Where is the virginia opossum 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.

Alabama designates the opossum a game animal, and 220-2-.26(3) bars keeping a live protected wild animal except under a permit issued before that amendment, the raccoon's reading. Unlike the raccoon, the opossum is not on the out-of-state list, so the bar rests on § (3) alone.

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 Marsupialia-Marsupials or Pouched Animals: All species (W)

Marsupials are restricted as a whole order, marked (W) for welfare, and the Virginia opossum is the one North American marsupial. It has been established in California for a century, but § 671 reaches a listed order whatever the animal's origin, and no permit type covers pet keeping.

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.

The unregulated list names one opossum, the short-tailed possum Monodelphis domestica, and the prohibited list names the brush-tailed possums. The Virginia opossum is neither, so it 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.

"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 Virginia opossum is native to Delaware. Regulation 903-6.1.1 exempts "Possums" from the Agriculture permit, but that rule governs exotics, and DNREC says non-native wildlife is Agriculture's and native wildlife its own, so the exemption does not reach the native opossum. 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

No marsupial fits any of the District's seven categories, and the section has no permit route; a licensed rehabilitator may hold one only for treatment or pending disposition.

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. ... Opossum

DNR names the opossum on its native list. The rule's marsupial entry covers the orders Diprotodontia and Peramelemorphia, which does not reach the opossum's order, so the native wildlife scheme is what bars it.

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".

The introduction into Hawaii of live animals or live non-domestic animals as defined in this chapter at any stage of development is prohibited except for those animals on the lists incorporated in §4-71-6.5, by permit, and except as provided by section 150A-6.2, HRS.

Part A names one opossum, Didelphis marsupialis, the common opossum of Central and South America, for research and exhibition only. The Virginia opossum is on none of the lists, so the default bar applies; the special permits for unlisted animals are for emergencies, research and filming, not pets. Either way there is no pet route.

How this rule works: The rule text the three species lists hang off, and the part that explains why Hawaii answers differently from everywhere else. Two things matter. § 4-71-6.5 allows introduction only for animals on the conditionally approved or restricted lists, which is what makes an unlisted animal barred by default rather than unregulated. And § 4-71-2 defines a set of domestic animals, the European rabbit among them, then says that as used in the chapter the word animal means non-domestic animal, so the lists never reach those species at all.

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 only opossum chapter 7 names is the gray short-tailed opossum, Monodelphis domestica, in Category 1. Didelphis virginiana, which now ranges into Maine, is in none of the four buckets, 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) does not reach 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 opossum 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.

(4) The following mammals are classified as prohibited species: ... (s) Virginia opossum - Didelphis virginiana.

Named on the prohibited list by binomial, beside the short-tailed opossum.

How this rule works: 12.6.2205 is the noncontrolled list, 12.6.2208 the controlled list, 12.6.2215 the prohibited list. The noncontrolled definition at 12.6.2201(8) expressly preserves county and city ordinances.

(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 Opossum, Virginia Didelphis virginiana

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.

Marsupial | Didelphidae | Monodelphis domestica | Shorttail Oppossum | II | Captive Bred

The only opossum on the list is the short-tailed opossum, Group II. The Virginia opossum is not on it, so it falls to Group IV by default. The Director's list is not exhaustive, and 19.35.7 NMAC says "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." 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 opossum 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 marsupials, including, but not limited to, Tasmanian devil, dasyure, bandicoot, kangaroo, wallaby, opossum, wombat, koala bear, cuscus, numbat and pigmy, sugar and greater glider.

The marsupial clause names the opossum. 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.

(F) Order Didelphimorphia: Virginia opossum ... Didelphidae ... Didelphis virginiana.

Named to the species on the prohibited list. The opossum is introduced in Oregon, not native, and only the short-tailed opossums of Monodelphis are on the noncontrolled list. 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 opossum is a native wild mammal and so wildlife under 34 Pa.C.S. § 102. Taking one into captivity here is barred by § 137.31(a), and § 137.1(a)(11) bars one held captive or captive bred in another state. Licensed wildlife rehabilitators hold opossums under their own permits, which is not a pet route.

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: ... (42) Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana),

Named on the native mammal list, and the native definition applies regardless of where the animal originated, so a captive-bred opossum 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.

Prohibited mammals ... known detrimental impacts to native wildlife populations, human health and safety, or agriculture. Personal possession will not be authorized. ... Virginia opossum Didelphis virginiana

Utah names the Virginia opossum on its prohibited mammal list, while the gray short-tailed opossum is noncontrolled.

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'.

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 Virginia opossum 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.

Class III: All other wildlife not listed herein, except those for which a permit is not required pursuant to Rule 68A-6.003, F.A.C.

No opossum is on Class I or II or on the no-permit list, which names honey possums and sugar gliders but not Didelphis, so the Virginia opossum falls to Class III and the free personal use permit. The wild-taken bar at 68A-6.003(13) names foxes, skunks, bats, raccoons and white-tailed deer, not opossums.

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.

Before any individual shall hold, possess or engage in the breeding or raising of live fur-bearing mammals, he shall first procure a fur-bearing mammal breeder permit.

The opossum is named among Illinois's fur-bearing mammals in § 2.2, and § 3.25 requires a fur-bearing mammal breeder permit, $25 a year, of anyone who holds a live one, breeding or not. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter.

How this rule works: § 2.2 says the Act applies only to wild birds and wild mammals, then lists the protected species by name and family. Parrots are not among them; the flying squirrel is. § 3.23 (DocName 052000050K3.23) carries the Class A noncommercial breeder permit that lets a private keeper hold a protected species, plus the two named-species clauses that decide the rabbit and the monk parakeet.

(a) A permit is required under this rule for the following Class II wild animals: ... (7) Virginia opossum (Didelphis marsupialis).

Named on the Class II list, under the binomial of the common opossum but by the Virginia opossum's common name. A Class II permit is applied for within five days of taking possession of a lawfully acquired animal, at a ten dollar fee, with a cage inspection.

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 opossum 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.

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 opossum 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 opossum; its only marsupial is the sugar glider, 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 opossum 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

The opossum is 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 animals only.

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 opossum is small game under subd. 45 and so a protected wild animal. The special permit in § 97A.401 subd. 3 may be issued free "as pets" on the commissioner's conditions. 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 opossum is a furbearer under 3 CSR 10-20.805(30), and furbearers count as game mammals under (33), so it is outside the take-five allowance for natives. 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 ... Opossum - (Didelphis virginiana)

The opossum 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.

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

The opossum has a trapping season, so it is a game animal: 10.6(a)13 names Didelphis virginiana among game animals needing a possession permit, and 10.7(a)1 issues an Individual Hobby permit for pets. Under 10.8(a)1 it must not come from wild stock. It is not on the Division's rabies vector species list, which names raccoons, skunks, woodchucks, foxes and bats.

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 opossum is a game animal under G.S. 113-129(7c), or a fur-bearer under (7a) when trapped, and either way 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.

Category 2 species of nontraditional livestock includes the following species and their hybrids, all nondomestic ungulates, ... mink, red and gray foxes, muskrats, beavers, weasels, opossums, prairie dogs, and other ground squirrels,

Opossums are category 2 nontraditional livestock by name. The owner must hold a nontraditional livestock license from the Board of Animal Health before acquiring one, and the board must inspect and approve the premises first, under 48.1-09-01-03(1) and (2)(b). The annual fee is fifteen dollars under NDCC 36-01-08.1.

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 license and categories 2 and 3 needing one before the animal is acquired. Subsection 4 exempts arachnids and invertebrates from even the importation permit, along with a short list of small pets named one by one: gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rats and sugar gliders. The Board of Animal Health's own page (https://www.ndda.nd.gov/divisions/animal-health/non-traditional-livestock) files that list under Exempt Animals and calls them exempt from non-traditional livestock requirements and importation requirements. Last amended April 1, 2026.

"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 opossums among its fur-bearing animals in R.C. 1531.01(W), and § 1533.71(A) requires a license to hold fur-bearing animals in captivity. The noncommercial propagating license is the keeper's one: $25 a year, 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.

The opossum is native and not on the 37-entry exemption list, so the import permit and the noncommercial wildlife breeder's license apply, the raccoon's position. § 7-502(B)(4) exempts legally obtained wildlife from a source other than the wild kept as a pet; an opossum taken from the wild has no such exemption.

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.

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

The opossum is named as a furbearer, so bringing one into South Carolina needs a Department of Natural Resources permit, the raccoon's position. § 50-16-20(B) lets the Department issue it only if the animal was taken lawfully where it came from and its possession is not expected to harm the state's wildlife, and § 50-16-60's pet-trade exemption does not list it.

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

"Fur-bearing animal" means wild beaver, otter, mink, ring-tailed cat, badger, skunk, raccoon, muskrat, opossum, fox, or nutria.

The opossum is a fur-bearing animal by name, and § 71.005(c) requires a fur-bearing animal propagation license to possess a live one "for any purpose", which makes it a keeper's license as well as a breeder's, the reading the raccoon gets. Fur-bearers are excluded from the nongame caps.

How this rule works: The definition at § 71.001(1) reads "wild beaver, otter, mink, ring-tailed cat, badger, skunk, raccoon, muskrat, opossum, fox, or nutria", and the bare word "fox" is what makes people read Texas as a fox ban state. It is not one. Chapter 71 and the proclamation at 31 TAC §§ 65.371-65.375 govern taking, trapping, pelts and fur dealing; § 65.375(a)(2) says there are no bag or possession limits for fur-bearing animals; and nothing in either bars keeping one. The series is also headed by "wild", which a captive-bred animal is not.

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

The Unrestricted list's only marsupials are the feathertail glider and the sugar glider, so the opossum is restricted by absence. It is also a Vermont native. 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 opossum is a West Virginia fur-bearing animal by name in § 20-1-2, 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 raccoon'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.

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 opossum lands in the discretionary permit category, the serval's position. May be authorized is not the same as shall be issued. The opossum is not a Wyoming furbearer, predatory animal or protected animal under § 23-1-101.

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 opossum is both a furbearer and a 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 opossum 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.

Wildlife classified as Unprotected Wildlife or Predatory Wildlife that are lawfully taken by a person licensed or authorized to hunt or trap in accordance with Chapter 4, Title 36, Idaho Code, may be exported, transported, possessed, or sold without additional permit from the Department,

Idaho classifies no opossum, so it falls under unprotected wildlife, "all wildlife not classified in the preceding categories". One lawfully taken in Idaho by a licensed hunter or trapper may be kept with no further permit. A marsupial is not on the conventional pets list, so one acquired any other way needs a captive possession license under 200.01.

How this rule works: Section 010.06 defines conventional pets, which sit outside the wildlife permit regime. Unusually explicit: it names ferrets, hedgehogs and sugar gliders in the rule text.

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.

The opossum is one of Iowa's named fur-bearing animals, and § 481A.38 bars possessing one except as the chapter provides. The chapter provides two things: a licensed game breeder may hold it, and possession of a fur-bearer "obtained from a licensed game breeder" is lawful. So the condition is the source, an Iowa-licensed game breeder, and § 481A.61(4) bars a breeder from acquiring fur-bearers taken from the wild in Iowa. It is not a dangerous wild animal under chapter 717F.

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 Virginia opossum is an introduced animal that lives wild in Washington, so it is a "wild animal" under RCW 77.08.010(72). Title 77 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 marsupial.

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.

5. All species of the genus Didelphis . Common name: American opossums.

Arizona names the opossum genus outright. 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.

(b) Live furbearers legally taken during a furbearer season may be possessed only through the last day of the season in which taken.

The opossum is a Kansas furbearer under K.S.A. 32-701(e), so it stands where the raccoon does. 115-5-2(b) lets a Kansas-caught animal be held only to the end of its season, which rules out a wild-caught pet, and whether 32-1002(b), lifting the bar for animals "legally taken outside this state", reaches a captive-bred opossum from another state is the question Kansas has never closed.

How this rule works: Subsection (b) is the possession rule for a live Kansas furbearer: one legally taken during a furbearer season "may be possessed only through the last day of the season in which taken", which rules out keeping a wild-caught raccoon, fox, skunk or bobcat as a pet. Coyotes alone may be held live without limit in time under (d). Read from Cornell LII, since ksoutdoors.gov is blocked to this container.

i.Wildlife included under this Paragraph shall be limited to the following species: squirrel, opossum, rabbit, or chipmunk, with such possession limited to one animal or litter of animals per individual.

The opossum is a "nongame quadruped" by statute, and the only text read that speaks to keeping one is the wildlife rescuer rule: a sick, injured or orphaned opossum may be held for 90 days, and kept for life only on a special purpose permit after a vet finds it non-releasable, with use "for the purposes of pet trade" barred. The nongame quadruped breeder and exhibitor licenses are business licenses. No text read either bars or allows keeping a captive-bred opossum bought as a pet, the raccoon's position.

How this rule works: D.3 lets an individual hold a sick, injured or orphaned squirrel, opossum, rabbit or chipmunk, and on notice a raccoon or skunk, for up to 90 days, and keep it for life on a special purpose and possession permit once trained and a vet finds it non-releasable. Pet-trade use is barred. Cached as LA-la-fox-and-quadrupeds.txt.

(b) 1. The following species or groups of wildlife are deleted from the existing listing designated by legislation as Class III: (i) All native, nonpoisonous reptiles and amphibians; and (ii) All native, furbearing mammals. 2. All species or groups of wildlife deleted from Class III in part 1. are considered to be Class II wildlife.

Two Tennessee texts pull this animal different ways. The statute's Class III names "Marsupials", which reaches the Virginia opossum and needs no wildlife permit. The commission's rule then moves "All native, furbearing mammals" out of Class III into Class II, which needs a TWRA permit, $10 an animal for personal possession, with supplier documentation. Whether the opossum counts as a furbearing mammal for that rule is not defined in what was read. Either way it can be kept; the open question is whether a permit is needed.

How this rule works: The commission's own additions to the statutory classes, the chapter earlier sittings could not read because publications.tnsosfiles.com refuses this container. Cornell LII carries all six rules. Rule .03 is short: (1) adds to Class I only hybrids of two Class I species; (2) makes native species Class II unless designated otherwise; (3) adds waterfowl other than migratory game birds, ostriches, cassowaries, caimans and gavials to Class III and moves native nonpoisonous reptiles and amphibians and native furbearers out of it into Class II; (4) adds the nanday parakeet, the monk parakeet, the African clawed frog and most non-native freshwater aquatic life to Class V; and (5) regulates a hybrid of species from different classes as a member of the least restrictive class involved. No mammal is added to Class I by name. Rule .01(4) requires anyone possessing live wildlife to be able to prove legal ownership. Last amended effective 30 January 2022.