Exotic pet laws in Kansas

K.A.R. 115-15-2(a)(6); K.S.A. 32-1002(a)(2)

The following species shall be designated nongame species in need of conservation within the boundaries of the state of Kansas. ... (6) Mammals ... Southern flying squirrel, Glaucomys volans (Linnaeus, 1758)

Three rules have to be read together and each one closes a door. K.S.A. 32-1002(a)(2) makes it unlawful to possess any wildlife except as permitted by law or regulation. 115-20-3 permits exotic wildlife, but 115-20-3(d) defines that as species not native to Kansas, and this regulation is the state saying in terms that Glaucomys volans is a Kansas species. 115-20-2 permits taking certain Kansas wildlife for personal use, but subsection (b) excludes any species listed in K.A.R. 115-15-1 or K.A.R. 115-15-2, which is this list. Nothing is left, and the special-permit regulation at 115-15-3 covers threatened and endangered wildlife rather than nongame species in need of conservation.

Existing owners: K.A.R. 115-15-2(c) lets an animal possessed before the regulation took effect be retained if an affidavit was filed with and approved by the secretary before 1 January 1990, or possession had already been approved by the department.

How this rule works: The list of nongame species in need of conservation, adopted under K.S.A. 32-959. It is both a protection and a statement of nativity: a species on it exists in Kansas, which takes it out of the exotic wildlife definition in 115-20-3(d) and out of the takeable list in 115-20-2(b).

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.

K.A.R. 115-18-10(a)(13), (b)(1), (c)

The importation, possession, or release in Kansas of the following live wildlife species shall be prohibited, except as authorized by terms of a wildlife importation permit issued by the secretary: ... (13) monk parakeet (Myiopsita monachus)

Named by binomial on the prohibited list, and the company it keeps says what the prohibition is for: walking catfish, four carps, a snakehead, a round goby, zebra and quagga mussels, a mudsnail and three crayfish. This is an escape-and-establishment rule, not a dangerous-animal rule, which is the same reason a dozen other states bar this bird. The dangerous regulated animal statute at K.S.A. 32-1301 names no bird and has nothing to do with it. The permit that subsection (a) refers to is issued under (c) "for experimental, scientific, display, or other purposes", so there is no personal-pet route.

Existing owners: 115-18-10(b)(1) lets a bird possessed before 1 February 1978 be retained in closed confinement on an application to the secretary detailing how it came into the applicant’s possession.

How this rule works: Kansas's prohibited species list, and it is almost entirely aquatic invasives: carps, a snakehead, a goby, mussels, a mudsnail, crayfish. Two land animals are on it, the Asian raccoon dog and the monk parakeet, which is the quaker parakeet of the pet trade. The permit in subsection (c) is for experimental, scientific, display or other purposes and is not a pet route.

Checked against the published text on 5 September 2026.