Where is the American black bear 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)

Named by binomial among the animals barred from outside Alabama, and in-state transport is barred except by a licensed game breeder. An Alabama black bear is a protected wild animal that § (3) bars keeping alive.

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

A native big game animal, not on the clean list, and subsection (c) bars a pet permit. The 5 AAC 92.029 framework has no bear exception.

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.

The Commission will not issue permits for breeding, sale, or importation of the following species other than in accordance with the exceptions listed in Codes 09.07, 09.10, 09.11, and Addenda F1.03, F1.04 (possession of some species may be allowed in accordance with Codes 09.02, 09.05, 09.08, and 09.14): ... Large carnivores

Code 01.00 defines a large carnivore to include "all species of bears", R1.03 refuses breeding, sale and importation permits for large carnivores, and Code 09.02 ties bear possession to Ark. Code Ann. §§ 20-19-501 to 20-19-511 or a breeder permit. The black bear is an Arkansas game animal and is not among the natives 09.14 lets a household keep.

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".

All other Families-(W)

Bears are named in the order heading and Ursidae falls under the closing "All other Families" line, and the caging standards put the American black bear in Group II. The black bear is also a California game animal. 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.

No bear is on the domestic or unregulated list, so the black bear is regulated wildlife with no pet license, and it is a Colorado native game animal. It is a Colorado native as well, and C.R.S. 33-6-109 bars keeping native wildlife taken from the wild. 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 ...

The black bear is the first example named in Category One's Ursidae clause. 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 bear. The exceptions reach zoos, federally licensed exhibitors and rehabilitators only.

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.

Class I wildlife shall not be possessed for personal use, except as follows: (a) Any Class I wildlife possessed for personal use on August 1, 1980, shall be eligible for a permit in accordance with the provisions for Class II wildlife.

"Bears (family Ursidae)" is Class I item 13, and Class I wildlife may not be possessed for personal use. The only exception is an animal already held on 1 August 1980, and the rule says no other Class I wildlife "shall be transferred or kept for personal use". Exhibitor and commercial permits remain.

Existing owners: A Class I animal possessed for personal use on 1 August 1980 is eligible for a permit on Class II terms.

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.

Family Ursidae (bears) - All species;

Bears are in the inherently dangerous tier, needing a license and liability insurance that § 27-5-4(b)(1) issues only to the animal trade and exhibitors, and DNR's native list names the black bear among animals that may not be held as a pet regardless of origin.

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.

Ursus (all species in genus) bear

Part A takes the whole genus Ursus, which includes Ursus americanus. Research and exhibition only.

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.

"Dangerous animal" means a lion, tiger, leopard, ocelot, jaguar, cheetah, margay, mountain lion, lynx, bobcat, jaguarundi, bear, hyena, wolf or coyote. Dangerous animal does not mean any herptiles included in the Herptiles-Herps Act.

"Bear" is named as a dangerous animal, and the Wildlife Code separately protects the American black bear by name. § 48-10(b) allows a dangerous animal only at a zoological park, federally licensed exhibit, circus, college or university, scientific institution, research laboratory, veterinary hospital, hound running area or animal refuge, so there is no private route. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter and often decides it.

How this rule works: A closed list of 15 named mammals plus a blanket bar on primates, and nothing else. It replaced the Dangerous Animals Act at 720 ILCS 585, which P.A. 98-752 repealed effective 1 January 2015; the old citation is still what most secondary sources give. The section says in terms that it does not reach reptiles or amphibians. Exemptions: primates lawfully held before 1 January 2011 and registered by 1 April 2011, and one service capuchin for a person with a severe mobility impairment.

A member of the family ursidae of the order carnivora, including bears and pandas.

Every bear is a dangerous wild animal. § 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.

(c) Except as provided in subsection (d), a person shall not take possession of a dangerous regulated animal or allow dangerous regulated animals in such person's possession to breed.

Bears are dangerous regulated animals, and since 1 July 2006 no one may take possession of one except a USDA licensee keeping up the inventory it held that day. K.A.R. 115-20-4 offers any individual a possession permit for a black bear, but it is a wildlife permit that cannot override the statute. Animals held on 1 July 2006 had to be registered with local animal control and insured for $250,000.

Existing owners: A bear possessed on 1 July 2006 may be kept if registered with the local animal control authority, caged to K.S.A. 32-1306, covered by $250,000 liability insurance or bond, and not bred.

How this rule works: Kansas restricts three things here and nothing else, and the definition is short enough to read in full. But this Act is not where a Kansas answer ends. K.S.A. 32-701 defines wildlife as any member of the animal kingdom and K.S.A. 32-1002(a)(2) makes possessing wildlife unlawful unless a rule of the secretary permits it, so the operative rules are K.A.R. 115-20-3 for anything not native and K.A.R. 115-20-2 and 115-15-2 for anything that is.

(1) Except as established in Sections 2(7) and 7 of this administrative regulation, 301 KAR 2:075, and 301 KAR 3:120, a person shall not import, transport into Kentucky, or possess: ... (c) Black bear (Ursus americanus);

Named on the prohibited natives list, and every bear is also inherently dangerous exotic wildlife under 2:082 § 4(2)(c). § 1(3) defines native wildlife "regardless of ... being captive-bred or taken from the wild", so a captive-bred animal from another state is in the same position. KRS 65.877 lets local governments go further.

How this rule works: The companion to 2:082 and the rule that reaches any Kentucky native. § 1(3) defines native wildlife as species that have historically existed, currently exist or have naturally expanded their range into Kentucky, "regardless of ... origin or location of an individual animal" and of "being captive-bred or taken from the wild", so captive breeding is no exit. § 2(3) then requires a captive wildlife permit before acquiring one, with a five-per-species free allowance for native reptiles and amphibians at § 2(5) and nothing comparable for mammals. § 3(2) is the noncommercial permit, § 4 the transportation permit, § 6 the prohibited natives.

C.1.Except as provided herein, it shall be unlawful to import into, possess, purchase or sell within the state of Louisiana, by any means whatsoever including but not limited to transactions conducted via the internet, any of the following species or its subspecies of live wild quadrupeds, big exotic cats, or non-human primates, domesticated or otherwise (hereinafter "listed animals"): a.black bear (Ursus americanus);

The black bear is the first animal on the list, which bars importing, possessing, buying or selling one, "domesticated or otherwise". Holders of a potentially dangerous wild quadruped permit valid when the rule took effect were grandfathered but may not acquire more, "including breeding". Exemptions are accredited zoos, research facilities and transit.

Existing owners: A potentially dangerous wild quadruped permit valid on the rule's effective date, renewed annually until the animal dies or leaves; no new animals. The rule was first published in the Louisiana Register in December 1995 (LR 21:1356); the exact effective day was not read.

How this rule works: A short mammal ban: three bears, two wolves, wolf dog hybrids, all non-human primates, and six big cats with their subspecies and hybrids. Existing permit holders were grandfathered but may not acquire more.

Unclassified Species: A person may not possess any species that has not been categorized. Any species which has not been identified as a Prohibited, Restricted, or Unrestricted species will not be eligible for a permit under this chapter, however a request may be made to review the categorization of a species subject to section 7.06(5).

Ursidae appears nowhere in chapter 7's lists, so a black bear is an uncategorized species and § 7.06(4) makes it ineligible for any permit. Maine plainly has bears in view: § 7.11(4)(A) bars even rehabilitators from taking black bears without the commissioner's authorization. A native mammal has no wild-take route under 12 M.R.S. § 12152(1-B).

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.

"Bear" is named in clause (i), and § 10-621(c)(2) separately bars USDA Class C exhibitors from acquiring a bear they did not own on 30 June 2014 without meeting accreditation conditions. 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.

any of the following cats of the Felidae family, whether wild or captive bred, including a hybrid cross with such a cat: a lion, a leopard (including a snow leopard or clouded leopard), a jaguar, a tiger, a cougar, a panther, or a cheetah; or a bear of a species that is native or nonnative to Michigan, whether wild or captive bred.

The Large Carnivore Act names every bear, native or not, wild or captive bred. § 1103 bars owning one except in compliance with the act, and § 1104 allows possession only of animals held on 7 July 2000 whose owners applied for a permit within 90 days. The black bear is not on the captive game list either.

Existing owners: Individual animals held on the act's effective date, 7 July 2000, whose owner applied for a local permit within 90 days and obtained one. Not transferable except by inheritance.

How this rule works: Michigan splits this across three bodies of law: the Large Carnivore Act, the Wolf-dog Cross Act, and Part 413 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. Penalties run to misdemeanor charges, fines up to $2,000 per animal and forfeiture.

all members of the Felidae family including, but not limited to, lions, tigers, cougars, leopards, cheetahs, ocelots, and servals, but not including domestic cats or cats recognized as a domestic breed, registered as a domestic breed, and shown as a domestic breed by a national or international multibreed cat registry association; (2) bears; and (3) all nonhuman primates

Bears are regulated animals, and no one may take possession of one after 1 January 2005. The black bear is also big game, and § 97A.105 offers game farm licenses for bear propagation as a business, which does not lift the regulated animal ban for a pet.

Existing owners: Possessed on 1 January 2005 and brought into Animal Welfare Act compliance within 90 days. Breeding after that date is barred, and a non-USDA-licensed keeper may replace the animal only once.

How this rule works: Revisor of Statutes text. 'Regulated animal' is the whole family Felidae, bears, and all non-human primates, plus any hybrid with a domestic animal and all subsequent generations. Possession has been unlawful since 1 January 2005 except for animals already held then and brought into federal Animal Welfare Act compliance. Note the carve-out inside the Felidae clause, which excludes not only domestic cats but cats registered and shown as a domestic breed by a multibreed registry; it and the hybrid sentence pull in opposite directions.

Game and furbearing animals are defined as the following: white-tailed deer, black bear, gray squirrel, fox squirrel, cottontail rabbit, swamp rabbit, raccoon, opossum, bobcat, river otter, muskrat, mink, and weasel. B. Possession of live game and furbearing animals is prohibited with the following exceptions

Rule 8.3 lists every bear and offers a personal possession permit at $200, but Rule 8.4 separately names the black bear as a game animal and prohibits possessing one alive, and its exceptions do not include a Rule 8.3 permit. So the 8.3 permit is a route for exotic bears, not for Mississippi's own.

How this rule works: Defines game and furbearing animals as a closed list (white-tailed deer, black bear, gray and fox squirrels, two rabbits, raccoon, opossum, bobcat, river otter, muskrat, mink, weasel) and prohibits possessing any of them alive, except public zoos, veterinarians, transport to care and permitted enclosures. Amended 10/22/2017. Not on mdwfp.com's rules record page, so read from Cornell LII. Cached as MS-ms-captivity-and-nuisance.txt.

Class II wildlife shall include copperheads, cottonmouths, timber rattlesnakes, pygmy rattlesnakes, eastern massasauga, prairie massasauga, mountain lions or mountain lion-hybrids, wolves or wolf-hybrids, and black bears or black bear hybrids.

The black bear is Class II wildlife, held only under a Class II wildlife breeder permit, and the approved species list confines that to "Bear, Black (& hybrids) legally obtained under a valid Class II Wildlife Breeder Permit prior to August 30, 2021". The Wildlife Hobby Permit excludes Class II. So no new bear may be acquired.

Existing owners: Black bears and black bear hybrids legally obtained under a valid Class II wildlife breeder permit before 30 August 2021 remain on the approved 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.

(2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, no person shall keep in captivity in this state any wolf, any skunk, or any member of the families Felidae and Ursidae.

Every member of Ursidae is banned by statute with no permit, and the fur-producer exception covers only the lynx and the bobcat. Exceptions are public and accredited zoos and pre-1986 animals.

Existing owners: A person legally holding such an animal on 1 March 1986 may keep it for its lifetime under § 37-477(3), and may not trade, sell or dispose of it without the commission's written permission.

How this rule works: The statute does two things the regulation does not. § 37-477(2) is a flat ban with no permit behind it: "no person shall keep in captivity in this state any wolf, any skunk, or any member of the families Felidae and Ursidae", excepting only Felis domesticus, accredited zoos and public facilities, and lynx or bobcat fur producers. And §§ 37-245 and 37-246 define wild birds and wild mammals by geography rather than by wildness, as species "native to, migrating to or through, or having established free-ranging populations in the State of Nebraska". That definition is the hinge of the whole state: a Nebraska native is caught by the captive wildlife scheme and an exotic is not, which sends the exotic question to the importation list instead. § 37-247 defines wildlife far more broadly, reaching every arthropod and invertebrate, and that breadth sits awkwardly with an importation list containing only mammals and birds.

Bear, Black Ursus americanus 5

The black bear is in the controlled table with category 5 alone. Permittee category 5 is the exhibitor category, with no category 1 for an individual, so a private keeper cannot be issued a possession permit.

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.

The Division does not currently issue new permits for the possession of potentially dangerous species within the hobby permit category.

The black bear is a game animal at 10.6(a)19, but bears are potentially dangerous under 10.10, 10.11(a)6 says one may not be kept as a household pet, and the Division issues no new hobby permits for them. Only scientific, propagation, zoo, exhibitor, theatrical and fur farming permits remain.

How this rule works: The Division's own reading of 7:25-10. Two things in it decide cells. It "does not currently issue new permits for the possession of potentially dangerous species within the hobby permit category", confining nondomestic dogs, bears and nondomestic cats to scientific, propagation, zoological, exhibitor, theatrical and fur farming permits. And it bans importing raccoons, skunks, foxes, woodchucks and bats from any state with a rabies variant other than the raccoon variant, "even if the RVS originates from a captive breeder". The rabies policy itself is at https://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/pdf/captv_rvs_policy.pdf.

Mammal | Bear | Ursidae | Ursus americanus | Bear, Black | IV

Named in Group IV, and the list also carries every bear of any species in Group IV as a state protected species. 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: ... (7) Bears in the Family Ursidae:

Ursidae is a whole clause of the wild animal list, so § 11-0512 bars a bear as a pet, and 180.1 lists the family again. Licenses under 180.1(c) issue only for scientific, educational, exhibition, zoological or propagation purposes, and the 180.1(d)(2) exemption for this species is for licensed rehabilitators.

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 bears, including polar, grizzly, brown and black bear.

The black bear is named. § 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.

(A) No person shall possess a dangerous wild animal on or after January 1, 2014. (B)(1) Except as provided in divisions (G)(1) and (2) of section 935.06 of the Revised Code, no person shall acquire, buy, sell, trade, or transfer possession or ownership of a dangerous wild animal on or after the effective date of this section.

Every bear is a named dangerous wild animal. The exceptions in R.C. 935.03 are accredited zoos, research facilities, circuses, sanctuaries, rehabilitators of Ohio natives and vets, so there is no route for a new keeper. The black bear is also a game quadruped under R.C. 1531.01(V), but the Division of Wildlife's § 1533.71 license does not lift the bar: 935.03(A)(3) exempts only possession under a permit issued under Chapter 935.

Existing owners: Only a person who registered the animal with the Department of Agriculture in 2012 and possessed it on 1 October 2013 could apply for a wildlife shelter or wildlife propagation permit under R.C. 935.05 or 935.07; the permit requires sterilizing males, insurance, caging standards and, outside the small primates, at least one acre.

How this rule works: The operative half of Chapter 935. § 935.02(A) bars possessing a dangerous wild animal on or after 1 January 2014 and (B)(1) bars acquiring one after the chapter took effect; the wildlife shelter and propagation permits at §§ 935.05 and 935.07 are open only to someone who possessed a registered animal on 1 October 2013. § 935.041 sends four marmosets, squirrel monkeys, four capuchins and lemurs to registration with the director of agriculture. The restricted snake permits at §§ 935.08 and 935.10 remain open to a snake acquired after 1 January 2014, within 120 days of acquiring it.

Black bears, cougars, bobcats, and wolves, acquired by transfer or new acquisition as part of an existing permit or new holding application after January 20, 2017, shall only be held at AZA accredited facilities or as approved by the Department in Wildlife Exhibitor/Animal Entertainment or Wildlife Sanctuary facilities.

ORS 609.305 reaches "Any bear, except the black bear", which hands the black bear to ODFW, and ODFW's holding rule confines any black bear acquired after 20 January 2017 to AZA, exhibitor and sanctuary facilities. Pets held on that date were grandfathered on application.

Existing owners: An animal legally held as a pet on 20 January 2017, with a Wildlife Holding Permit applied for by 21 January 2018, may be kept for its life under OAR 635-044-0470. It may not be bred, and may be transferred only to an AZA, exhibitor or sanctuary facility.

How this rule works: The ODFW division that answers Oregon's native carnivores, which neither ORS 609.305 nor division 56 reaches. 0460 requires a Wildlife Holding, Exhibitor/Animal Entertainment Industry or Sanctuary permit for black bears, cougars, bobcats, wolves, raccoons and skunks, sourced from an out-of-state USDA breeder, and 0460(3) confines black bears, cougars, bobcats and wolves acquired after 20 January 2017 to AZA, exhibitor and sanctuary facilities. 0470 grandfathers pets legally held on 20 January 2017 whose owners applied by 21 January 2018. 0460(5) puts the burden of proving a wolf-cross or bobcat-cross is a hybrid on the owner. 0430(1)(a) protects every federally listed species. 0430, 0440, 0450 and 0470 are at the same address with their own rule numbers.

The possession of native mammals is restricted to those institutions identified within § 3.7(C) of this Part, and as exempted per § 3.8 of this Part. Terrestrial mammals considered native either currently or historically to Rhode Island and which possession as pets is prohibited include the following: ... (4) Black Bear (Ursus americana),

Named on the native mammal list. Rhode Island's native definition applies "regardless of where the animal originated", so a captive-bred animal from out of state is no different, and § 3.7(A) separately restricts every carnivore without a licensed rabies vaccine to researchers, USDA exhibitors and AZA facilities.

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.

(4) Class IV--This class includes those native species that may be possessed only by zoos and temporary exhibitors; provided, that rehabilitation facilities may possess Class IV wildlife as provided by rules established by the commission if authorized by a letter from the director of the agency: (A) Black bear (Ursus americanus);

Named in Class IV, which only zoos and temporary exhibitors may hold, with rehabilitators allowed by letter. Bears of all species are also in Class I, which has been closed to personal possession since 25 June 1991.

How this rule works: Five classes. Class I is a specific list of inherently dangerous animals, possessable only by zoos, circuses and commercial propagators. Class II is "native species, except those listed in other classes". Class III "requires no permits except those required by the department of agriculture, and includes all species not listed in other classes", followed by seventeen illustrative subdivisions. Class IV is black bear, white-tailed deer and wild turkey; Class V is whatever the commission designates as injurious. The catch-all sitting at Class III rather than Class II is what makes Tennessee permissive, and the exception clause in Class II is what keeps native reptiles out of it. Tennessee's official code is behind LexisNexis and publications.tnsosfiles.com refuses this container, so the wording here was taken from two independent reproductions that agree: animallaw.info, which carries the current post-2024 text, and lawserver.com, whose copy is marked effective until 1 July 2024 and differs only in the snake clause, which the 2024 amendment changed from "poisonous" to "venomous".

TPWD regulations prohibit the taking, possession, transportation, or sale of any of the animal species designated by state law as endangered or threatened without the issuance of a permit.

Texas lists the black bear, Ursus americanus, as state threatened, and TPWD permits for threatened animals go to science, zoos, education and rehabilitation. The dangerous wild animal statute also names "a bear" and would require a local certificate, but the threatened listing comes first: a certificate does not authorize possessing a threatened animal.

How this rule works: The § 65.175 figure is an image in the Texas Register, so TPWD's own compilation is the readable copy. It lists the black bear (Ursus americanus) and the white-nosed coati (Nasua narica) as state threatened. TPWD's species protection page, https://tpwd.texas.gov/wildlife/wildlife-diversity/nongame/listed-species/species-protection/, states the consequence: its regulations "prohibit the taking, possession, transportation, or sale of any of the animal species designated by state law as endangered or threatened without the issuance of a permit", and the permits are for science, zoos, education and rehabilitation.

Personal possession will not be authorized. ... Bears family Ursidae all species

Every bear is in the prohibited section, under a heading that says personal possession will not be authorized.

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'.

To hunt, trap, take, capture, kill, attempt to take, capture, or kill, possess, deliver for transportation, transport, cause to be transported, by any means whatever, receive for transportation or export, or import, at any time or in any manner, any wild bird or wild animal or the carcass or any part thereof, except as specifically permitted by law and only by the manner or means and within the numbers stated.

The black bear is a Virginia native wild animal and a game species. Because it is a Virginia native, it is not a nonnative (exotic) animal, so the permit table at 4VAC15-30-40 is not its rule, even though the table names its family; § 29.1-521(A)(10) is, and it bars possessing a wild animal except as specifically permitted. The one-per-address allowance at 4VAC15-360-10(A) reaches no mammal, and Chapter 290's permits are for exhibits and scientific collection, the reasoning the flying squirrel cell sets out.

How this rule works: Subsection (A)(10) makes it unlawful to possess, transport or import any wild bird or wild animal except as specifically permitted by law.

There shall be no private ownership, private importation or private possession of live big or trophy game animals, except as otherwise specified in this regulation.

The black bear is a "trophy game animal" by statute, and § 11(a) bars private ownership of trophy game outright.

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.

No person may import into Idaho, export from Idaho, transport, possess or otherwise hold in captivity, propagate, sell or release into the wild any live wildlife, except those animals exempted by Idaho Code or these rules, without a corresponding import, export, transport, captive possession (individual animal license or multiple animal license at a private, commercial or rehabilitation facility), sale or release license/permit from the Department.

A black bear is Idaho big game, and the rule's own marking requirement for "All captive big game animals" shows the Department licenses them. A captive possession license is required, and § 200.03 lets the Department refuse one on public safety grounds, which for a bear is the likely answer.

How this rule works: Section 010.06 defines conventional pets, which sit outside the wildlife permit regime. Unusually explicit: it names ferrets, hedgehogs and sugar gliders in the rule text.

(1) Wolves that are purebred. (2) Bears (all species). (3) Wild cats (all species), except feral cats and cats listed in section 7 of this rule.

Bears of all species are Class III. The permit must be obtained before taking possession, and the applicant must present a recapture or destruction plan, own the equipment for it and pass a cage inspection. The rule draws no pet line, so it is a permit rather than a ban.

How this rule works: Three classes by risk. Class I is rabbits and squirrels, Class II is a long and specific list of small wild cats plus Indiana's furbearers, Class III is wolves, bears, all other wild cats, venomous reptiles and large crocodilians. Both the Class II and Class III lists end with the same sentence exempting hybrids with a domestic dog or cat, which is the clearest hybrid answer any state gives.

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 bear is on either list. It is also a Massachusetts native, and the only animals MassWildlife lets a person take from the wild are certain reptiles and amphibians. 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.

"Wild animal menagerie" means any place where one or more bears or large cats, including cougars, lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards, pumas, cheetahs, ocelots, and hybrids of those large cats are kept in captivity for use other than public exhibition.

Montana writes a permit for keeping bears privately: a wild animal menagerie is defined by use "other than public exhibition", the application asks only for the site, species, caging and proof the applicant is responsible, and the department must inspect before issuing. It is capped at 10 animals, which must come captive bred from a licensed zoo, menagerie, fur farm or similar source; a black bear may not be captured from the wild for it.

How this rule works: § 87-4-801(3) defines a wild animal menagerie as bears or large cats kept "for use other than public exhibition"; § 87-4-803 sets the permit, § 87-4-804 bars capture from the wild for it and caps it at 10 animals. Cached as MT-mt-rabies-and-menagerie.txt.

it is unlawful, except by the written consent and approval of the Department, for any person at any time to receive, bring or have brought or shipped into this State, or remove from one stream or body of water in this State to any other...any aquatic life or wildlife

No bear appears on the prohibited list or the no-permit list. The black bear is a Nevada game mammal, and whether the Department would consent to a private keeper holding one is not something the rule says; the wildlife facility licensing in NAC chapter 504 was not read. An animal on neither Nevada list is not unregulated: NRS 503.597 requires the Department's written consent to bring any wildlife into the state, and NAC 503.140 is the list of exemptions from that. 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: The default nobody had pinned down. NRS 503.597 makes it unlawful without the written consent and approval of the Department for any person to receive, bring or have brought or shipped into the state any aquatic life or wildlife, so an animal that is neither prohibited by NAC 503.110 nor cleared by NAC 503.140 needs Department approval rather than being unregulated. NRS 501.097 defines wildlife as any wild mammal, wild bird, fish, reptile, amphibian, mollusk or crustacean found naturally in a wild state, which leaves insects and arachnids outside the Department's authority entirely.

the wild animal or wild bird was not acquired unlawfully or merely as a pet

The black bear is a North Carolina big game animal, so it is a wild animal under § 113-129(15), and (16) carries the definition to animals of wild species raised or kept in captivity. Holding one alive needs a captivity license, and § 113-272.5(a) tells the Executive Director not to issue it unless the animal "was not acquired unlawfully or merely as a pet", the reasoning the flying squirrel cell rests on. § 113-272.5(f) applies the captivity license to black bears and defers to Article 2 of Chapter 19A on how captive bears are kept, and § 113-294(c1) makes unlawfully possessing a bear a Class 1 misdemeanor with a $2,000 minimum fine.

How this rule works: North Carolina's captivity-license statute, which bars issuing a license for a wild animal acquired merely as a pet.

Category 3 species of nontraditional livestock includes the following species and their hybrids: ... (2) Big cats, including mountain lion, jaguar, leopard, lion, tiger, and cheetah. (3) Bears. (4) Wolves.

Bears are category 3, the inherently dangerous tier, but category 3 is licensed on the same footing as category 2: a license before acquisition and an approved premises. The rule writes no pet exclusion.

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.

A. Except as otherwise provided by law, no person may possess: ... 3. Any native bear or native cat that will grow to reach the weight of fifty (50) pounds or more.

Oklahoma bars possessing a native bear except as provided by law, and § 4-107(E) is that provision: the keeper must hold a commercial wildlife breeder's license, keep the bear confined to the licensed premises and allow no public contact. The pet exemption in § 7-502(B)(4) does not reach paragraph 3. Despite its name the license goes to anyone the Director believes is acting in good faith, at $48 a year, and § 4-107(B) lets a breeder sell a bear only to another license holder.

How this rule works: The statutory possession bar, and much narrower than its title suggests. It reaches wildlife during a closed season, endangered or threatened species, and native bears and native cats that will reach fifty pounds. Subsection (B)(4) then exempts anyone possessing legally obtained wildlife from a source other than the wild as a pet, which is the provision that decides most captive-bred animals in Oklahoma and which nothing else in the code says as plainly.

In the family Ursidae. All species of the bears.

Every bear is prohibited, and bears are the first animal named in the 34 Pa.C.S. § 2961 definition of exotic wildlife, so the exotic wildlife possession permit is the only route. It needs a separate permit per animal and two years of documented hands-on experience at a recognized facility, the shape the serval cell records as a facility permit rather than a pet one. A black bear taken from the wild in Pennsylvania is barred outright by § 137.31(a).

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.

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;

"Bear" is named in § 50-16-20(A)(1), so importing one needs a Department permit. The 2018 ban in Title 47 reaches non-native bears only, so the native black bear is outside it. § 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: ...(c) Ursidae;

Bears are on the possession permit list and nowhere on the prohibited list, so a black bear takes the same ten-dollar permit as a serval. The board must find the facilities adequate, but the rule writes no pet exclusion.

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 bear is on any list, so it is Restricted by default. It is also a Vermont native, and 10 V.S.A. § 4709 bars possessing a live wild animal without authorization. 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.

3.1.h. Bears; (excluding black bears native to this state);

The board's list carves the native black bear out of its bear entry in terms, and the black bear is a game animal by name in § 20-1-2. That leaves Chapter 20, where § 20-2-4(a) bars captivity except as provided and § 20-2-51 provides a pet permit for an animal from a commercial dealer or the open season. On the words a black bear is in the same position as a raccoon, which is surprising enough that the DNR's practice deserves a check before anyone relies on it.

How this rule works: The director may issue a $2 permit to keep in captivity as a pet a wild animal or wild bird acquired from a commercial dealer or during the legal open season.

Ursidae. Members of the family ursidae commonly known as bears.

Bears are harmful wild animals, and § 169.11(1)(b) bars possessing one "unless specifically authorized to do so by the department". The authorization is a captive wild animal farm license naming the species, and NR 16.15(2)(f) says no first application for a harmful animal is approved without written assurance that it complies with local ordinances and zoning. A license exists for an individual on paper; the local zoning step is where most applications would stop.

How this rule works: The rule that answers Wisconsin's native carnivores and the wolfdog. NR 16.11 designates bears and "Hybrids of the species Canis lupus, C. lycaon, or C. rufus ... and the species Canis familiaris, domestic dogs, and subsequent generations from such matings" as harmful wild animals, which Wis. Stat. § 169.11(1)(b) bars possessing unless the department authorizes it. NR 16.15 applies to every captive wild animal farm "including commercial operations and hobbyists", requires local zoning assurance before a first licence for a harmful animal, and requires a wolf-dog owner to neuter the animal by six months and mark it permanently. The licence itself is § 169.15, which the department shall issue to any person who applies. NR 16.15 is at https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/admin_code/nr/001/16/15.

It is unlawful to possess or hold in captivity live wild animals, wild birds, or game fish unless lawfully acquired. Any person possessing or holding wild animals, wild birds, or game fish in captivity must provide proof of lawful acquisition and possession for inspection if asked to do so by a department employee.

RCW 16.30 lists "Family ursidae, all bears" as potentially dangerous, but 16.30.020(1)(k) exempts "native wildlife subject to Title 77 RCW", and the black bear is a Washington animal, so the dangerous animal ban does not reach it. Title 77 then asks only for lawful acquisition: no taking from the wild without a permit, a health certificate to import, documented proof of source, and no sale of a captive animal or its progeny except as rule allows. That is a thin answer for a bear and turns on the native-wildlife exemption doing what it says.

How this rule works: The sentence that decides most of Washington is subsection (74): "Wildlife means all species of the animal kingdom whose members exist in Washington in a wild state." The list that follows is inclusive down to invertebrates, so the taxonomic reach is total, and the qualifier is geographic: a species that does not live wild in Washington is not Washington wildlife at all. Subsection (72) does the same for "wild animals", class Mammalia, and expressly drops feral domestic mammals and old world rats and mice. The other half of the scheme is subsection (13), deleterious exotic wildlife, which is a designated list rather than a category: WAC 220-640-200 designates the mute swan, mongooses, wild boar, javelina, six bovid genera and a run of cervids, and nothing else.

All species of the order Carnivora

All of Carnivora is restricted, so a bear needs a special license. It is also an Arizona native, and taking one alive from the wild is a separate regime under R12-4-404, R12-4-405 and Commission Order 43 that needs a hunting license.

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.

No person shall bring into this State, possess, sell or exhibit any live wild mammal or hybrid of a wild mammal or live reptile not native to or generally found in Delaware without first securing a permit under this chapter.

The same question as the bobcat. The black bear is historically native to Delaware and has no resident population now. Treated as native, it is DNREC's, and DNREC says native wildlife may not be owned. Treated as not generally found here, it is an Agriculture exotic that needs the Individual permit, and nothing in 903 refuses a bear by name. Neither agency has said which.

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.