Where is the fennec fox legal?

Any of the following from any area outside the state of Alabama; any member of the family Cervidae (to include but not be limited to deer, elk, moose, caribou), species of coyote, species of fox, species of raccoon, species of skunk, wild rodent, or strain of wild turkey, black bear (Ursus americanus), mountain lion (Felis concolor), bobcat (Felis rufus), Pronghorn Antelope (Antelocapridae), any nondomestic member of the families Suidae (pigs), Tayassuidae (peccaries), or Bovidae (except bison).

Species of fox, without qualification. Every fennec fox in the trade comes from outside Alabama, which is the trigger.

How this rule works: A prohibited list rather than a permitted one, last amended October 2024. Two clauses do most of the work for pet keepers: everything the federal government lists as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act is banned by reference, and a group of species is banned specifically when it comes from outside Alabama.

The department may not issue a permit for the capture, possession, import, or export of any game animal... for use as a pet

The only canid on the clean list is Canis familiaris.

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 canidae, including, but not limited to, the wolf, and coyote

How this rule works: Potentially dangerous animals are 'the felidae... the canidae... the ursidae... and the hominidae', or any hybrid. Narrow: no rodents, marsupials, mustelids or insectivores. Civil penalty up to $2,000 per offence and a class A misdemeanour for a wilful violation.

no person shall keep any living member of the animal kingdom as a household pet except

None of the seven permitted categories covers a wild canid. DC bans by omission from a closed list, so nothing has to name the fennec fox.

How this rule works: Closed list. Seven permitted categories; everything else is barred as a household pet.

Order Carnivora, all species; only the ferret is excepted.

How this rule works: States the enforcement position: 'The exotic species listed below, except where otherwise noted, may not be held as pets in Georgia.'

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

Vulpes zerda is a canid, and the only exception written into the paragraph is the domestic dog.

Existing owners: Registration by 31 December 2007 was the only way in. No new route exists.

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

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

Vulpes zerda falls in the last genus named. The section bars importing, transporting into Kentucky, and possessing.

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

fox, skunk, raccoon, or bear

Caught by the bare word 'fox', with no genus qualifier and no exception for the fennec.

How this rule works: Misdemeanour: a fine up to $1,000 for an individual, $10,000 otherwise, and the animal may be seized immediately with costs falling on the keeper unless the seizure proves unjustified. Counties and municipalities may be stricter. Note COMAR 15.11.16.01, which is titled List of Prohibited Animals, is an agriculture rule about feral swine only and is not the exotic pet provision.

A person may not import into the state, possess, or sell any exotic wildlife unless: (a) the importation, possession, or sale of the exotic wildlife is allowed by law or commission rule

No canid appears on the noncontrolled, controlled or prohibited list, so there is no rule allowing it. ARM 12.6.2225(4)(a) confirms the direction of travel: exotic wildlife may not be imported unless it has been classified.

How this rule works: Montana runs a white list, which is unusual. § 87-5-705(1) says a person may not import, possess or sell any exotic wildlife unless it is allowed by law or commission rule, so an animal that appears on none of the three lists is not permitted rather than unregulated. § 87-5-706 is the statutory noncontrolled list and § 87-5-702 puts rodents, cats, dogs and Eurasian ferrets outside the scheme as domestic animals.

All species in the genera Vulpes, Fennecus

Named twice over: the fennec fox is Vulpes zerda and the regulation also lists the older genus Fennecus.

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

5 Fox, Gray; Fenec

Exhibitor only, same as the serval. The table pairs the two common names under one row.

How this rule works: Fis 804.02 is the non-controlled possession list, needing no permit. Fis 804.05 is the controlled table, and the number beside each species is the permittee category allowed to hold it. Category 1 is an individual, category 5 is an exhibitor, so a species marked 5 alone cannot be kept by a private person at all.

All dogs other than domesticated dogs (Canis familiaris), including ... dhole, fennec, raccoon dog

How this rule works: § 161.01 is the list of animals that may not be kept in the five boroughs. It binds regardless of what New York State allows, which is why the city and the state answer differently for several species.

Non-wolf, non-indigenous Canidae, with the same closed permit route.

Existing owners: ODA permits had to pre-date the 2009 Act.

How this rule works: A closed definition: non-indigenous Felidae except the domestic cat, nonhuman primates, non-wolf non-indigenous Canidae except the domestic dog, bears other than the black bear, and Crocodylia. § 609.341 bars keeping one without an ODA permit, and permits had to pre-date the 2009 Act, so the practical answer for a listed animal is no. Cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of this.

no permits shall be granted by the Department to a private person authorizing the import, and/or possession of any exotic wild animals of the order Carnivora, or hybrids thereof, for which there is no USDA conditionally licensed or unconditionally licensed rabies vaccine

Same closed door as the serval. Fennec foxes are canids with no licensed rabies vaccine.

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

All Non-native Canidae Species.

How this rule works: Section 100.01 bars possession of a deleterious exotic animal without a possession permit from the Administrator. Sections 401 to 412 are the list itself, by taxon.

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

The furbearer list is open ended and names fox. Bringing one into South Carolina needs a Department of Natural Resources permit.

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

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

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.

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

Wyoming's prohibited list names the gray wolf, the red wolf and wolf hybrids but no fox.

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 authorised upon approval.

All species of the order Carnivora

How this rule works: Restricted wildlife requires the applicable federal licences and permits, an appropriate special licence, or a lawful exemption.

Family Canidae-All species (W)

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.

Group assignment unknown.

How this rule works: Four groups. Group I is semi-domesticated and needs no importation permit; Group IV is 'dangerous, invasive, undesirable, state or federal listed threatened, endangered, a furbearer or any other species of concern' and is barred to the general public, allowed only for scientific study, restoration, zoological display, temporary events, service animals or qualified experts. The operative default: '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 group assignments themselves live in a separate Director's Species Importation List, roughly 27 pages, which I could not obtain.

The board of animal health may require a license for nontraditional livestock maintained within this state.

Same gap as the serval. Note that the statute bans skunks and raccoons outright and singles out wolves for tattooing, so foxes sit between the two and are named in neither.

How this rule works: The chapter names only three restrictions relevant to pets: skunks and raccoons may not be kept at all, mountain lions and wolves need a tattooed identification number, and the board is to make rules on primates. § 36-01-08.1 says the board may require a licence for nontraditional livestock, meaning any wildlife held in confinement, but the wording is permissive.

Same open-ended Class I definition.

How this rule works: Three classes. Class I is 'all species inherently dangerous to humans such as wolves, bears, lions and poisonous snakes', possessable only by zoos, circuses and commercial propagators. Class II is 'native species, except those listed in other classes'. Class III is everything else and needs no wildlife permit, only whatever the Department of Agriculture requires. The catch-all sitting at Class III rather than Class II is what makes Tennessee permissive.

Create a comprehensive list of dangerous wild animals... The list may include, but not be limited to: ...(C) Canids;

Canids are named as a category with no species detail, so a fennec fox is squarely within the guidance and squarely outside anything enforceable until the list exists.

How this rule works: Unusual structure, and the reason most entries here are unclear. § 19-34-4 bans possession of a dangerous wild animal, but § 19-34-2 defines the term by character rather than by species and § 19-34-5 directs a three member board to create the actual list by legislative rule. The statute itself names no animal. Until that list is confirmed in force, the ban has no species attached to it.