five generations clear of wild parentage and for captive bred fennec foxes. The other mechanism is the one that catches natives, and it is a definition rather than a list: § 11-0103(2)(c) makes native frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards and snakes SMALL GAME, therefore game, therefore protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c), and § 11-0107(2) bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state". The only license, § 11-0515, is for propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes, so there is no pet route behind it.

All dogs other than domesticated dogs (Canis familiaris), including, but not limited to, wolf, fox, coyote, hyaena, dingo, jackal, dhole, fennec, raccoon dog, zorro, bush dog, aardwolf, cape hunting dog and any hybrid or cross-breed offspring of a wild dog and domesticated dog.

The wild dog clause reaches every canid but the domestic dog and names "fox" generally, so the arctic fox is in without being listed by species. § 161.01(d) lets the Department consent to an owner removing a seized animal to a jurisdiction where it is not prohibited, which is the only relief in the article.

How this rule works: A city rule that is stricter than any state on this map, and it works in three layers. It opens with a standard rather than a list, deeming a wild animal to be "any animal which is naturally inclined to do harm and capable of inflicting harm upon human beings". It then adds, at (b)(ii), any wildlife protected or endangered under federal, STATE or local law, which imports New York State's protected wildlife scheme into the city wholesale. And it closes with 24 numbered clauses that work mostly by family: all cats other than Felis catus and their hybrids, all dogs other than Canis familiaris, all Mustelidae including the ferret by name, all squirrels, all marsupials, all large rodents, all Boidae, all Pythonidae, all Varanidae, all Iguanidae, all teiidae, all Chelydridae, all venomous spiders including the tarantula by name, and all turtles under four inches. § 161.01(c) is the short answer to what is left: gerbil, hamster, guinea pig, domesticated rabbit, and small birds such as parakeet, parrot, canary and finch.

Any nonwolf member of the family Canidae not indigenous to Oregon, except the species Canis familiaris (domestic dog)

Same answer as the fennec fox. The arctic fox is a non-indigenous canid, so it is an exotic animal on its family membership alone, and the Agriculture permit window closed in 2010 and never reopened.

Existing owners: A State Department of Agriculture permit issued before 1 January 2010, or issued within a year of that date on proof the animal was already held. Applications closed 90 days after 1 January 2010, breeding a permitted animal is barred, and possession ends 30 days after a permit lapses.

How this rule works: A five-line closed definition run by the Department of Agriculture: non-indigenous Felidae except Felis catus, non-human primates, non-wolf non-indigenous Canidae except the domestic dog, bears other than the black bear, and Crocodylia. § 609.341 bars keeping one without a permit and § 609.351 shut the application window, which was 90 days after 1 January 2010, or one year for an animal already held then. There is no hybrid clause anywhere in it. This statute answers cats, canids and crocodilians only; every other animal on this map is decided by the ODFW rules in OAR 635-056.

All exotic and native wild animals and hybrids of the order Carnivora for which there is no USDA conditionally licensed or unconditionally licensed rabies vaccine are expressly prohibited from importation or possession without the issuance of a valid permit by the Department. Possession is restricted to bona fide researchers, USDA licensed exhibitors authorized to possess animals of this order for short-term exhibition purposes, and Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) certified facilities.

The arctic fox is a carnivore with no licensed rabies vaccine, the fennec fox's position. § 3.9(B) adds that no permit shall be granted to a private person for an exotic carnivore without a licensed rabies vaccine.

How this rule works: One of the most species-specific schemes in the country. § 3.6 defines domestic animals, § 3.7 sets general prohibitions, § 3.9 governs permits, and § 3.17 is the long exempt list of animals that need no exotic animal possession permit. Anything not domestic, not native and not on the § 3.17 list needs a permit.

All persons are prohibited from acquiring, selling, bartering, exchanging, giving, purchasing, distributing, or trapping to retain any bat, skunk, fox, raccoon, or coyote, except a zoological park, animal exhibitor, research facility, or wildlife rehabilitator.

The rabies rule names the fox without a species, so an arctic fox is caught the same as a native one: no acquisition or import except by zoos, exhibitors, research facilities and rehabilitators.

How this rule works: The rule that answers the rabies-vector carnivores in Washington, and it is a health rule rather than a wildlife one. Subsection (5)(a) bars all persons from acquiring, selling, bartering, exchanging, giving, purchasing, distributing or trapping to retain any bat, skunk, fox, raccoon or coyote, except a zoological park, animal exhibitor, research facility or wildlife rehabilitator, and (5)(b) bars importing one except by those bodies under an entry permit from the Department of Agriculture. "Fox" is unqualified. The rule also defines a canid hybrid, including any animal its owner represents to be a wolf hybrid, and orders a hybrid that bites someone euthanized and tested, but does not bar keeping one.

A. Permits for breeding, sale, and importation may be issued for the following species in accordance with Codes 09.07 (Wildlife Breeder/ Dealer Permit Required) and 09.10 (Wildlife Importation Permit Required): ... 3. Mammals ... Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus)

Named on the permit list, which is more than the fennec fox gets. A non-native animal on the permit list may be kept if it came from a Commission-permitted Wildlife Breeder/Dealer or in on a Wildlife Importation Permit, with acquisition records, a veterinary disease certificate and sexes housed apart unless neutered, under Code 09.02.

How this rule works: Species exempt from Codes 09.02 (possession of non-native wildlife restricted), 09.07 (breeder/dealer permit) and 09.10 (importation permit), named individually with binomials. Read it out of the codebook rather than the compiled PDF AGFC posted at agfc.com in 2022, which is the version that circulates as "the Arkansas list" and is two revisions behind: it lacks the rosy boa and the whole Anoline Lizards entry with its Arkansas-native exception. The compiled PDF says so itself, that the codebook lists "take precedence".

Unless specifically exempt from the permitting requirement as presented in regulation 6.1, all persons who would own or have custody of an exotic animal must first obtain a permit issued by the Department.

The arctic fox is a nonnative wild mammal not on the exempt list, so 6.2 requires an Individual permit, the fennec fox's position. The live red fox bar in tit. 7 § 789 names the red fox only. The $25 Individual permit from the Department of Agriculture is issued where possession will be in the public interest, and Delaware's only outright refusals under 4.7 are the gila monster, the beaded lizard and the komodo dragon. County and municipal ordinances are the more likely obstacle.

How this rule works: The regulation that actually decides Delaware, and it is much narrower than the list circulating in secondary sources. § 7201 requires a permit before anyone brings in, possesses, sells or exhibits a live wild mammal, a hybrid of a wild mammal, or a live reptile not native to Delaware, and bans non-native venomous snakes outright with no permit available. Regulation 6.1 then exempts a named list of pets from the permit entirely, and 6.2 says everything else needs one. The only species the State Veterinarian may not permit at all are at 4.7: gila monsters, beaded lizards and komodo dragons. Pythons, anacondas and boas appear only at 7.5.2.10, a restriction on what Sales Permit holders may breed, not a possession ban. The Delaware regulations site is a single-page app that serves no text to a fetcher, so this was read from a full reproduction and cross-checked against the Department of Agriculture's own exotic animals page.

(c) Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

Same reading as the fennec fox: FWC's personal pet page treats foxes as Class III despite the Canidae parenthetical in Class II item 24, so the answer is the free personal use permit rather than the $140 one, on the agency's reading of its own rule.

How this rule works: Florida sorts all wildlife into three classes and then exempts a list from the scheme entirely, and the exemption list is what most pet questions turn on. 68A-6.002 puts 24 taxa in Class I, which 68A-6.003(6) says may not be possessed for personal use at all, and 38 in Class II, which needs a $140 annual permit plus documented experience and caging. Class III is everything else, and 68A-6.003(8) requires a no-cost personal use permit for it. Then 68A-6.003(14) lists 22 categories needing no permit at all, and that list is the answer for most of this map: nonvenomous unprotected reptiles and amphibians, gerbils, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, prairie dogs, chinchillas and parrots among them. Read the class lists without 68A-6.003(14) and Florida looks like a permit state for a bearded dragon. Read (14) without the class lists and it looks like a free-for-all for a capybara.

The purpose of 321 CMR 9.01 is to list those species which are exempt from the licensing provisions of M.G.L. c. 131, § 23, and which may be imported, possessed, maintained, propagated, bought, sold, exchanged or offered for sale without a license or permit from the Division. Species not listed, or which are expressly listed as "require(s) a permit", are not exempt from the provisions of M.G.L. c. 131, § 23.

No wild canid of any kind is on either list, so the arctic fox needs a § 23 license, the same as the fennec fox. The license under § 23 exists on paper, but MassWildlife says permits for non-exempt wildlife "are issued only for certain scientific, educational, commercial, or other specific reasons" and "You will not be issued a permit for keeping a wild animal as a pet."

How this rule works: Massachusetts runs a closed white list and says so in terms: a species not on it, or listed as requiring a permit, is not exempt from M.G.L. c. 131, § 23. Two structural points decide most of this state. First, 9.01(2) defines "species" as a "distinct non-domestic VERTEBRATE animal population", and § 23 itself reaches only fish, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, so terrestrial invertebrates are outside the scheme entirely. Second, 9.01(3) is a categorical override that most readings of this rule miss: no species may be exempted if it is listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, appears in the IUCN Red Book(s), or is on the Massachusetts endangered, threatened and special concern list at 321 CMR 10.90. Nearly every group listing in 9.01 repeats the cross-reference, so it operates as a live carve-out rather than as drafting furniture, and it is what pulls the Burmese python out of Boidae, the crested gecko out of Gekkonidae and the box turtle out of the turtle allowance.

a furbearer, a member of the family Cervidae, a nondomestic member of the families Suidae (pigs), Tayassuidae (peccaries), Bovidae (bison, mountain goat, mountain sheep), coyote, bear, or turkey (genus Meleagris). Furbearer includes, but is not limited to, red and gray fox, raccoon, opossum, muskrat, mink, skunk, otter, bobcat, weasel, and beaver;

The furbearer list names "red and gray fox" and is open ended, "includes, but is not limited to", so an arctic fox reads as a furbearer needing the import permit, the fennec fox's position. § 50-16-20(B) lets the Department issue the permit only if the animal was taken lawfully where it came from and its possession is not expected to harm the state's wildlife, and § 50-16-60's pet-trade exemption does not list it.

How this rule works: § 50-16-20 requires a permit to bring in certain groups of live wildlife, chiefly furbearers, cervids, pigs, bovids, coyote, bear and turkey. § 50-16-60 then exempts a named list of pet trade animals from even that.

(1) Of the order Carnivora, all nondomestic members of the following families: ...(b) Canidae;

Same as the fennec fox: a canid, so a possession permit at ten dollars an animal, renewed annually.

How this rule works: Two separate requirements sit in the same chapter and are easy to conflate. An entry permit, free and obtainable by telephone, is required to import any nondomestic animal. A possession permit, ten dollars per animal, is required only for the mammal families listed in 12:68:18:03. The only outright prohibition is the raccoon dog.

Species not found on the Restricted, Unrestricted or Domestic species lists are considered Restricted.

No canid appears on the Unrestricted list, so the arctic fox is Restricted by default. Restricted means a permit, and Regulation 881 § 5.2 leaves one open to a private keeper: for purposes other than research and education, the Commissioner shall not issue a permit "unless it has been determined that the wild animal or wildlife proposed to be brought into or possessed in the state does not conflict with the purpose of this regulation". That purpose is protecting wild and domestic animals, agriculture and livestock, and human health and safety, and the determination is the Commissioner's, case by case, with no published standard, so an application can be refused.

How this rule works: The list the whole Vermont answer turns on, and the one earlier research could not obtain. Anything on it may be kept with no permit. Its closing line is the important part: species not found on the Restricted, Unrestricted or Domestic species lists are considered Restricted, which makes Vermont an inverted-list state like Hawaii. Several entries are marked Captive Bred Only, which is a real condition rather than a note. The site refuses automated requests without a User-Agent header.

Canidae All Species Wild Dogs, Wolves, Coyotes or Coyote hybrids, Jackals and Foxes

The Canidae row spells out foxes, and the arctic fox is nonnative, so it is a special permit animal like the fennec fox.

How this rule works: Virginia permits by table. Subsection A requires a special permit from the department for every animal listed in it, on the ground that the board has declared the species predatory or undesirable because releasing it would harm Virginia's native fish and wildlife. Subsection B grandfathers asterisked animals held before 1 July 1992 if they were declared in writing by 1 January 1993, renewable every five years and not transferable. Subsection C then carves the monk parakeet back out.

A permit may be authorized upon approval for other warm-blooded wildlife unless otherwise specified in this regulation.

The statute's predatory animal list names the red fox only, so the arctic fox is not barred from import the way the red fox is. Like the fennec it lands on the discretionary § 13(d) permit.

How this rule works: Two closed lists do the work. Domestic animals and domesticated animals are both defined by enumeration, with the phrase for the purpose of this regulation, only the following animals are considered domestic. Anything on neither list is wildlife, and Section 13(d) leaves it to a permit that may be authorized upon approval.

All species of the order Carnivora

All of Carnivora is restricted, so the arctic fox needs a special license, the same answer as the fennec fox.

How this rule works: The operative rule. Restricted live wildlife needs a special license, and the lists run by order and family rather than by species, so the whole of Carnivora is caught while most of the pet reptile trade is not. Two exceptions are written in by name: the genus Atelerix, the pet hedgehogs, and the genus Oryctolagus, which the rule says are not wildlife at all. Two subsections do quiet work: (D) exempts domestic animals, defined at R12-4-401 as a species that does not exist in the wild, and (E) pulls hybrids back in whenever one parent species is on the list. Note that the AZGFD commission rules PDF circulating as Supp. 13-2 is a 2013 edition and predates the Atelerix and Oryctolagus exceptions; read the current text, not that one.

Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.

The only foxes in Table 3b-1 are the domestic red fox and the controlled fennec fox, so the arctic fox is unlisted. Unlisted birds and mammals are presumed prohibited and need a division assessment before possession is authorized, so this is neither cleared nor expressly banned; it is an application to DWR with no published answer, the serval's position.

How this rule works: Five sections: domestic mammals and birds not covered by the rule, noncontrolled mammals and birds, controlled mammals, and prohibited mammals. The header sets an inverted default: 'Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.' The prohibited section adds that 'personal possession will not be authorized'.

F. Live nuisance animals may not be possessed except: 1. Coyotes in permitted coyote enclosures; 2. Fox in permitted fox enclosures

The statute classes "fox" as a nuisance animal with no species qualifier, and Rule 7.1(F) bars possessing a live one outside a hound pen. Read literally that reaches the arctic fox; read as a list of Mississippi's own pest species, it does not, and Rule 8.3 names no fox. The fennec fox cell reads only Rule 8.3 and answers legal.

How this rule works: Recites that Miss. Code § 49-7-1 classes nutria, beaver, fox, skunks, coyotes and wild hogs as nuisance animals, and at (F) bars possessing a live one except coyotes and foxes in permitted hunting enclosures, short-term trapper transport to them, and hogs for slaughter. Cached as MS-ms-captivity-and-nuisance.txt.

(2) Live white-tailed deer, white-tailed deer-hybrids, mule deer, mule deer-hybrids, raccoons, foxes, and coyotes may not be imported into this state.

Two Missouri rules point different ways. 9.110(2) clears non-native mammals to be bought, sold and possessed without permit, which reaches the arctic fox. 9.223(2) bars importing live "foxes" with no species or nativity limit. Read together, an arctic fox bred in Missouri may be kept, and whether one may be brought in from another state turns on whether the import bar means Missouri's own foxes or any fox. It is not on the § 578.023 registration list.

How this rule works: Class I is native Missouri mammals, reptiles and amphibians plus birds native to the continental United States. Class II is the venomous natives, mountain lion, wolf and black bear. Class III is cervids. An animal that is none of these is outside the Wildlife Code entirely.

(7a) Fur-bearing Animals. - Beaver, mink, muskrat, nutria, otter, skunk, and weasel; bobcat, opossum, and raccoon when lawfully taken with traps. ... (7c) Game Animals. - Bear, fox, rabbit, squirrel, white-tailed deer, and, except when trapped in accordance with provisions relating to fur-bearing animals, bobcat, opossum, and raccoon.

The arctic fox turns on the same question as the fennec fox: the game animal definition names "fox" with no species, and § 113-129(16) extends the wildlife definitions to animals of wild species kept in captivity. Read that way, an arctic fox is a game animal needing a captivity license that is not issued for a pet; read as North Carolina's own foxes, nothing reaches it. Counties may regulate it under § 153A-131.

How this rule works: The definition that decides North Carolina and is easy to miss, because the answer is not in the captivity license section but in what that section can reach. Wild animals are game animals, fur-bearers, feral swine and other wild mammals, and then reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates only where they are on the federal endangered or threatened list. Everything else in those three groups is outside the Wildlife Resources Commission's jurisdiction, which is why North Carolina has no state reptile law worth the name.

Nontraditional livestock not otherwise referred to in this section or Century Code must be reviewed by the board for determination of importation requirements and licensure requirements prior to importation.

The foxes the rule names are ranch foxes in category 1, and kit, swift, red and gray foxes in category 2. The arctic fox is in neither list by name. It is farmed for fur as the blue fox, so one from a fur ranch arguably counts as a category 1 "ranch fox" needing no license; otherwise subsection 6 sends it to the board for review before import. Same gap as the fennec fox.

How this rule works: The nontraditional livestock category system is alive and sits here, not in the repealed title 48. 48.1-09-01-02 sorts every nondomestic species held in confinement into three categories, category 1 needing no license and categories 2 and 3 needing one before the animal is acquired. Subsection 4 exempts arachnids and invertebrates from even the importation permit, along with a short list of small pets named one by one: gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rats and sugar gliders. The Board of Animal Health's own page (https://www.ndda.nd.gov/divisions/animal-health/non-traditional-livestock) files that list under Exempt Animals and calls them exempt from non-traditional livestock requirements and importation requirements. Last amended April 1, 2026.

"Fur-bearing animals" includes minks, weasels, raccoons, skunks, opossums, muskrats, fox, beavers, badgers, otters, coyotes, and bobcats.

The dangerous wild animal list does not reach it, since its canids are gray wolves and African wild dogs. What arguably does is the fur-bearing animal definition, which names "fox" with no species and no nativity limit, inside a definition of wild animals that takes in "all other wild mammals". On that reading the arctic fox, long farmed for fur as the blue fox, needs a § 1533.71 license; read as Ohio's own foxes, it needs nothing. The Division of Wildlife has published nothing on it.

How this rule works: Ohio defines wild animals as "mollusks, crustaceans, aquatic insects, fish, reptiles, amphibians, wild birds, wild quadrupeds, and all other wild mammals". The word aquatic in front of insects is the whole answer for a terrestrial invertebrate: a land insect or an arachnid is not a wild animal in Ohio and the Division of Wildlife has nothing to say about it.

(8) Dogs (except coyotes and native foxes).

Two readings. The dog exemption excludes only coyotes and native foxes, which implies a non-native fox counts as a "dog" and is exempt. But the Commission gave the fennec fox its own line at (35), which suggests it did not read "Dogs" as covering foxes at all, and on that reading the arctic fox, unnamed, needs the import permit and breeder's license. Either way it is not banned.

How this rule works: One of the most permissive exemption lists in the country, naming the fennec fox, the sugar glider, the coatimundi, the wallaby and primates individually. Note what the exemptions are from: import and export permits and commercial and noncommercial wildlife breeder licenses, not a ban. Subsection (c) exempts non-indigenous reptiles and amphibians as a class, with a two-limb carve-out for species that could establish here and are injurious under federal rules. Oklahoma's own rules site, rules.ok.gov, returns 403 to this container, so this is read from Cornell LII and cited to the official section.

In the family Canidae. Species and subspecies of the coyote, the red and gray fox and a full-blooded wolf or crossbreed thereof not licensed by the Department of Agriculture.

Same answer as the fennec fox. The Canidae line reaches only the coyote, the red fox, the gray fox and the wolf, and the arctic fox is none of them. What arguably reaches it is the § 137.1(a)(11) catch-all for wildlife captive bred in another state, which rests on an agency reading of 34 Pa.C.S. § 102 rather than on text naming the animal.

How this rule works: The Game Commission's actual prohibited list, and the document most Pennsylvania exotic pet questions turn on rather than the § 2961 definition. Eleven categories, of which three matter most here: all Felidae except house cats, the monk parakeet by name, and a catch-all barring possession of any wildlife held in captivity or captive bred in another state or nation.

"Fur-bearing animal" means wild beaver, otter, mink, ring-tailed cat, badger, skunk, raccoon, muskrat, opossum, fox, or nutria.

Not on the dangerous wild animal list. The fur-bearing definition names "fox" with no species, and § 71.005(c) requires a propagation license to possess any live fur-bearing animal. Whether "wild ... fox" reaches a nonnative fox bred in captivity is the question: the fennec fox cell reads it as not reaching one, on the word "wild" and on Chapter 71 being written for Texas populations, and the text arguably reaches it anyway.

How this rule works: The definition at § 71.001(1) reads "wild beaver, otter, mink, ring-tailed cat, badger, skunk, raccoon, muskrat, opossum, fox, or nutria", and the bare word "fox" is what makes people read Texas as a fox ban state. It is not one. Chapter 71 and the proclamation at 31 TAC §§ 65.371-65.375 govern taking, trapping, pelts and fur dealing; § 65.375(a)(2) says there are no bag or possession limits for fur-bearing animals; and nothing in either bars keeping one. The series is also headed by "wild", which a captive-bred animal is not.