Where is the eastern gray squirrel legal?

The following animals are hereby designated as game animals: Bear, Beaver, Coyote, Deer, Opossum, Eastern Cottontail and Swamp Rabbit, Raccoon, Squirrel, Nutria, Fox, Mountain Lion (Cougar), Groundhog, Bobcat, Red Wolf, Feral Swine (Wild Hog or Wild Pig), and Alligator.

An Alabama squirrel is a designated game animal, which 220-2-.26(3) bars keeping alive, the raccoon's reading, and one from out of state is a "wild rodent" that 220-2-.26(1) bars bringing in.

How this rule works: Designates bear, beaver, coyote, deer, opossum, eastern cottontail and swamp rabbit, raccoon, squirrel, nutria, fox, mountain lion (cougar), groundhog, bobcat, red wolf, feral swine and alligator as game animals.

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 mammal, so game under AS 16.05.940(19). Absent from the clean list in § 92.029(b), and subsection (c) closes the permit route for anything kept as a pet.

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.

Order Rodentia-Hamsters, Field Mice, Voles, Muskrats, Gerbils, Squirrels, Chipmunks, Woodchucks, and Prairie Dogs 1. All species (D), except:

Every rodent is restricted, marked (D) for detrimental, and squirrels are named in the heading. The exceptions are muskrats under Fish and Game Code § 2250 and domesticated hamsters, rats, mice, guinea pigs and chinchillas; no squirrel is among them. The eastern gray squirrel is an introduced animal in California and the rule reaches it whatever its origin.

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 squirrel is on the unregulated list, and the only squirrels on the prohibited list are African tree, sun and rope squirrels, so the eastern gray squirrel is regulated wildlife with no pet license. 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.

(xxv) A member within the order Rodentia, except for guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus), chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera), rat (Rattus norvegicus), mouse (Mus musculus), hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), dwarf hamster (genera Phodopus and Cricetulus), Patagonia mara (Dolichotis patagonum) and American beaver (Castor canadensis),

Category Two takes the whole rodent order minus nine named exceptions, and no squirrel is among them. The gray squirrel is a Connecticut native, but Category Three, the native tier that bars only import and export, applies only to an animal not already in Category One or Two. Subsection (b)(3) allows a Category Two animal only to a treating vet, municipal parks, zoos, aquaria, nature centers, museums, exhibitors, laboratories and research facilities, 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.

"State regulations explicitly forbid Delawareans from owning" "native wildlife," "with an exception for wildlife rehabilitation experts, who must hold permits from DNREC to care for the animals."

The gray squirrel is native to Delaware. Native wildlife is DNREC's, not the Department of Agriculture's, so the exotic animal permit does not reach it, and DNREC says keeping native wildlife is not allowed outside its rehabilitation permits. The regulation DNREC refers to was not read here.

How this rule works: The enforcing agency's own reading. It says state regulations "explicitly forbid Delawareans from owning" native wildlife, with an exception for permitted rehabilitators, and that when asked about skunks from out-of-state breeders "the agency informs the inquirer this is not allowed". The site refuses curl from this container and was read through WebFetch.

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

Category (C) admits domesticated rodents only, and a gray squirrel is a wild rodent, the same reading that keeps out the flying squirrel. No permit route.

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.

The following list of species native to Georgia may not be held as a pet regardless of its origin or morphology. ... Gray Squirrel

DNR names the gray squirrel on its native list, and the rule's rodent entry reaches every genus but six named pet genera and three commensal species. No pet route.

How this rule works: The agency page that answers the native half of Georgia, which the wild animal rule does not reach. It states the operative rule in one line, "By Georgia Law, most native species of wildlife cannot be held without permits or licenses. These licenses are not issued for the purpose of holding native wildlife as pets", and adds the sentence that closes the captive-bred argument: "These restrictions apply to the various species of animal, regardless of the origin or morphology." It then lists native species that may not be held as a pet, among them the corn snake, milksnake, garter snake, green anole, both hognose snakes, all four box turtles and the flying squirrel. Two limits are worth carrying: the list says of itself that it "does not include all native wildlife that is prohibited", and a separate paragraph names the natives Georgia does allow to be taken, "rats, mice, armadillos, coyotes, groundhogs, beaver, freshwater turtles, venomous snakes, frogs, spring lizards, fiddler crabs, freshwater crayfish, freshwater mussels, and nutria".

FAMILY Sciuridae Sciuridae (all in family, except the following two species for exhibition in government zoos only: Callosciurus prevosti (squirrel, prevost's) and Sciurus variegatoides (squirrel, variegated) and except all species in the genus Marmota for research in government universities only)

Every squirrel is on the prohibited list, the tier with no permit, and the three exceptions are for government zoos and universities. The eastern gray squirrel is not among them.

How this rule works: Also carries the default rule: introduction is 'prohibited except for those animals on the lists' incorporated in § 4-71-6.5.

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).

The eastern gray squirrel is a Maine native and sits in none of the four buckets: the only squirrel chapter 7 names is Prevost's squirrel in Category 1, and the Unrestricted List's rodents are cage species. So § 7.06(4) bars it and says it is not eligible for a permit. The wild-take exemption at 12 M.R.S. § 12152(1-B) covers reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates, not mammals.

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. 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:

The gray squirrel is on Mississippi's closed list of game and furbearing animals, and possessing one alive is prohibited except by public zoos and educational institutions, veterinarians treating it, someone taking a sick animal for care, and permitted deer and fox, coyote and rabbit enclosures, the raccoon's position.

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.

(b) A permit shall be issued only to a person in the permittee category(ies), as defined in Fis 802.01, and cited in Table 800.2 as follows: ... 5 Squirrel, Gray Sciurus carolinensis

Table 800.2 marks it for permittee category 5 only, and category 5 is exhibitors, so no permit can issue to an individual (category 1).

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.

Squirrel | Sciuridae | Sciurus spp | Squirrels | IV | State Protected Species

Every Sciurus squirrel is in Group IV and flagged 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.

"Small game" means black, gray and fox squirrels, European hares, varying hares, cottontail rabbits, native frogs, native salamanders, native turtles, native lizards, native snakes, coyotes, red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) except captive bred red fox or gray fox, raccoon, opossum, or weasel,

The gray squirrel is small game by name. Game is 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", so a captive-bred animal from another state is in the same position as one caught here. The only possession license, § 11-0515, is for propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes, not pets.

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 squirrels (Sciuridae).

Every member of the squirrel family is prohibited, and the gray squirrel is also New York State wildlife, which (b)(ii) imports into the city as a second bar. The Code's only exceptions are the Parks Department and Wildlife Conservation Society zoos, labs, veterinary facilities and permitted temporary exhibits, so there is no pet route.

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.

(xxi) Eastern gray squirrel ... Sciuridae ... Sciurus carolinensis;

Named to the species on the prohibited list, beside the eastern fox squirrel. The eastern gray squirrel is introduced in Oregon rather than native, which is why the nonnative wildlife rules answer it. 0050(2) allows a prohibited species permit on facility, security and veterinary standards, but it is written for zoos, universities and similar holders. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

How this rule works: The ban list, and the one to check before assuming a common pet is fine in Oregon. It reaches the prairie dog, the capybara, the southern flying squirrel, the tiger salamander, the snapping turtle and the whole of Trachemys, all of which are ordinary pet-trade animals elsewhere on this map.

It is unlawful for a person to possess live wildlife taken from a wild state within this Commonwealth

The gray squirrel is a Pennsylvania game animal, and both routes into a home are closed, as for the flying squirrel. § 137.31(a) bars keeping one taken from the wild here, its only exception being a permit to hold foxes for urine collection, and § 137.1(a)(11) bars one held captive or captive bred in another state.

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: ... (10) Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis),

Named on the native mammal list, and the native definition applies regardless of where the animal originated, so a captive-bred squirrel is no different.

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 eastern gray squirrel is on the department's list of native fauna. Because it is native it is not a nonnative (exotic) animal, so the permit table at 4VAC15-30-40 is not its rule; § 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 herps, aquatic invertebrates and nongame fish, not mammals.

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.

Any person desiring to possess, propagate, hold in captivity but not offer for sale any species protected by this Act may do so by acquiring either a Class A Noncommercial bird breeders permit or a Class A Noncommercial game breeders permit.

Illinois names the gray squirrel among its game mammals in § 2.2, which makes possessing one unlawful except as the Wildlife Code provides. § 3.23 provides it: a Class A Noncommercial game breeders permit, $10 a year, for anyone who wants to hold a protected species without selling it. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter.

How this rule works: Carries the Class A noncommercial and Class B commercial game breeder permits, the ferret breeding and sale clause, the San Juan (European) rabbit and raccoon dog prohibition, and the nutria and monk parakeet release ban.

(a) A permit is required under this rule for the following Class I wild animals: (1) Rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus). (2) Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis, Sciurus niger, and Glaucomys volans).

The gray squirrel is a Class I wild animal by binomial. A Class I permit is applied for within five days of taking possession of a lawfully acquired animal, at a ten dollar fee, with a cage inspection and a veterinary check within 45 days. A game breeder may hold one only if it was born in captivity.

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.

Except as established in Sections 5(9) and 7(1) of this administrative regulation and subsections (4), (5), (6), and (9) of this section, a person holding native wildlife in captivity shall apply for and obtain the appropriate permit prior to acquiring wildlife.

The gray squirrel is a Kentucky native, so 2:081 governs it, and it is not on the § 6 prohibited natives list. A noncommercial captive wildlife permit is required before acquiring one, and § 9 sets its enclosure size by name. § 2(2) bars buying or selling a native taken from the wild, the flying squirrel's position.

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.

A game breeder's license must be issued before any game quadrupeds (deer, rabbits, squirrels, etc.) are obtained.

Squirrels are game quadrupeds by statute, and the game breeder rule writes pen specifications for "Squirrels (gray, fox, red, flying and others endemic to North America)" with a veterinary certificate against rabies. The license must be in hand first, and game quadrupeds may not be taken from the wild, so the animal must be captive bred, the flying squirrel's position.

How this rule works: The rule that reaches a native Louisiana mammal kept as a pet. § 107(C)(2)(a): "A game breeder's license must be issued before any game quadrupeds (deer, rabbits, squirrels, etc.) are obtained", and § 107(C)(1)(a) bars taking them from the wild at all. § 107(B)(6) writes pen specifications for "Squirrels (gray, fox, red, flying and others endemic to North America)" by name, so the flying squirrel is expressly inside the scheme rather than caught by inference.

Any person desiring to possess, import, export, breed, raise, protect, rehabilitate, hunt, kill, trap, capture, purchase, or sell any wildlife native to Maryland, shall first obtain a permit or license from the Department.

The eastern gray squirrel is native to Maryland and on no § 10-621 list. § 10-902(a) attaches a permit requirement to possessing any native wildlife, with no exception for captive-bred animals or animals bought out of state. The Secretary sets the permit classes by regulation, and no personal pet permit class for a native mammal was located in COMAR subtitle 08.03, the reading the flying squirrel cell sets out, so the permit exists in statute and the class a keeper would apply under is not evident.

How this rule works: The captive wildlife permit requirement, and the reason a native Maryland mammal is not a free pet here: anyone wishing to possess any wildlife native to Maryland must first obtain a permit or license from the Department. Subsection (b)(2) lets the Secretary exempt species by regulation, which is what COMAR 08.03.11 does for reptiles and amphibians. Section 10-903 gives a separate power to restrict NON-native wildlife by regulation, which Maryland has used for aquatic organisms and not for pet mammals, birds or reptiles. Section 10-101(dd) defines wildlife broadly enough to reach an invertebrate, but the permit only ever attaches to natives.

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.

The thirteen-entry mammal exemption list has no gray squirrel; its only squirrel is the southern flying squirrel, so in this closed-list state it needs a § 23 license; MassWildlife's own summary says "You cannot have in your possession any mammal not listed as legal or domestic." The gray squirrel is also a native, and MassWildlife says the only animals that may be taken 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

Squirrels are 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 game only, so a squirrel taken from the wild cannot be brought under it.

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.

Except as provided in paragraph (b), special permits may be issued without a fee to take, possess, and transport wild animals as pets and for scientific, educational, rehabilitative, wildlife disease prevention and control, and exhibition purposes. The commissioner shall prescribe the conditions for taking, possessing, transporting, and disposing of the wild animals.

The gray squirrel is small game under subd. 45 and so a protected wild animal, which § 97A.501 bars possessing unless the game and fish laws allow it. The allowance is the special permit in § 97A.401 subd. 3, issued free "as pets" on the commissioner's conditions, the same route the raccoon takes. It is discretionary.

How this rule works: Subd. 8, added in 2021, is the pet reptile rule: the commissioner must prescribe conditions and may issue breeder permits, and a snake, lizard or salamander is possessable as a pet if it came from a permitted breeder or was held before 1 August 2021. Subd. 3 is the older, broader route, allowing special permits without a fee to possess wild animals as pets.

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 gray squirrel is a game mammal under 3 CSR 10-20.805(33), so it is outside the take-five allowance for natives, which excludes anything listed in 3 CSR 10-4.110(4). The Wildlife Hobby Permit is the pet route: one game mammal bought from a Missouri wildlife breeder, kept but not bred or sold.

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 shall be unlawful for any person or persons to retain any wild birds or wild mammals (as defined in Nebraska revised statute 37-245 and 37-246) in captivity except the following species may be kept under authority of a Captive Wildlife Permit, a Controlled Shooting Area Permit, a Rehabilitation Permit or a Scientific Collectors Permit, issued by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission ... Squirrel - Fox (Sciurus niger) Gray (Sciurus carolinensis)

The gray squirrel is named on the § 001.01B list. A Captive Wildlife Permit expires 31 December of the year issued, with a fee of not more than $30 under § 37-479, and § 001.01D bars one for an animal taken from the wild, so the animal must come from a licensed breeder or another permittee, the flying squirrel's position.

How this rule works: Nebraska renumbered its Game and Parks regulations: what used to be 163 NAC ch. 4 is now Title 166, and captive wildlife has its own chapter 8 rather than a subsection. Anything on this map citing "163 NAC ch. 4, § 008" is pointing at a title that is now called ADMINISTRATION. Chapter 8 has three operative parts. § 001.01B bars retaining any WILD BIRD or WILD MAMMAL in captivity except a listed set of Nebraska natives under a Captive Wildlife Permit. § 001.07A prohibits six species outright, none of them a pet: the Asian raccoon dog, white-tailed and mule deer, red deer, wild pigs and bighorn or thinhorn sheep. And § 001.08A is a closed importation list, which is what actually answers most exotic mammals here, because they are not wild mammals and so the permit scheme never reaches them. Chapter 10 does the same job for reptiles and amphibians and is limited to species native to Nebraska.

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 eastern gray squirrel is not a Nevada native, and it is on neither the prohibited list nor the no-permit list; the only gray squirrel Nevada names is its own western gray squirrel, a protected mammal. An animal on neither list needs the Department's written consent to be brought into the state under NRS 503.597. NAC 503.140(4) preserves county and city ordinances, so check the municipality as well.

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.

"Individual Hobby" may be issued to persons holding game animals for hobby purposes or as pets;

The gray squirrel has a hunting season, so it is a game animal and the captive game rule answers it: 10.6(a)5 names Sciurus carolinensis among game animals needing a possession permit, and 10.7(a)1 issues an Individual Hobby permit for pets. Under 10.8(a)1 the animal must not come from the wild stock of any state, so a squirrel caught in the yard does not qualify.

How this rule works: The rule that answers New Jersey's native furbearers, which subchapter 4 never reaches because it governs only exotic and nongame species and these have trapping seasons. 10.5(a) bars possessing any game animal without a permit, 10.6(a) names the raccoon, striped skunk, red and gray fox, coyote, black bear and bobcat, and 10.7(a)1 offers an Individual Hobby permit "for hobby purposes or as pets". 10.8(a)1 requires the animal not to be of wild origin. 10.10 makes nondomestic dogs, bears and nondomestic cats potentially dangerous, and 10.11(a)6 says they "may not be kept as a household pet except when compelled by the infancy of the animal".

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

The gray squirrel is a game animal under G.S. 113-129(7c), which names "squirrel", and so a wild animal under (15), with (16) carrying the definition to animals of wild species kept in captivity. Holding one alive needs a Wildlife Resources Commission 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 black bear and raccoon cells rest 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.

"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.

Ohio names gray squirrels among its game quadrupeds in R.C. 1531.01(V), and § 1533.71(A) requires anyone who wants to have game quadrupeds in captivity to hold a license. The noncommercial propagating license is the keeper's one: $25 a year, for the licensee's own use, no sales.

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.

(a) The following wildlife species are exempt from import and export permits, commercial wildlife breeders licenses, noncommercial wildlife breeders licenses and commercial hunting area license requirements.

No squirrel is among the thirty-seven exempt entries, so a gray squirrel is not exempt from import permits and the wildlife breeder licenses, the flying squirrel's position. 29 O.S. § 7-502(B)(4) exempts a legally obtained animal from a source other than the wild kept as a pet from the statute's closed season and endangered species bars, so a wild-caught squirrel has no such route.

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.

No person may sell, place in captivity, or engage in the business of propagating any game animal of this state unless the person has obtained a license issued under this chapter from the department.

The gray or cat squirrel is a Texas game animal, and § 63.002 bars possessing a live one for any purpose the code does not authorize. Chapter 44 is the authorization: a game breeder's license, which names red and gray squirrels, is needed to place one in captivity. The license lets the holder keep game animals "for the purpose of propagation or sale", and no section authorizes holding a squirrel purely as a pet, so the license is a breeder's one that a keeper would hold on those terms.

How this rule works: For this chapter a game animal is a pronghorn, javelina, or red or gray squirrel. § 44.002 bars selling, placing in captivity or propagating any of them without a game breeder's license, and § 44.006 lets the licensee hold one in captivity "for the purpose of propagation or sale", which is a breeder's license rather than a keeper's.

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

No squirrel is on any of Vermont's three lists; the Unrestricted list's rodents are pet species. The gray squirrel is also a Vermont native, so taking one from the wild is a separate question under the Fish and Wildlife statutes. 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 gray squirrel is a West Virginia game animal by name, "gray squirrels and all their color phases", and a native mammal, so § 20-2-4(a) makes it unlawful to keep one in captivity except as the chapter provides. § 20-2-51 is that provision: a two dollar pet permit from the director, for an animal acquired from a commercial dealer or taken in the open season, the flying squirrel's position.

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 gray squirrel is a native game animal, and the seventeen native animals § 169.04(4)(a) frees from licensing name ground squirrels and red squirrels but not gray squirrels, so § 169.04(1)(b) requires a license. The Class B captive wild animal farm license is the one that fits a keeper, and the department must issue it to any applicant. Under § 169.04(1)(a) the animal must be legally obtained, which a squirrel caught in the wild is not.

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

Not on the prohibited list at § 11 and not on either the domestic or the domesticated list, so the gray squirrel lands in the discretionary permit category, the serval's position. May be authorized is not the same as shall be issued. "Fox, grey and red squirrels" are small game animals under Wyo. Stat. § 23-1-101(a)(xi), and § 11(a) bars private ownership only of big and trophy game, so the small game status does not close the route.

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 native wildlife as pets except as follows: ... No more than 6 per household of any combination of the following animals may be possessed as pets: Hand-captured opossum, rabbit, raccoon and squirrel;

The gray squirrel is an Arkansas game animal under Code 01.00, and Code 09.14 lets a household keep one it catches by hand in Arkansas, within a combined limit of six native pets, with no sale and no removal from the state. A captive-born squirrel bought from a permitted breeder/dealer or imported on a permit is the other route under 09.14(B), also within the six.

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.

1. Except as otherwise provided by law, a licensed game breeder whose original stock is obtained from a lawful source may possess any game bird, game animal, or fur-bearing animal, or any of their parts. Possession and use of the game birds, game animals, or fur-bearing animals obtained from a licensed game breeder are lawful.

Iowa names the gray squirrel as its first example of game, "The Sciuridae: such as gray squirrels and fox squirrels", and § 481A.38 bars possessing game except as the chapter provides. § 481A.61(1) provides two things: a licensed game breeder may hold any game animal, and possession of one "obtained from a licensed game breeder" is lawful. So the condition is the source, the flying squirrel's position, and the keeper who buys from a breeder needs no license of their own.

How this rule works: The native side of Iowa, and the half that 717F never reaches. § 481A.1(36) defines a wild animal as "a wild mammal, bird, fish, amphibian, reptile, or other wildlife found in this state", a geographic qualifier that puts an exotic pet outside the chapter. § 481A.1(21) defines game as a closed list of taxa and (f) is "The Sciuridae: such as gray squirrels and fox squirrels", the family rather than the two examples. § 481A.38 then bars possessing game or protected nongame except as the chapter provides, § 481A.42 makes protected nongame "wild fish, wild birds, wild bats, wild reptiles, and wild amphibians" and no invertebrate, and §§ 481A.60 and 481A.61 are the game breeder license, which is the only route by which a person may possess a live game animal.

It is unlawful to possess or hold in captivity live wild animals, wild birds, or game fish unless lawfully acquired. Lawful acquisition and possession include department permits and any other applicable authorization.

The eastern gray squirrel is an introduced animal that lives wild in Washington, so it is a "wild animal" under RCW 77.08.010(72), which turns on whether a species exists in Washington in a wild state rather than on where it came from. Title 77 then asks for lawful acquisition: no taking from the wild without a director's permit, a health certificate to import, documented proof of source, and no commercial use of a captive animal or its young except as rule allows. RCW 16.30 names no rodent.

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.

g. The family Sciuridae . Common names include: chipmunks, marmots, prairie dogs, squirrels, and woodchucks.

The whole squirrel family is restricted live wildlife. Restricted live wildlife may be held only under a special license listed in R12-4-409(A) or a listed exemption, and none of the R12-4-407 exemptions is a pet route.

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

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

The eastern gray squirrel is on none of Table 3b-1's sections. Unlisted birds and mammals are presumed prohibited and need a division assessment before possession is authorized, so it is neither cleared nor expressly banned, the kinkajou's position.

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

(r) "Small game" means any game bird, hare, rabbit or squirrel.

A squirrel is Kansas small game and so a game animal, and K.S.A. 32-1002(a)(2) bars possessing any wildlife unless a regulation permits it. 115-20-2, the personal-use list, reaches ground squirrels but not tree squirrels, and 115-20-3 covers only species not native to Kansas, so no regulation read here permits keeping one. As with the raccoon, 32-1002(b) lifts the possession bar for animals "legally taken outside this state", and no Kansas text says whether that reaches a captive-bred animal from elsewhere.

How this rule works: Defines big game (antelope, deer, elk), furbearing animals (the opossum among them), game animals and small game (any game bird, hare, rabbit or squirrel), and wildlife as any member of the animal kingdom.

(2) "Domestic animal" means an animal that, through long association with humans, has been bred to a degree that has resulted in genetic changes affecting color, temperament, conformation, or other attributes of the species to an extent that makes the animal unique and distinguishable from wild individuals of the species and that is readily controllable if accidentally released into the wild. The term includes livestock, as defined in 81-2-702, dogs, cats, rodents, Eurasian ferrets, and poultry.

The eastern gray squirrel is on none of Montana's three exotic lists, which would make it barred under the white list, but the domestic animal definition says "The term includes ... rodents", and domestic animals are not wildlife. Whether that word reaches a wild-type tree squirrel, or only rodents bred to the definition's standard, is the same open question as the prairie dog and capybara. The southern flying squirrel, by contrast, is named on the prohibited list.

How this rule works: Defines domestic animal, which expressly includes dogs, cats, rodents, Eurasian ferrets and poultry, and exotic wildlife as a wildlife species not native to Montana.