Where is the hedgehog legal?

Order Insectivora-Shrews, Moles, Hedgehogs, etc. All species (D)

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.

Closed list permits 'domesticated rodents and rabbits'. Hedgehogs are Eulipotyphla, not rodents, so no category fits.

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

Order Erinaceopmorpha (hedgehogs): All species

Rule says licence required; DNR states listed species may not be held as pets, and hedgehogs have no carve-out.

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.'

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

Not named. Barred by the default rule. The only hedgehog Hawaii names is Hemiechinus auritis, not the pet species.

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.

Insectivorous mammals (Insectivora): All aardvark, anteater, shrew, otter shrew, gymnure, desman, tenrec, mole and hedgehog.

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.

all bears, coyotes, lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, cougars, wolves and any crossbreed of these animals which have similar characteristics in appearance or features

No hedgehog appears in the definition, or anything resembling one. The ban is the Game Commission's reading of includes, but is not limited to. House co-sponsorship memo 44994, filed by Rep. David Zimmerman in January 2025 to legalise hedgehogs and sugar gliders, describes it the same way: they are banned through the Commission's regulations and their interpretation of Title 34. Versions of that bill have been introduced every session since 2017 without passing.

How this rule works: The definition names bears, coyotes, lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, cougars, wolves and their crossbreeds, and none of the animals in this dataset. The entire prohibition rests on four words earlier in the sentence, includes, but is not limited to, which the Game Commission reads as reaching small exotic mammals. That is an agency interpretation of a definition rather than anything a legislature wrote about these species, which is why bills to reverse it keep being introduced.

Not on the prohibited sublist, but a non-native live wild mammal, so it falls in the exotic animal permit regime.

How this rule works: An exotic animal is 'ecologically foreign to Delaware, but allowed for possession, sale, and exhibition if a permit has been issued by the Department', covering live wild mammals, hybrids of wild mammals, and live reptiles not native to the state. A prohibited sublist sits on top, barred to everyone outside parks, zoos, aquariums, museums and research facilities. Administered by the State Veterinarian.

Absent from the 4.4 exempt list, so 4.5 requires a permit.

How this rule works: 4.4 is a closed exempt list; 4.5 requires a permit for 'any other' exotic species not exempted.

Eurasian Hedgehogs Erinaceus spp.

The importation list clears the Eurasian genus. The hedgehog sold as a pet is the African pygmy hedgehog, Atelerix albiventris, which is a different genus and is not named. Because § 001.08A is a closed list, the omission matters. Ask Game and Parks before buying one out of state.

How this rule works: Browse to Game and Parks Commission, Title 166 Wildlife Regulations, Chapter 8. Two lists that must not be conflated. § 001.01B lists the native wild birds and mammals that may be held under a Captive Wildlife Permit. § 001.08A is a separate closed list of wildlife that may be imported into the state, and a non-native animal missing from it cannot lawfully be brought in.

The framework is verified but the Director's Species Importation List is not, so the group assignment is unknown. Note the default cuts toward prohibition: anything not on the list is Group IV. Do not present New Mexico as legal without that list.

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.

Vermont is a closed-list state and the Unrestricted Wild Animals List is held on the department website rather than in the regulation. Without it the group cannot be determined, and the default is that a permit is needed and is issued only for scientific or educational purposes.

How this rule works: Closed list. § 4709 bars bringing in, transporting or possessing any live wild bird or animal without authorisation. Reg 881: 'the Commissioner shall not issue a permit for the keeping or possession of any wild animal in captivity, except for bona fide scientific or educational purposes' unless the species is designated domestic, a domestic pet, or unrestricted. The Unrestricted Wild Animals List is maintained separately on the department website and was not obtainable.