Where is the bobcat 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)

The bobcat is named by its old binomial, Felis rufus, among the animals barred from outside Alabama, and in-state transport of a listed animal is barred except by a licensed game breeder. One taken in Alabama is a protected furbearer, which § (3) bars keeping alive. The serval, by contrast, is unlisted and legal.

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

Every felid but Felis catus is off the clean list, and subsection (c) bars a pet permit. The bobcat does not range into Alaska, which does not matter under a definition that reaches any mammal.

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.

Bobcat, coyote, gray fox, and red fox that were captured by hand prior to July 1, 2022, may be retained until their death.

The hand-capture route for the bobcat closed on 1 July 2022. The captive-born route needs a permitted breeder or an importation permit, and the bobcat is on none of the three addenda, which R1.03(B) makes "prohibited until evaluated". Only animals captured before the 2022 date remain.

Existing owners: A bobcat, coyote, gray fox or red fox captured by hand in Arkansas before 1 July 2022 may be kept as a pet until it dies, within the six-per-household limit, and may not be sold or taken out of state.

How this rule works: Code 09.01 makes it unlawful to hold any live wildlife captive unless otherwise specified, and its exceptions include terrestrial invertebrates. Code 09.02 conditions non-native wildlife on sourcing and veterinary certification. Code 09.14 caps native wildlife pets at six per household. Chapter 01.00 supplies the two definitions that decide the rest: WILDLIFE reaches "all other wild animals, regardless of classification", and WILD means "living in a state of nature and not domesticated". Addendum R1.02 closes with "Species not listed in Addenda R1.01, R1.02, or R1.03 are prohibited until evaluated", so absence is a bar rather than a silence.

Family Felidae-All species (W)

Every felid is restricted and only domestic cats and their hybrids are carved out; the order heading names bobcats. The bobcat is a native California furbearer, but § 671 reaches it whatever its origin, and 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.

A wild felid is not Felis catus, so the domestic-cat line that clears hybrids does not reach it, and the bobcat is on no unregulated list. 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 bobcat is named among the Felidae examples in 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 cat; (B) admits domestic cats 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.

Family Felidae (cats) - All species;

Georgia reaches the bobcat twice. It is in the inherently dangerous tier with every other felid, needing a license and liability insurance that § 27-5-4(b)(1) makes available only to the animal trade and exhibitors, and DNR's list of natives that may not be held as a pet "regardless of its origin or morphology" names it.

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.

The introduction into Hawaii of live animals or live non-domestic animals ... is prohibited except for those animals on the lists

Lynx rufus is on none of Hawaii's three lists. The only lynx Part A names is the caracal, written as Felis caracal (=Lynx caracal), which is a different animal. Unlisted means barred by default here. The prohibited list's hybrid entry also names the bobcat among the wild parents of a prohibited cat cross, which shows the board had the animal in view.

How this rule works: The rule text the three species lists hang off, and the part that explains why Hawaii answers differently from everywhere else. Two things matter. § 4-71-6.5 allows introduction only for animals on the conditionally approved or restricted lists, which is what makes an unlisted animal barred by default rather than unregulated. And § 4-71-2 defines a set of domestic animals, the European rabbit among them, then says that as used in the chapter the word animal means non-domestic animal, so the lists never reach those species at all.

"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.

The bobcat is named as a dangerous animal, and that decides it even though the Wildlife Code also lists it as a fur-bearing mammal: the fur-bearer breeder permit cannot authorize what the Criminal Code bars outside the listed institutions. § 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 felidae of the order carnivora, including but not limited to lions, tigers, cougars, leopards, cheetahs, ocelots, and servals. However, a dangerous wild animal does not include a domestic cat.

A felid other than the domestic cat. § 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.

(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: ... (d) Bobcat (Lynx rufus);

The bobcat is named on the prohibited natives list. § 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.

Family Felidae All Species in Family Felidae (Cats)

Every felid is Category 1, exhibitors, rehabilitators and research facilities only. The bobcat is also a Maine native, and § 7.11(3)(A) bars possessing a native restricted species under the general possession permit in any case.

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.

Every member of the cat family other than the domestic cat is barred. 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.

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

Every felid other than domestic cats is a regulated animal, and since 1 January 2005 no one may take possession of one, a bar the serval cell records the same way. The bobcat is also small game, a protected wild animal, but the special permit route in § 97A.401 cannot override the regulated animal ban.

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

Named in Rule 8.4's game and furbearing list, so possessing one alive is prohibited outside a zoo or a veterinarian's temporary care. Rule 8.3's cat entry stops at the big cats, so it offers no permit for a bobcat either.

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.

(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. This subsection shall not apply to ... (c) any person who holds a captive wildlife permit issued pursuant to section 37-479 and who raises Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis) or bobcats (Lynx rufus) solely for the purpose of producing furs

Every felid is banned by statute. The bobcat appears on the Captive Wildlife Permit list, but asterisked "For commercial purposes only", because the statute's one exception is a permit holder raising bobcats solely for fur or for breeding stock sold to fur producers.

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.

Bobcat Lynx rufus 5

The bobcat 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.

34. Bobcat, Lynx rufus

The bobcat is on New Jersey's own endangered list, and the Division's notice says endangered species "may not be kept as pets or for hobby purposes for any reason". It is also a nondomestic cat, potentially dangerous under 7:25-10.10, for which the Division issues no new hobby permits. Two separate bars, no pet route.

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.

Any species of live non-domesticated animal not currently on the species importation list will be designated group IV until such time as another determination is made by the director.

The only bobcat named is the Mexican subspecies, Lynx rufus escuinapae, in Group IV as federally endangered. The bobcat as a species has no row, so the default clause designates it Group IV as well. It is also a New Mexico furbearer, protected by the Game and Fish rules. 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: ... (8) Cats in the Family Felidae with the exception of the species Felis catus ...

Every cat but Felis catus and five-generation registered hybrids is a wild animal that § 11-0512 bars as a pet, and 180.1 reaches it independently. The bobcat is also small game. 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 cats other than domesticated cats (Felis catus), including, but not limited to, lion, tiger, leopard, ocelot, jaguar, puma, panther, mountain lion, cheetah, wild cat, cougar, bobcat, lynx, serval, caracal, jaguarundi, margay and any hybrid or cross-breed offspring of a wild cat and domesticated or other cat.

Named in the wild cat clause, which covers every cat but Felis catus. § 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.

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.

The bobcat is native, so ORS 609.305, which reaches only non-indigenous cats, does not apply, and ODFW's holding rule does. Since 20 January 2017 a new bobcat goes only to an AZA, exhibitor or sanctuary facility, and pets held on that date were grandfathered on application. 0460(5) also makes the owner prove that a claimed bobcat hybrid is one, or it is regulated as a bobcat.

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.

Lawfully acquired bobcats ... may be imported or possessed, or both, by licensed propagators specifically for propagation for fur farming purposes. ... Bobcats imported under this exception and their progeny may not be sold or transferred for wildlife pet purposes or released into the wild.

The Felidae line bans every cat but the house cat and then writes one bobcat exception, for fur-farm propagation, with an express bar on transfer "for wildlife pet purposes". The bobcat is also a Pennsylvania native, so § 137.31(a) closes the wild-caught route, and it is not on the 34 Pa.C.S. § 2961 list of exotic wildlife that the possession permit serves.

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.

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: ... (5) Bobcat (Lynx rufus),

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.

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 bobcat is a Virginia native wild animal. 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.

Class II: ... 15. Servals (Leptailurus serval) 16. European and Canadian lynx (Lynx lynx) 17. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) 18. Caracals (Caracal caracal) ...

Named at Class II item 17, next to the serval and the lynx. A Permit to Possess Class II Wildlife for Personal Use costs $140 a year, requires the applicant to be 18, and requires documented experience plus the facility and caging standards of 68A-6.004 and 68A-6.010. The bobcat is a Florida native, and a wild-caught one is still subject to the general bar on possessing wildlife without a permit in 68A-6.003(1).

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.

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.

The bobcat is Idaho wildlife and not a conventional pet, whose closed list stops at dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, rodents, harmless herps, non-poultry birds, hedgehogs, tenrecs and sugar gliders. So holding one needs a Fish and Game captive possession license, which the rule offers as an individual animal license at a private facility. § 200.03 lets the Department refuse any license that would threaten public safety or native wildlife.

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.

The bobcat is not among the 15 small cats on the Class II list, so it falls into Class III as a wild cat "except ... cats listed in section 7". A Class III permit has to be in hand before taking possession and needs a recapture or destruction plan with the equipment to carry it out, a cage inspection and proof of lawful acquisition. It is still a pet permit.

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 felid is on the exemption list and the domestic list carries only Felis catus. 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.

badger, bobcat, red and gray fox, raccoon, coyote, beaver, otter, muskrat, mink, squirrels, striped skunk, woodchuck, opossum, ring-necked pheasant, bobwhite quail, Hungarian partridge, ducks, geese and wild turkeys

The bobcat is on the closed list of game that may be held under the DNR's Permit to Hold Game in Captivity, so a keeper needs that permit. It covers captive-bred animals only, so one taken from the wild cannot be brought under it. The Large Carnivore Act's cat clause names lion, leopard, jaguar, tiger, cougar, panther and cheetah, so it does not reach the bobcat.

How this rule works: Michigan's route for keeping a native mammal or game bird, and it is a closed list of species rather than a general exotic pet permit. It authorizes captive-bred animals only, so a wild-caught animal cannot be brought under it. Non-native species are outside it entirely, which is why a native red fox needs this permit and a fennec fox does not.

Wildlife Hobby Permit. Authorizes the holder to purchase, possess, and propagate not more than fifty (50) ring-necked pheasants and bobwhite quail, in the aggregate, for personal use only and not for sale; and to hold in captivity not more than one (1) game mammal purchased from a Missouri wildlife breeder permit holder, except that Class II wildlife, hoofed mammals, and skunks may not be held under this permit.

The bobcat is a Missouri furbearer, which 3 CSR 10-20.805(33) makes a game mammal, and the take-five rule for natives expressly excludes anything listed in 3 CSR 10-4.110(4), which is game mammals and furbearers. What remains is the Wildlife Hobby Permit: one animal, bought from a Missouri wildlife breeder permit holder, held for personal use, never propagated or sold. The bobcat is also on the dangerous wild animal list in RSMo § 578.023, so the keeper must register it with the local law enforcement agency in the county where it is kept.

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.

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

The no-permit list clears "All felines, except mountain lions and bobcats", so the bobcat is expressly carved out of the clearance, and it is not on the prohibited list either. That leaves it under the Department's written consent. It is also a Nevada fur-bearing mammal under NAC 503.025. 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 bobcat is a North Carolina game animal, and a fur-bearer when trapped, 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.

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 2 species of nontraditional livestock includes the following species and their hybrids, all nondomestic ungulates, including all deer (cervidae) and pronghorn, zebras, nondomestic cats not listed in category 3, waterfowl, shorebirds, upland game birds not listed in category 1, crows, wolverines, otters, bats, martens, fishers, kit or swift foxes, badgers, coyotes, mink, red and gray foxes

Category 3 names only the big cats, so the bobcat is a "nondomestic cat not listed in category 3" and falls to category 2, the same place as the serval. The license must be in hand before acquiring the animal, with the premises approved first.

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.

"Noncommercial propagating license" permitting the licensee to propagate game birds, game quadrupeds except captive white-tailed deer, reptiles, amphibians, or fur-bearing animals and to hold the animals in captivity. Game birds, game quadrupeds except captive white-tailed deer, reptiles, amphibians, and fur-bearing animals propagated or held in captivity by authority of a noncommercial propagating license are for the licensee's own use and shall not be sold. The fee for such a license is twenty-five dollars per annum.

Bobcats are named fur-bearing animals under R.C. 1531.01(W), which puts them under the § 1533.71 captivity license. The dangerous wild animal list at § 935.01(C)(7)(b) names "Lynxes, including Canadian lynxes, Eurasian lynxes, and Iberian lynxes", and the bobcat is Lynx rufus but is not among them, while the same definitions section names bobcats separately as fur-bearing animals. That separate naming is the better reading. If the bobcat were a lynx under Chapter 935, no new keeper could have one at all, since § 935.02 closed dangerous wild animals to new owners as it did the serval.

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.

(4) Cats (except native cats and bears).

The cat exemption excludes native cats, so the bobcat needs the import permit and the noncommercial wildlife breeder's license. The stricter statutory bar on native cats "that will grow to reach the weight of fifty (50) pounds or more", which forces a commercial wildlife breeder's license, would apply only to an unusually large bobcat; most never reach fifty pounds.

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.

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 bobcat is named as a furbearer, so importing one needs a Department permit. The large cat ban stops at genus Panthera. § 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: (a) Felidae;

Every nondomestic felid needs the ten-dollar possession permit, the same route the serval takes. The bobcat is also a South Dakota furbearer, but Game, Fish and Parks has no captive wildlife rule that adds to this.

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.

(2) Native species of wildlife are considered to be Class II unless specifically designated otherwise by T.C.A. § 70-4-403 or rules and regulations authorized therein. (3) ... (b) 1. The following species or groups of wildlife are deleted from the existing listing designated by legislation as Class III: (i) All native, nonpoisonous reptiles and amphibians; and (ii) All native, furbearing mammals. 2. All species or groups of wildlife deleted from Class III in part 1. are considered to be Class II wildlife.

The bobcat is a native furbearing mammal, and the commission's rule moves native furbearers out of Class III and into Class II. TWRA says no one may possess a Class II species without the permit, which costs $10 an animal for personal possession, and § 70-4-401(b) requires documentary evidence of the supplier's name and address and the date acquired. The statute's Class III entry for furbearers "raised solely for the sale of fur" covers fur farming, not a pet. Bobcat hybrids with domestic cats are Class III by statute at (3)(N), and Class IV's hybrid clause expressly leaves the bobcat out, which shows the legislature placing the bobcat itself in Class II.

How this rule works: The commission's own additions to the statutory classes, the chapter earlier sittings could not read because publications.tnsosfiles.com refuses this container. Cornell LII carries all six rules. Rule .03 is short: (1) adds to Class I only hybrids of two Class I species; (2) makes native species Class II unless designated otherwise; (3) adds waterfowl other than migratory game birds, ostriches, cassowaries, caimans and gavials to Class III and moves native nonpoisonous reptiles and amphibians and native furbearers out of it into Class II; (4) adds the nanday parakeet, the monk parakeet, the African clawed frog and most non-native freshwater aquatic life to Class V; and (5) regulates a hybrid of species from different classes as a member of the least restrictive class involved. No mammal is added to Class I by name. Rule .01(4) requires anyone possessing live wildlife to be able to prove legal ownership. Last amended effective 30 January 2022.

"Dangerous wild animal" means: ... (H) a bobcat; (I) a lynx; (J) a serval; ...

Named at clause (H), so a bobcat needs the dangerous wild animal certificate of registration from the local animal control office or the sheriff, at most $50 an animal, with liability insurance of at least $100,000 per occurrence, and § 822.116(b) lets any municipality or county prohibit it outright. The nongame rules expressly exclude bobcats at § 65.325(b)(3), and the bobcat is not a fur-bearing animal under § 71.001.

How this rule works: The statute everyone cites for Texas, and the one that answers the fewest questions on this map. § 822.101(4) is a closed list of twenty clauses, nineteen named mammals plus "any hybrid of an animal listed in this subdivision". It contains no reptile, no bird, no rodent and no invertebrate. Where it does bite it bites hard: § 822.103(a) requires a certificate of registration issued by the local animal control office, or the county sheriff where there is none, rather than by a state agency; § 822.107 requires liability insurance of at least $100,000 per occurrence; and § 822.116(b) expressly preserves the power of any municipality or county to prohibit the animal outright.

Bobcat Lynx rufus captive-bred

The bobcat is a controlled mammal if captive bred, the same column as the fennec fox, so a certificate of registration is required before importation or possession, and a route exists. A wild bobcat is not covered by the entry.

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'.

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

The only cats on the Unrestricted list are wild and domestic hybrids of the fourth generation or later, so a bobcat 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.

The director may issue a permit to a person to keep and maintain in captivity as a pet, a wild animal or wild bird that has been acquired from a commercial dealer or during the legal open season. The fee therefor shall be $2.

The Dangerous Wild Animal list names "Lynxes, including Canadian lynxes, Eurasian lynxes, and Iberian lynxes" and leaves the bobcat out, and § 19-34-2(2) excludes "wildlife" from the Act altogether. The bobcat is a native fur-bearer, so it falls to Chapter 20 instead, where § 20-2-51 is the pet permit. Worth checking with the DNR, since the board's lynx line could be read to reach Lynx rufus as a member of the genus.

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.

The department shall issue a Class B captive wild animal farm license to operate a captive wild animal farm that grosses less than $10,000 in annual sales to any person who files a proper application for the license and who pays the applicable fee.

The bobcat is a native fur-bearing wild animal under § 169.01(14), and the seventeen native animals § 169.04(4)(a) frees from licensing stop at weasels and opossums, so § 169.04(1)(b) requires a license. The one that fits a keeper is the Class B captive wild animal farm license, which the department must issue to any applicant and which NR 16.15(1) applies to hobbyists as well as businesses; it names the species held, and pens must meet NR 16.30 to 16.38. Felids are among the animals whose escape must be reported within 24 hours under § 169.15(4)(b). The cougar is the only cat on the harmful list.

How this rule works: § 169.01(37) defines wild animal; § 169.11(1)(a) designates harmful wild animals as cougars, ursidae, wild and feral swine. § 169.04(4)(b) exempts most non-native species from licensing.

A permit is required prior to importation, possession and transportation for the following warm-blooded wildlife unless otherwise specified in this regulation: (a) Furbearing animals

The bobcat is a "furbearing animal" by statute, and Chapter 10 § 13(a) requires a permit before importing or possessing one. For a wild-caught animal, § 23-2-305 adds a resident-only license to capture furbearers "for domestication or propagation", issued "under such restrictions as it deems necessary".

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.

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.

The bobcat is a Washington wild animal, so RCW 16.30, which exempts native wildlife subject to Title 77 and lists only big cats anyway, does not reach it. Title 77 does not ban keeping one: WAC 220-450-030 requires a permit to take one from the wild, a health certificate to import one, and proof of lawful acquisition naming species, origin and source for any held animal, and bars selling a captive one or its progeny except as department rule allows. A captive-bred bobcat lawfully acquired and documented is the condition.

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 the bobcat 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.

Which agency answers the bobcat depends on whether it is "native to or generally found in Delaware". It is historically native and was long gone from the state, with only occasional records now. If it counts as native, it belongs to DNREC, which says state regulations forbid owning native wildlife, and the answer is no. If not, it is an exotic under the Agriculture chapter and needs the $25 Individual permit, like the serval. Neither agency has published 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.

(b) Live furbearers legally taken during a furbearer season may be possessed only through the last day of the season in which taken.

K.S.A. 32-1002(a)(2) bars possessing any wildlife unless a regulation permits it, and the bobcat is a Kansas furbearer. The only regulation that permits a live furbearer is 115-5-2(b), and it lets a Kansas-caught animal be held only to the end of the season it was taken in, so a wild-caught pet is out. What is not settled is a captive-bred animal bought in another state: 32-1002(b) lifts the possession bar for animals "legally taken outside this state", and no Kansas text says whether that reaches one bred in captivity. The handoff records this as the one question Kansas has never closed.

How this rule works: Subsection (b) is the possession rule for a live Kansas furbearer: one legally taken during a furbearer season "may be possessed only through the last day of the season in which taken", which rules out keeping a wild-caught raccoon, fox, skunk or bobcat as a pet. Coyotes alone may be held live without limit in time under (d). Read from Cornell LII, since ksoutdoors.gov is blocked to this container.

(iii) Protected quadrupeds: wolves, cougars, bobcats, and foxes; provided that foxes and bobcats may be run with dogs.

The bobcat is a "protected quadruped" alongside the fox, but the fox rule at § 113 is written for foxes and coyotes only, and § 115's cat list is the six big cats. No text read sets a captivity rule for a bobcat in either direction. Its classification next to the fox suggests the department would treat it the same way, but that is inference, not text.

How this rule works: Two definitions decide most of Louisiana. Subsection (152): "Wildlife means all species of wild vertebrates", a closed definition that leaves every terrestrial invertebrate outside the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Subsection (151)(a)(i): game quadrupeds are "wild deer, bears, squirrels, and wild rabbits", which is what pulls a flying squirrel into the game breeder scheme and leaves a domestic rabbit out of it.

"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.

The bobcat is native, so the exotic wildlife white list does not reach it, and it is not one of the four animals in the rabies law. What arguably does is the wild animal menagerie permit, which licenses private keeping of "large cats". The list of examples runs down to the ocelot, a cat no bigger than a bobcat, but does not name the bobcat, so whether a bobcat needs that permit, or falls outside Part 8 altogether, is not settled by the text. If it is covered, the permit allows up to 10 animals bought captive bred from a licensed source.

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.