Where is the wolfdog legal?

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

Alaska names this case. The dog is on the clean list, but subsection (b) carves out "a hybrid of a game animal and a species listed in this subsection", and the wolf is game, so a wolfdog drops off the list and subsection (c) then bars a pet permit for exactly that hybrid. No generation or percentage is written.

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.

"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 (including, but not limited to, black bear, grizzly bear and brown bear); or (D) A member within the family Hominidae ...

Category One reaches "any wild animal, gamete or hybrid" of a canid, and (a)(10) defines a hybrid as any animal from "the combining of a gamete of a wild animal with a gamete of another species", which is a wolfdog. Connecticut wrote a hybrid exception for exactly one animal, the Bengal cat, and none for canids, and drew no generation line. Subsection (b)(1) allows a Category One animal only to a municipal park, zoo, public nonprofit aquarium, nature center, museum, or a USDA-licensed exhibitor, laboratory or research facility, so there is no private route.

How this rule works: Connecticut's official eRegulations text, served as a PDF. This is the operative rule for every animal on this map, and it sorts wild animals into four categories. Category One (four mammal families) and Category Two (a long specific list) may be possessed only by institutions; Category Three, which is Connecticut's own native species, bars import and export but not possession; Category Four, the state endangered, threatened and special concern species, needs a permit. An animal in none of the four is not restricted by this section. The definitions in subsection (a) do more work than the lists: 'wild animal' reaches invertebrates, and 'domestic animal' is defined in a way that takes the pet rabbit and the ferret out of the scheme entirely.

Domestic dogs, excluding hybrids with wolves, coyotes, or jackals

The District names this animal and keeps it out. Category (A) admits domestic dogs "excluding hybrids with wolves, coyotes, or jackals", with no generation or percentage line, and nothing else on the closed list covers a wolfdog.

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.

Hybrids or crosses between any combination of domestic animals, wildlife, or regulated wild animals and all subsequent generations are regulated in Georgia and may not be held without a license. ... Wolf hybrids are not a legal pet in Georgia.

DNR names the wolf hybrid outright. The wolf is in the inherently dangerous tier under genus Canis, the hybrid sentence carries that to "all subsequent generations", so no percentage or generation gets a wolfdog out, and § 27-5-4(b)(1) gives no license to a pet keeper.

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".

Canis familiaris crossed with wolf, coyote, dingo, jackal, fox, dhole, African wild dog, racoon dog, bush dog, etc. dog, hybrid; (all hybrid-crosses where one or both parents are prohibited or restricted)

Hawaii names the wolf and dog cross on its prohibited list, the tier with no permit at all. No generation or percentage is written, so a low-content wolfdog is in the same position as an F1.

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

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.

Clause (vi) reaches any "hybrid of a member of the dog family and a domestic dog", and unlike the cat hybrid clause beside it there is no weight test and no generation line, so every wolfdog is caught. There is no private permit: the exemptions run to zoos, sanctuaries, research and licensed exhibitors. Subsection (e) preserves stricter county and municipal rules.

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 misdemeanor, 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.

No person shall possess, sell, trade, breed, import, export or release a wild canid hybrid or wild felid hybrid, except as otherwise provided by rules and regulations of the division. Any mammal which is the offspring of the reproduction between any species of wild canid or hybrid wild canid and a domestic dog or hybrid wild canid, or is represented by its owner to be a wolf hybrid, coyote hybrid, coy dog or any other kind of wild canid hybrid, ...

A flat ban, and wider than most because it reaches any animal "represented by its owner to be a wolf hybrid" as well as the offspring of a hybrid and a dog, so there is no generation exit. The section's only exit for later generations is written for registered cats, and none is written for dogs. 321 CMR 9.02(2)(e) treats every other wild and domestic mammal hybrid as domestic and sends canid hybrids back to § 77A, and MassWildlife says plainly that wolf-dog hybrids "are not domestic animals".

Existing owners: An owner in possession on 1 January 1994 who obtained a permit from the director on or before 31 July 1994 is outside the section.

How this rule works: A flat prohibition with one exit. "No person shall possess, sell, trade, breed, import, export or release a wild canid hybrid or wild felid hybrid, except as otherwise provided by rules and regulations of the division." The exit is the last paragraph: the section does not apply to "a domesticated show or pet cat registered with a nationally or internationally recognized breeding association or registry which certifies the pedigree and registration of such cat to be without any wild felid parentage for a minimum of three generations." So Massachusetts writes a generation rule without using filial numbers, and 321 CMR 9.02(2)(e) points to this section by treating wild felid hybrids as the one hybrid class that is not automatically domestic.

A person shall not possess 1 or more wolf-dog crosses unless all of the following apply: (a) The person owns the wolf-dog crosses or has temporarily been given possession of the wolf-dog crosses by the owner. (b) The owner was in possession of those individual wolf-dog crosses on the effective date of this act. (c) The owner applies for a permit for those wolf-dog crosses within 4 months after the effective date of this act, and obtains a permit for those wolf-dog crosses.

Michigan's Wolf-dog Cross Act is a ban with a closed grandfather. It also bars breeding, transferring or receiving one, and its definition reaches "A wolf-dog cross with a dog", so no generation of dilution takes an animal out. An owner who has represented a canid as a wolf-dog cross is presumed to have one. Only animals held on 29 June 2000 and permitted within four months may be kept.

Existing owners: Individual wolf-dog crosses held on the act's effective date, 29 June 2000, whose owner applied for a local permit within four months and obtained one; sterilization was a condition of the permit.

How this rule works: A ban with a closed grandfather. § 1003(1)(a) bars possessing a wolf-dog cross except in compliance with the act, and § 1004(1) allows possession only of individual animals held on the act's effective date, 29 June 2000, whose owner applied for a local permit within four months. § 1002(p) defines a wolf-dog cross to include a cross of a wolf-dog cross with a dog, so the definition runs to every generation, and § 1003(3) presumes a canid is a cross when its owner has represented it as one. legislature.mi.gov refuses curl from this container; § 1004 was read there through WebFetch and agrees with the animallaw.info reproduction cached in docs/legal-sources.

Class II wildlife shall include copperheads, cottonmouths, timber rattlesnakes, pygmy rattlesnakes, eastern massasauga, prairie massasauga, mountain lions or mountain lion-hybrids, wolves or wolf-hybrids, and black bears or black bear hybrids.

Missouri writes "wolves or wolf-hybrids" into Class II, which may be held only under a Class II wildlife breeder permit, and 9.105(7) limits confined wildlife to species on the approved list. That list's only wolf entry is "Wolf, Gray legally obtained under a valid Class II Wildlife Breeder Permit prior to August 30, 2021", and no wolf hybrid appears on it at all. So the Wildlife Code reaches the wolfdog and offers no permit for a new one. RSMo § 578.023 separately requires a wolf to be registered with county law enforcement.

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.

no person shall import, transport, possess, purchase, barter, transfer, sell, offer for sale, exchange, propagate or release or cause to be released within New York State any of the following live native or non-native dangerous animals including those which are captive bred in any of the following orders, families and individual species or subspecies including all subspecies and hybrids thereof: ... (1) Canines in the Family Canidae (with the exception of domesticated dogs and captive bred fennec foxes (vulpes zerda));

New York names the animal. § 11-0511 bars possessing "any live wolf, wolfdog, coyote, coydog" without a department license, and 180.1 reaches every canid other than the domestic dog and the fennec "including all subspecies and hybrids thereof". 180.1(c) issues licenses only for scientific, educational, exhibition, zoological or propagation purposes, so no generation or percentage gives a pet route.

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 dogs other than domesticated dogs (Canis familiaris), including, but not limited to, wolf, fox, coyote, hyaena, dingo, jackal, dhole, fennec, raccoon dog, zorro, bush dog, aardwolf, cape hunting dog and any hybrid or cross-breed offspring of a wild dog and domesticated dog.

The wild dog clause ends with "any hybrid or cross-breed offspring of a wild dog and domesticated dog", and the wolf is the first wild dog it names. No generation or percentage line is drawn, so a low-content wolfdog is in the same position as an F1. § 161.01(d) lets the Department consent to an owner removing a seized animal to a jurisdiction where it is not prohibited, which is the only 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.

In addition, a permit shall not be issued for importation or possession of the following live warm-blooded wildlife in Wyoming, except as otherwise specified in this regulation. ... (ix) Gray wolf (Canis Lupis); (x) Red wolf (Canis Rufus); ... (xiii) Wolf hybrid

Wolf hybrid is named on the no-permit list. The domestic animal definition does fold "any hybrid" of a listed domestic animal into the domestic category, and the dog is listed, but § 11(b)(xiii) is the specific entry and is the one that governs. No generation or percentage is written.

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.

Wolf Hybrids: No Wolf Hybrid may be permitted under this chapter unless the applicant has first presented proof from a licensed veterinarian that: A.The wolf hybrid has been permanently identified in accordance with 7 M.R.S. §3921-A; B.The wolf hybrid has been spayed or neutered; and C.All other criteria for a Wildlife Possession Permit have been met.

Maine treats a wolfdog as wildlife that an individual may be permitted to keep, which it does for no pure canid. Chapter 7 applies to wildlife "that has been hybridized", the exhibition permit excludes wolf hybrids in terms, and § 7.12 sets the conditions for a possession permit: a vet's proof of permanent identification and sterilization. The rule's stray provisions refer to wolf hybrids licensed under the dog licensing statute in Title 7 as well, so the dog license is a second requirement rather than an alternative. No generation or percentage line is written.

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.

Family Canidae: Genus Canis (wolves, jackals, and dingos; all species, including crosses between wolves and domestic animals); excluding coyote (Canis latrans); Chrysocyon brachyurus (maned wolf); Cuon alpinus (red dog or dhole); Lycaon pictus (African hunting dog); ii. Family Ursidae (bears) - all species; iii. Family Mustelidae - Gulo gulo (wolverine); iv. Family Hyaenidae (hyenas) - all species; v. Family Felidae: Genus Leo or Panthera or Neofelis (lions, tigers, jaguars, and leopards) - all species; Acinonyx iubatus (cheetah); Felis concolor (cougar) - all subspecies;

Mississippi lists genus Canis "including crosses between wolves and domestic animals" as inherently dangerous, with no generation cut-off. A personal possession permit exists at $75 an animal, but the bar is high: age 21, two years' experience with the species or a written exam, a recapture plan, $100,000 liability insurance per animal, a DWFP-implanted microchip and an inspection.

How this rule works: A short list drawn by genus and family, covering apes and some monkeys, wolves and three wild dogs, bears, the wolverine, hyenas, the big cats, elephants, rhinos, hippos and African buffalo. Nothing smaller appears. The rule also notes that since the federal Big Cat Public Safety Act took effect in December 2022 no new big cat permits are issued at all.

Category 3 species of nontraditional livestock includes the following species and their hybrids: ... (2) Big cats, including mountain lion, jaguar, leopard, lion, tiger, and cheetah. (3) Bears. (4) Wolves.

Category 3 covers wolves "and their hybrids", and the Century Code defines a wolf hybrid as "any animal that is any part wolf", so no low percentage escapes. A category 3 license is needed before acquiring one, and § 36-01-08.2 also requires a board identification number tattooed inside the ear.

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.

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: ...(b) Canidae;

The wolf is a nondomestic canid and the operative sentence reaches "any of its hybrids", so a wolfdog needs the same possession permit as a wolf. No generation or percentage is written, so a low-content animal reads the same as an F1.

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.

Canidae. Hybrids of the species Canis lupus, C. lycaon, or C. rufus commonly known as wolves and the species Canis familiaris, domestic dogs, and subsequent generations from such matings. These animals are commonly called wolf-dog hybrids or wolf dogs.

Wisconsin names the wolfdog and every later generation as a harmful wild animal, so it needs department authorization through a captive wild animal farm license. The rule then writes the keeper's conditions: neutered by six months, tattooed or microchipped with the owner's details, penned or on a leash under a person's immediate control, and never in a dog park. NR 16.11(5)(a) lets the department presume a canid is a wolf-dog from wolf-like looks or the owner's own description, and (b) lets the owner rebut that with a DNA test. Local zoning assurance is required before a first license.

How this rule works: The rule that answers Wisconsin's native carnivores and the wolfdog. NR 16.11 designates bears and "Hybrids of the species Canis lupus, C. lycaon, or C. rufus ... and the species Canis familiaris, domestic dogs, and subsequent generations from such matings" as harmful wild animals, which Wis. Stat. § 169.11(1)(b) bars possessing unless the department authorizes it. NR 16.15 applies to every captive wild animal farm "including commercial operations and hobbyists", requires local zoning assurance before a first licence for a harmful animal, and requires a wolf-dog owner to neuter the animal by six months and mark it permanently. The licence itself is § 169.15, which the department shall issue to any person who applies. NR 16.15 is at https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/admin_code/nr/001/16/15.

Wolf hybrids Canis familiaris (domestic dog) x Canis lupus (wolf) are considered F1 generation wolf hybrids and are restricted (W). i. No state permit is required to possess the progeny of F1 generation wolf hybrids, but cities and counties may prohibit possession or require a permit.

California draws its line at the first generation. A direct wolf by dog cross is restricted and no permit type covers a pet; anything bred from F1 animals onward needs no state permit. The rule says in terms that cities and counties may still ban or license those later generations, so the local ordinance is the second check.

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.

"Hybrid of a wild mammal" means a mammal whose parents are different varieties of the same species or belong to different but closely allied species, one parent being a wild mammal not native to or generally found in Delaware and the other parent being a domestic mammal native to or generally found in Delaware.

Delaware defines a hybrid by its parents, so the Savannah cat's answer applies. A first-generation wolf by dog cross is a hybrid of a wild mammal and needs the $25 Individual permit under 6.2. A later generation has a wolfdog parent rather than a wolf, so on the regulation's words it is outside the permit requirement. The statute leaves "hybrid" undefined, so the F2 line is the regulation's reading rather than a filial rule anyone wrote.

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.

Wolf-dog hybrids are regulated on a case-by-case basis. Wolf-dogs considered to be indistinguishable from a wolf will be regulated as a Class II canid and will require a Class II license for possession.

Florida's hybrid rule is a resemblance test, not a generation or percentage rule: a hybrid "substantially similar in size, characteristics and behavior so as to be indistinguishable from the wild animal" is regulated at the wild parent's class. FWC applies it to wolfdogs case by case. One that reads as a dog needs nothing from FWC; one that reads as a wolf is a Class II canid needing the $140 personal use permit with documented experience and caging.

How this rule works: FWC's own reading of the hybrid clause at 68A-6.002(1)(d). The answer to "Do I need a permit for a hybrid wild/domestic animal?" restates the rule, that a hybrid indistinguishable from the wild parent is regulated at that parent's class, says wolf-dog hybrids are regulated case by case, and closes: "Savannah cats, Bengal cats, and Chausie cats are considered domesticated species and are not regulated by the Captive Wildlife Office."

However, a dangerous wild animal does not include any of the following: (1) The offspring of a domestic dog and a wolf, or the offspring from each subsequent generation in which at least one parent is a domestic dog.

Iowa writes the wolfdog out of its dangerous wild animal ban, but with a pedigree test. A first cross of a wolf and a dog is excluded, and so is every later generation in which at least one parent is a domestic dog. The opening of (b) brings "the offspring of each subsequent generation" of a listed animal back in, so a wolfdog bred from two wolfdogs, with no dog parent, is not covered by the exclusion and reads as a dangerous wild animal. Cities and counties may restrict wolf hybrids further.

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.

(r) Wolves that are lawfully acquired and bred in captivity; ... (b) "Wolves" includes any wolf or hybrid of a wolf. As used in this paragraph, "hybrid" means any canid hybrid resulting from the mating of a wolf and a dog.

Nevada puts the wolfdog on its no-permit list in terms, defining wolves to include "any canid hybrid resulting from the mating of a wolf and a dog". The condition is that the animal was lawfully acquired and bred in captivity. No generation or percentage matters. NAC 503.140(4) preserves county and city ordinances, and Clark County, Las Vegas and Henderson are all stricter than the state.

How this rule works: Nevada's clearance list, and the section that decides most pet questions here. Forty-five entries that may be possessed, transported, imported and exported without any Department permit. Three of them do enormous work: all felines except mountain lions and bobcats, all nonvenomous nonindigenous reptile species and subspecies, and all nonindigenous amphibians except bullfrogs. Subsection 4 preserves county and city ordinances, which matters because Clark County, Las Vegas and Henderson are all stricter than the state.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions of wildlife, wildlife resources, wild animals, wild birds, fish, and the like are deemed to include species normally wild, or indistinguishable from wild species, which are raised or kept in captivity.

North Carolina has no wolf hybrid statute. A wolfdog is not a species normally wild, so it is outside the wildlife definitions unless it is "indistinguishable from wild species", in which case it is a wild animal needing a captivity license that is not issued for a pet. So the condition is that the animal can be told from a wolf. Counties regulate dogs and dangerous animals under § 153A-131, and some restrict wolf hybrids.

How this rule works: The definition that decides North Carolina and is easy to miss, because the answer is not in the captivity license section but in what that section can reach. Wild animals are game animals, fur-bearers, feral swine and other wild mammals, and then reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates only where they are on the federal endangered or threatened list. Everything else in those three groups is outside the Wildlife Resources Commission's jurisdiction, which is why North Carolina has no state reptile law worth the name.

The burden of proof of the hybridity of a bobcat-cross or wolf-cross animal is the responsibility of the animal owner. A wolf is considered "pure-bred" when the animal's genetic and phenotypic makeup does not include any genetic material or characteristics of a domestic dog or other canine. ... Lack of sufficient proof of hybridity as determined by the Department will genetically classify the animal as a bobcat or wolf requiring a Wildlife Holding Permit or Exhibitor/Animal Entertainment Industry or Sanctuary Permit and regulation under the conditions of these rules

Oregon regulates the pure-bred wolf, defined as an animal with no dog genetics or characteristics at all, and since 0470(3) no new private permit for one is issued. A wolfdog is outside that, but only if the owner can prove it: pedigree and breeding records, acquisition records and sworn statements, with Department genetic testing possible. An animal the owner cannot prove is a hybrid is classified as a wolf, which no new private keeper may hold. Cities and counties regulate dogs and exotic animals on top.

How this rule works: The ODFW division that answers Oregon's native carnivores, which neither ORS 609.305 nor division 56 reaches. 0460 requires a Wildlife Holding, Exhibitor/Animal Entertainment Industry or Sanctuary permit for black bears, cougars, bobcats, wolves, raccoons and skunks, sourced from an out-of-state USDA breeder, and 0460(3) confines black bears, cougars, bobcats and wolves acquired after 20 January 2017 to AZA, exhibitor and sanctuary facilities. 0470 grandfathers pets legally held on 20 January 2017 whose owners applied by 21 January 2018. 0460(5) puts the burden of proving a wolf-cross or bobcat-cross is a hybrid on the owner. 0430(1)(a) protects every federally listed species. 0430, 0440, 0450 and 0470 are at the same address with their own rule numbers.

In the family Canidae. Species and subspecies of the coyote, the red and gray fox and a full-blooded wolf or crossbreed thereof not licensed by the Department of Agriculture.

The prohibition reaches a wolf crossbreed "not licensed by the Department of Agriculture", which is the agency that runs Pennsylvania's dog licensing, so a wolfdog carrying that license is outside the Game Commission list and one without it is not. No generation or percentage is written. The opening of § 137.1(a) also reaches any crossbreed "similar in appearance" to a listed animal, and 34 Pa.C.S. § 2961 counts wolf crossbreeds with similar features as exotic wildlife, so a high-content animal that reads as a wolf is where the Commission would be most likely to look past the license. The Dog Law's own definition was not read.

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.

"Dangerous animal" means a lion, tiger, leopard, ocelot, jaguar, cheetah, margay, mountain lion, lynx, bobcat, jaguarundi, bear, hyena, wolf or coyote. Dangerous animal does not mean any herptiles included in the Herptiles-Herps Act.

The dangerous animal list names "wolf" and has no hybrid clause either way, unlike Ohio's and Washington's, which exclude hybrids in terms, or Texas's, which includes them. Whether a wolfdog is a "wolf" for § 48-10 is the whole question, and the statute does not answer it; a high-content animal is where a prosecutor would argue that it is. If it is, only the listed institutions may keep one. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter and often decides it.

How this rule works: A closed list of 15 named mammals plus a blanket bar on primates, and nothing else. It replaced the Dangerous Animals Act at 720 ILCS 585, which P.A. 98-752 repealed effective 1 January 2015; the old citation is still what most secondary sources give. The section says in terms that it does not reach reptiles or amphibians. Exemptions: primates lawfully held before 1 January 2011 and registered by 1 April 2011, and one service capuchin for a person with a severe mobility impairment.

(a) Any person possessing one of the following animals shall be required to obtain a possession permit: (1) mountain lion, Felis concolor Linnaeus; (2) wolf, Canis lupus Say; (3) black bear, Ursus americanus Pallas; and (4) grizzly bear, Ursus arctos horribilis Ord.

The wolf is not a dangerous regulated animal in Kansas; it needs a wildlife possession permit under 115-20-4, which any individual may apply for. Kansas writes no canid hybrid rule, so whether a wolfdog is a "wolf, Canis lupus" needing that permit or a dog needing nothing is unanswered. If it is a wolf, the answer is a personal permit; local ordinances apply either way.

How this rule works: A possession permit for exactly four animals, the mountain lion, the wolf (Canis lupus), the black bear and the grizzly, which "Any individual may apply" for with proof of purchase and the purpose of possession, subject to all local ordinances. Zoos, vets, schools, circuses and possession of five days or less are exempt. For the cats and bears it sits under K.S.A. 32-1302(c), which since 1 July 2006 bars anyone but a qualifying USDA licensee from taking possession of a dangerous regulated animal.

(l) Wolf (Canis lupus).

Kentucky prohibits the wolf as a native and writes hybrid language twice, for "Any hybrid of rabies vector species", which reaches the coydog, and for hybrids of the inherently dangerous exotics, which do not include the wolf. Neither hybrid clause names the wolf. The wolf entry is a bare binomial, and the domestic dog is itself classed by many authorities as Canis lupus familiaris, so whether the entry reaches a wolfdog is not settled by the text. KRS 65.877 lets local governments regulate.

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.

D.1.Wolf-Dog Hybrids. The prohibition against wolf-dog hybrids expired January 1, 1997. Persons are cautioned that local ordinances or other state regulations may prohibit possession of these animals. Any animal which appears indistinguishable from a wolf, or is in any way represented to be a wolf shall be considered to be a wolf in the absence of bona fide documentation to the contrary.

The rule contradicts itself. The "wolf dog hybrid" is still printed in the § 115.C.1 list of banned animals, while D.1 says that prohibition expired on 1 January 1997. On the D.1 reading a wolfdog is legal, but one that looks like a wolf, or is sold as one, is treated as a wolf and banned unless documented otherwise. The fennec fox cell reads the C.1.f line as expired on the same D.1 sentence.

How this rule works: A short mammal ban: three bears, two wolves, wolf dog hybrids, all non-human primates, and six big cats with their subspecies and hybrids. Existing permit holders were grandfathered but may not acquire more.

"Small game" means game birds, gray squirrel, fox squirrel, cottontail rabbit, snowshoe hare, jack rabbit, raccoon, lynx, bobcat, short-tailed weasel, long-tailed weasel, wolf, red fox and gray fox, fisher, pine marten, opossum, badger, cougar, wolverine, muskrat, mink, otter, and beaver.

The regulated animal statute reaches hybrids only of cats, bears and primates, so a wolfdog is not a regulated animal. What arguably reaches it is the game law: "wolf" is small game and a protected wild animal, and a wild animal is one "wild by nature". Minnesota has no canid hybrid provision saying whether a wolfdog is a wolf, a dog, or neither, so the answer turns on that unwritten line. Local ordinances commonly regulate wolf hybrids.

How this rule works: Two subdivisions decide most Minnesota questions. Subd. 55 defines wild animals as creatures 'wild by nature' and includes reptiles and amphibians, with no geographic limit, so a ball python is a wild animal here. Subd. 39 makes snakes, salamanders, lizards, turtles and frogs protected wild animals as categories rather than as native species lists. Invertebrates other than crustaceans and mollusks are outside the definition entirely.

(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.

The statute bans "any wolf" and says nothing about hybrids, while § 37-247 defines wildlife as a member of a "nondomesticated species", which a dog cross arguably is not. 166 NAC 8 defines a hybrid but never applies the definition to wolves. Whether a wolfdog is a "wolf" for § 37-477(2) is not settled by any text read, and a high-content animal is where enforcement would be most likely.

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.

Carnivora Canidae--Nondomestic dogs / Ursidae--Bears / Felidae--Nondomestic cats

The same gap as the Bengal. The dangerous table reaches "Nondomestic dogs" and stops, subchapter 4 has no hybrid provision and no generation count anywhere, and N.J.S.A. 23:4-63.3(j) excludes "domesticated companion animals ... as defined by the Fish and Game Council", a term the Council has never defined. A wolfdog is half of each category the word "nondomestic" separates. Recorded unclear rather than guessed, because the two readings are a licensed dog and an animal that may not be kept at all.

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 | Dog | Canidae | Canis familiaris | Dog, Common & Hybrids | I | all species except as restricted in another group

The dog row puts hybrids in Group I, which needs no importation permit, but qualifies it "except as restricted in another group", and the gray wolf is Group IV. The wolf row does not say it includes hybrids, as the wild turkey rows do in terms, so it is unclear whether the exception sends a wolfdog to Group IV or leaves it a Group I dog. The cat row carries no such exception, which is why the Savannah cat is clear here and the wolfdog is not. 19.35.7 NMAC governs importation, not keeping an animal already in New Mexico.

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.

h. Domestic Dog (Canis familiaris) excluding hybrids with wild canids,

The Savannah cat's position. The domestic dog entry excludes "hybrids with wild canids", and § 3.7(A) restricts carnivore hybrids without a licensed rabies vaccine to researchers, USDA exhibitors and AZA facilities, so a first-generation wolf by dog cross is plainly barred. But § 3.6(A)(13) defines a hybrid as "the cross breeding of a domestic and wild animal", and a later-generation wolfdog is the offspring of a wolfdog, so it is arguably not a hybrid at all. Nothing counts generations to settle it. The wolf itself is on the native mammal list.

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.

(5) Hybrids involving two species from different Classes of animals shall be regulated as a member of the least restrictive Class involved, unless otherwise specified.

Wolves of all species are Class I, closed to private keepers, and Tennessee writes hybrid rules that do not quite fit this cross. The statute puts hybrids of a Class II species and a domestic animal in Class III, but the wolf is Class I. The rule adds hybrids of two Class I species to Class I and puts cross-class hybrids in the least restrictive class involved, but a domestic dog is not wildlife in any class. So whether a wolfdog is a Class I wolf, a Class III hybrid or outside the scheme as a dog is not answered by any of the three provisions.

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.