Exotic pet laws, state by state

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

The only cat on the clean list is Felis catus.

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.

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.

The serval is a wild felid, not Felis catus, so the domestic-cat line that clears Bengal hybrids does not reach it, and Leptailurus serval appears on neither the unregulated list nor the prohibited list. That leaves it regulated. Colorado has no pet licence to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licences, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park licence that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before 1 January 1983. The chapter introduction states the effect plainly, that "noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited by these regulations since 1983". The contrast inside a single sentence of § 1103(A) is the thing to notice: a serval hybrid is a domestic cat in Colorado, and a serval is not.

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 ...; or (D) A member within the family Hominidae ...

Connecticut names Felidae as a family and lists nine examples, and the serval is caught by the family rather than by name. Subsection (b)(1) then allows possession only by a municipal park, zoo, public nonprofit aquarium, nature centre, museum, or a USDA-licensed exhibitor, laboratory or research facility, so there is no private route at all rather than a permit that is hard to get. The regulation carries one grandfather clause and it is not this one: a primate under 35 pounds at maturity lawfully held on or before 1 October 2003 may be kept on registration, and nothing similar is written for any other category.

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.

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

The permitted list covers domesticated dogs and cats. A serval is neither, and there is no permit route in the section.

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 wild animals are considered inherently dangerous to human beings and pursuant to O.C.G.A. Sec. 27-5-4 are subject to licensing and liability insurance requirements. (a) Mammals: ... 2. Order Carnivora: (i) Family Canidae: Genera Canis, Chrysocyon, Cuon, and Lycaon (wolves, jackals, dingos, etc.) - All species ...; (ii) Family Felidae (cats) - All species; (iii) Family Hyaenidae (hyenas) - All species; ...

Georgia answers every cat in one line: "Family Felidae (cats) - All species", in the inherently dangerous tier, which needs a licence and liability insurance. What makes it a ban rather than a permit is who the licence goes to. Under § 27-5-4(b)(1) it is issued only to the wholesale or retail wild animal business and to public exhibitors, so a private keeper has nothing to apply for. The reason a licence does not help is in the statute rather than the rule. O.C.G.A. § 27-5-4(b)(1) says wild animal licences "will be issued only to persons engaged in the wholesale or retail wild animal business or persons exhibiting wild animals to the public", and permits only for scientific or educational purposes, for a capuchin monkey held by a person with a permanent disability, or to a pond owner for grass carp. There is no pet category anywhere in it, which is why the rule has to write an express pet exception where it wants one, as it does for the European ferret and the sugar glider.

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 licence 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 licence, 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 licence 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.

FAMILY Felidae ... Felis serval

Listed under the cat family on Part A using the older name Felis serval rather than Leptailurus. Research and exhibition only.

How this rule works: Part A animals may be brought in by a university or a licensed exhibitor under permit and may not be kept as pets. Part B, published separately as AR-71RB, is the private and commercial use list and was checked as well: it runs to hoofed stock, giraffes, otters, seals, macropods and three named parrots, and contains none of the animals in this dataset.

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.

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.

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.

Maryland writes its cat clause as the whole family with one species excepted, so the serval is caught by the same six words that catch a lion. There is no permit anywhere in this section: the exemptions run to zoos, sanctuaries, research and licensed exhibitors, and for private keepers there is only the closed 2006 notification window. Enforcement is unusually direct, with immediate seizure available on probable cause and the costs of care falling on the keeper unless a court finds the seizure unjustified. Subsection (e) of § 10-621 preserves stricter county and municipal rules, and Maryland counties use that power, so the local ordinance is worth checking before the state list.

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 misdemeanour, 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

Minnesota names the serval in the statute, in the short list of examples inside the Felidae clause, so there is nothing to construe. Subd. 2 makes possession unlawful and bars taking possession of a regulated animal after 1 January 2005 at all. The route that remains is historical: an animal already held on 1 January 2005 and brought into federal Animal Welfare Act compliance within 90 days, with a single replacement allowed for an unlicensed keeper who registered the animal.

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.

(1) No person shall keep in captivity in this state any wild birds, any wild mammals, any nongame wildlife in need of conservation as determined by the commission under section 37-805, or any wildlife determined to be an endangered or threatened species ... without first having obtained a permit. (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 (a) the species Felis domesticus, (b) any zoo, park, refuge, wildlife area, or nature center owned or operated by a city, village, state, or federal agency or any zoo accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums or the Zoological Association of America, or (c) any person who holds a captive wildlife permit ... and who raises Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis) or bobcats (Lynx rufus) solely for the purpose of producing furs.

Nebraska bans the whole of Felidae by statute, not by regulation, and there is no permit behind it. The three exceptions are Felis domesticus, public and accredited zoos, and a captive wildlife permit holder raising Canada lynx or bobcats for fur, which is the only commercial route and does not reach a serval. This is one of the shortest routes to a no on this map: no list to check, no species name, just the family.

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.

5 Serval, African

The permittee category is 5, exhibitor, with no category 1. A private individual cannot be issued a possession permit for one.

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.

Carnivora Canidae--Nondomestic dogs / Ursidae--Bears / Felidae--Nondomestic cats ... The potentially dangerous species shall not be kept as a pet, for hobby purposes or in situations, which, in the judgment of the Department, could adversely affect the health of the animal or which could constitute a hazard to the public.

Leptailurus serval is a nondomestic cat and 4.8(a) takes Felidae on that basis without naming a species. What turns the listing into a ban is 4.9(a)3, which says the potentially dangerous species "shall not be kept as a pet, for hobby purposes", so the permit at 4.8(b) exists for zoos, researchers and exhibitors and not for keepers. The Division puts the same point in one sentence in its notice: potentially dangerous species "may not be kept as pets or for hobby purposes for any reason".

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.

Mammal | Cat, wild | Felidae | Leptailurus serval | Serval | IV

Resolved from unclear, and now confirmed rather than assumed. Named outright in Group IV. 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. One caveat on all of this: 19.35.7 NMAC is an importation rule, its stated scope being persons who desire to bring wildlife species into New Mexico, so it governs getting the animal here rather than keeping one already in the state.

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.

"Wild animal" shall not include "companion animal" as defined in section three hundred fifty of the agriculture and markets law. Wild animal includes, and is limited to, any or all of the following orders and families: (1) Nonhuman primates and prosimians, (2) Felidae and all hybrids thereof, with the exception of the species Felis catus ... and hybrids of Felis catus that are registered by the American Cat Fanciers Association or the International Cat Association provided that such cats be without any wild felid parentage for a minimum of five generations, (3) Canidae (with the exception of domesticated dogs and captive bred fennec foxes (vulpes zerda)), (4) Ursidae, (5) All reptiles that are venomous by nature, pursuant to department regulation, and the following species and orders: Burmese Python (Python m. bivittatus), Reticulated Python (Python reticulatus), African Rock Python (Python sabae), Green Anaconda (Eunectes maurinus), Yellow Anaconda (Eunectes notaeus), Australian Amethystine Python (Morelia amethistina and Morelia kinghorni), Indian Python (Python molurus), Asiatic (water) Monitor (Varanus salvator), Nile Monitor (Varanus nilocitus), White Throat Monitor (Varanus albigularis), Black Throat Monitor (Varanus albigularis ionides) and Crocodile Monitor (Varanus salvadori), Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodensis) and any hybrid thereof, (6) Crocodylia.

Caught by the second clause of the wild animal list, which is the whole family Felidae "and all hybrids thereof". § 11-0512(1)(a) then makes it unlawful to knowingly possess, harbor, sell, barter, transfer, exchange or import any wild animal for use as a pet. The exemptions at § 11-0512(2) are institutional, and the only individual one is for a person paralysed from the neck down who has a trained new world monkey. 6 NYCRR § 180.1(b)(8) reaches the same animal independently and its exemptions are equally closed to a pet keeper.

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 licence, § 11-0515, is for propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes, so there is no pet route behind it.

No person shall sell or give to another person, possess, harbor, keep, or yard wild or other animals identified in this section ... other than in: (i) a zoological park or aquarium ...; or (ii) a laboratory ...; or (iii) a veterinary hospital ...; or (iv) a temporary exhibit, performance or display that has been issued a permit by the Commissioner. ... For the purposes of this Code, a wild animal is deemed to be any animal which is naturally inclined to do harm and capable of inflicting harm upon human beings and all such animals are hereby prohibited ... Such animals shall also include: (i) any animals specified by the Commissioner in regulations ...; (ii) any native or exotic wildlife whose possession or sale is prohibited because they are designated as protected or endangered pursuant to any federal, state or local law, regulation, or rule; and (iii) any of the following animals:

Named in a clause that reaches "All cats other than domesticated cats (Felis catus)", with the serval listed among sixteen examples. There is no permit, no registration and no generational carve-out anywhere in the article. § 161.01(d) is worth knowing alongside the prohibition: a prohibited animal may be seized by any authorized city employee, the owner has three business days to request a hearing, and with the Department's written consent the animal may be removed to a jurisdiction where it is not prohibited. That last provision is the closest thing to 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.

Any member of the family Felidae not indigenous to Oregon, except the species Felis catus (domestic cat)

The serval is caught by two words and a family name, the same way a lion is. What makes this a ban rather than a permit regime is ORS 609.351, which opened the application window for 90 days after 1 January 2010 and never reopened it: there is no route to a new permit for a new animal, only a lifetime allowance for animals that were already here and papered in time. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

Existing owners: A State Department of Agriculture permit issued before 1 January 2010, or issued within a year of that date on proof the animal was already held. Applications closed 90 days after 1 January 2010, breeding a permitted animal is barred, and possession ends 30 days after a permit lapses.

How this rule works: A five-line closed definition run by the Department of Agriculture: non-indigenous Felidae except Felis catus, non-human primates, non-wolf non-indigenous Canidae except the domestic dog, bears other than the black bear, and Crocodylia. § 609.341 bars keeping one without a permit and § 609.351 shut the application window, which was 90 days after 1 January 2010, or one year for an animal already held then. There is no hybrid clause anywhere in it. This statute answers cats, canids and crocodilians only; every other animal on this map is decided by the ODFW rules in OAR 635-056.

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

There is no USDA licensed rabies vaccine for servals, so the permit route is closed to private owners. § 3.7(A) restricts possession to researchers, USDA licensed 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.

The following species are exempt from Codes 09.02 (Possession Of Non-Native Wildlife In Captivity Restricted), 09.07 (Wildlife Breeder/Dealer Permit Required), and 09.10 (Wildlife Importation Permit Required)

No felid appears anywhere on the unrestricted list.

How this rule works: Species exempt from Codes 09.02 (possession of non-native wildlife restricted), 09.07 (breeder/dealer permit) and 09.10 (importation permit), named individually with binomials. Read it out of the codebook rather than the compiled PDF AGFC posted at agfc.com in 2022, which is the version that circulates as "the Arkansas list" and is two revisions behind: it lacks the rosy boa and the whole Anoline Lizards entry with its Arkansas-native exception. The compiled PDF says so itself, that the codebook lists "take precedence".

Unless specifically exempt from the permitting requirement as presented in regulation 6.1, all persons who would own or have custody of an exotic animal must first obtain a permit issued by the Department.

The serval is a live wild mammal and is not on the exempt list, so regulation 6.2 requires an Individual permit. The permit is a $25 Individual permit from the Department of Agriculture, issued where possession will be in the public interest, so this is a real route rather than a closed door. Delaware's outright refusals at 4.7 are only the gila monster, the beaded lizard and the komodo dragon, so no mammal is barred from permitting by name. County and municipal ordinances are the more likely obstacle for a cat or a canid of this size.

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.

Class II: ... 15. Servals (Leptailurus serval) 16. European and Canadian lynx (Lynx lynx) 17. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) 18. Caracals (Caracal caracal) ... 24. Wolves, coyotes, jackals (family Canidae) ...

Named at Class II item 15, between the lynxes and the caracals, so the serval is one of the few animals Florida answers by name rather than by class. A Permit to Possess Class II Wildlife for Personal Use costs $140 a year, requires the applicant to be 18, and requires documented experience: FWC asks for a logged experience record along with facility and caging standards under 68A-6.004 and 68A-6.010. That is a real barrier rather than a fee, and it is the difference between Class II and the free Class III permit. Class I, one tier up, cannot be held as a personal pet at all.

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.

Serval (Felis serval).

Listed under small felidae. Only the large felidae and primate lists carry the extra requirement that the facility be AZA accredited.

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 permit is required under this rule for the following Class II wild animals: ...(11) Serval (Leptailurus serval).

Class II, not Class III, so the permit is applied for within five days of taking possession rather than obtained in advance. A Class II wild animal is defined as one that may pose a threat to human safety.

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.

Carnivora (Carnivores) Mustela putorius furo Domestic Ferret

Same one-line carnivore list. The serval is not on it.

How this rule works: The list 12 M.R.S. § 12152(1-A) requires the department to maintain and 09-137 CMR ch. 7 § 7.06(1) describes: species needing no importation, exhibition, propagation, research or possession permit, which pet shops may also trade. Dated 11 August 2017 on every page, and this is the version IFW still serves. Three headings do most of the work: Reptilia, Serpentes and Testudines each carry "Captive Bred Origin Only", and an asterisk on an entry removes anything on the USFWS injurious or threatened and endangered lists, in CITES Appendix I, or on the IUCN Red List as Endangered, Critically Endangered or Extinct in the Wild.

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 mammal exemption list is thirteen entries and the serval is not one of them, which in a closed-list state is the whole answer. 9.01(1) says species not listed "are not exempt from the provisions of M.G.L. c. 131, § 23", and 9.02(2)(c) adds that any vertebrate taxon not on the domestic list is presumed wild. No felid appears on the exemption list at all, and the domestic list carries only Felis catus, so Massachusetts reaches every exotic cat by omission rather than by naming one. MassWildlife's own guidance is blunt about what that means in practice: 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." The statute is less absolute, since § 23 contemplates "an individual license for an animal that is not on the special exemption list" and even sets a preference for captive-bred animals where wild depletion is an issue, so the licence exists on paper and the agency says it will not grant one for 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.

Category 2 species of nontraditional livestock includes ... nondomestic cats not listed in category 3

Category 3 names the big cats, mountain lion, jaguar, leopard, lion, tiger and cheetah, and the serval is not one of them, so it falls to category 2 as a nondomestic cat and needs a licence before it is acquired, with a premises inspection 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 licence and categories 2 and 3 needing one before the animal is acquired. Subsection 4 exempts arachnids and invertebrates from even the importation permit.

Servals, excluding hybrids with domestic cats commonly known as savannah cats

The serval itself is a dangerous wild animal; savannah cat hybrids are expressly carved out.

How this rule works: Two enumerated lists. Dangerous wild animals need an Ohio Department of Agriculture wildlife shelter permit; anything on neither list needs no state permit. Restricted snakes are constrictors of 12 feet or more plus venomous families.

In the family Felidae . Species and subspecies, except species which are commonly called house cats which may be possessed but not released into the wild.

The Felidae line is a whole-family prohibition with one exception, house cats, and a serval is not a house cat. The route out is the exotic wildlife possession permit under 34 Pa.C.S. § 2963 and 58 Pa. Code Ch. 147 Subchapter N, and it is written around facilities rather than pet homes: a separate permit for each animal, and a new applicant must document two years of hands-on work with the species at a recognized or approved facility, with a letter of reference from its owner or manager. The 2005 Joint State Government Commission report on exotic wildlife in Pennsylvania lists the serval among the lesser cats given minimum cage specifications, which confirms the Commission treats it as exotic wildlife rather than leaving it to the catch-all.

How this rule works: The Game Commission's actual prohibited list, and the document most Pennsylvania exotic pet questions turn on rather than the § 2961 definition. Eleven categories, of which three matter most here: all Felidae except house cats, the monk parakeet by name, and a catch-all barring possession of any wildlife held in captivity or captive bred in another state or nation.

a permit as described in § 12:68:18:03.03 is required to possess in South Dakota any nondomestic mammal, or any of its hybrids, listed in this section: (1) Of the order Carnivora, all nondomestic members of the following families: (a) Felidae;

A possession permit costs ten dollars an animal and must be renewed annually by 1 January.

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.

"Dangerous wild animal" means: (A) a lion; (B) a tiger; (C) an ocelot; (D) a cougar; (E) a leopard; (F) a cheetah; (G) a jaguar; (H) a bobcat; (I) a lynx; (J) a serval; (K) a caracal; (L) a hyena; (M) a bear; (N) a coyote; (O) a jackal; (P) a baboon; (Q) a chimpanzee; (R) an orangutan; (S) a gorilla; or (T) any hybrid of an animal listed in this subdivision.

Named at clause (J), between the lynx and the caracal. Two things about the Texas certificate are unusual. It is issued by the local animal control office, or by the county sheriff where there is none, rather than by a state agency, so the answer is administered county by county and § 822.116(b) lets any of those counties prohibit the animal outright instead. And § 822.107 requires liability insurance of at least $100,000 for each occurrence, the highest insurance figure on this map. § 822.113 makes possession without the certificate a Class C misdemeanor per animal per day, and § 822.114 adds a civil penalty of up to $2,000 on the same per-animal, per-day basis.

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.

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

The serval is on neither the Unrestricted nor the Restricted list, and Vermont treats that absence as a restriction rather than a gap. The only cats on the Unrestricted list are wild-domestic hybrids of the fourth generation or later. A serval is not a hybrid. A permit exists on paper but not for a pet: Regulation 881 says the Commissioner shall not issue a permit for keeping or possessing a wild animal in captivity except for bona fide scientific or educational purposes. So restricted here means a private keeper cannot have one, not that there is paperwork to fill in.

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.

Felidae All Species Cats*

The table restricts the whole cat family by name rather than listing species, so the serval is caught by the same line as a lion. A special permit is required to import, possess or sell one.

Existing owners: Cats carry the asterisk, so an animal held before 1 July 1992 and declared in writing by 1 January 1993 may be kept under a possession-only permit that renews every five years and cannot be transferred.

How this rule works: Virginia permits by table. Subsection A requires a special permit from the department for every animal listed in it, on the ground that the board has declared the species predatory or undesirable because releasing it would harm Virginia's native fish and wildlife. Subsection B grandfathers asterisked animals held before 1 July 1992 if they were declared in writing by 1 January 1993, renewable every five years and not transferable. Subsection C then carves the monk parakeet back out.

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

Not on the prohibited list at Section 11 and not on either the domestic or the domesticated list, so it lands in the discretionary permit category. May be authorised is not the same as shall be issued.

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: The operative rule. Restricted live wildlife needs a special licence, 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.

Family Felidae-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.

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.

Not listed anywhere in Table 3b-1, and the table's default is inverted: unlisted birds and mammals are 'presumed prohibited' and require a division assessment before possession will be authorized. So this is neither cleared nor expressly banned, it is an application to DWR with no published answer. Worth noting the prohibited column's big cat entry lists Panthera, Acinonyx, Uncia and Puma by name under the federal Big Cat Public Safety Act, and the serval is not among them, so it falls to the unlisted default rather than the big cat ban.

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'.

Class I--This class includes all species inherently dangerous to humans. ... The following is a listing of animals considered inherently dangerous: (A) Mammals: (i) Primates--Gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, gibbons, siamangs, mandrills, drills, baboons, Gelada baboons; (ii) Carnivores: (a) Wolves--All species; (b) Bears--All species; and (c) Lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, cougars--All species;

The Class I cat entry names six kinds and the serval is none of them: lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and cougars, each "all species". Leptailurus serval is not a Panthera, an Acinonyx or a Puma, and the statute names no other felid. On the statute alone the serval is Class III under the catch-all and needs no permit, and Tennessee reinforces that reading two subdivisions later by putting bobcat hybrids in Class III expressly. What could not be checked is the commission's own rules. Section 70-4-403(1) gives the commission, with the commissioner of agriculture, express power to add or delete species from the Class I list by regulation, and Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1660-01-18 is where such an addition would sit. That chapter could not be read here: publications.tnsosfiles.com returns 403 to this container on every path, and Tennessee's official code is behind LexisNexis. Recorded unclear on that gap rather than on the statute, which is the improvement over the previous note here; the statute itself is readable and does not reach this animal. What rides on it is more than paperwork. Section 70-4-404(c)(1) closed personal possession of Class I wildlife in 1991: the permit it describes is for people who already held the animal on 25 June 1991, "no new animals shall be brought into possession under authority of a personal possession permit", and the subsection ends by saying it "shall not be construed to authorize new personal possession of Class I wildlife". TWRA restates it in one line on its permits page: "Personal possession of any Class 1 species is not allowed." So an addition by rule would not mean a $150 permit for a private keeper. It would mean no.

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