Who Makes Laws against Keeping Wild Animals as Pets

State and local laws: Strong state laws and even local laws have always been a useful way to protect exotic and wild animals. There are significant differences between states and cities and counties in the degree of legal protection afforded to captured wildlife. Animal Welfare Act: The Animal Welfare Act (ETA), enacted in 1966, is the main federal animal welfare law. AWA mainly concerns animals kept in zoos and used in laboratories, as well as animals raised commercially and sold as in puppy mills. Each state also has laws that regulate certain aspects of «practical» animal care. For example, there are laws governing how long shelters must «keep» stray animals before they can be adopted or euthanized. There are also laws on how often pets should be vaccinated against rabies. States also often have regulations for commercial pet breeding. In Oklahoma, you can own any pet with a license. The state calls it a wild animal breeding license. A permit is not required to have exotic farm animals, fish and amphibians.

With a growing awareness of the cruelty associated with keeping wild animals in captivity, more and more jurisdictions are adopting legal protections. These laws help animals and also people, because wild animals in captivity pose a serious risk to public safety. You are not allowed to own a variety of exotic animals in Maryland. Wild cats, wild canids, bears, raccoons, skunks, alligators, primates, some venomous snakes and other exotic animals are prohibited from ownership. They are allowed to keep hedgehogs and sugar gliders. The 2010 Animal Crushing Video Ban Act banned the creation and distribution of so-called «crush videos,» in which people torture, crush and kill small animals such as puppies and hamsters to tickle viewers. The PACT law goes further and prohibits the cruelty to animals it contains. Spurred on by concerns about public health, public safety, and animal welfare, legislators began to recognize the dangers posed by private ownership of exotic animals. Public health can be threatened by the introduction of non-indigenous microorganisms that the population cannot cope with. For example, an outbreak of monkeypox in the Midwest caused by prairie dogs led to a ban on keeping these animals in several cities, counties, and states. Similarly, threats to public safety in the form of attacks by exotic animals can also trigger new laws, as can the devastation of a young boy in North Carolina. Physical attacks may even be more likely than epidemics to promote regulations, as the media treats them more sensationally.

Finally, legislators take less account of animal welfare by prohibiting or restricting the possession of exotic animals. Many stories of malnourished, housed and abused animals have learned that personal ownership of exotic animals is not in the best interests of the animals themselves. While many of us love kittens and puppies, some people want something more exotic, like a gorilla, Chinese alligator, plow turtle, or hyacinth macaw. With the illegal animal smuggling industry worth an estimated $20 billion, surpassed only by the illegal drug trade, many people get their hands on exotic animals they are not allowed to own. This can even extend to marine animals. In 2017, three Florida teenagers were charged with animal cruelty for torturing a shark. For Alaska residents, no one may own, sell, import, or export live wildlife (any species of birds, mammals, or reptiles, including a wild pet found or introduced into the state, except domestic birds and mammals). The state defines all non-pets as including feral cats, wild dogs, bears and primates as «live play.» This restriction applies to wolf hybrids acquired after January 23, 2002 and chimpanzees acquired after January 31, 2010. Prior to these dates, possession of these animals was permitted without permission. You can apply for a permit to own animals on the prohibited list, although the Department of Fisheries and Hunting only grants permits for scientific and educational purposes.

Each state also has wildlife protection laws, as well as laws on when and how it is sanctioned for killing wild animals through hunting and fishing. When it comes to exotic pets in the United States, the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition, an alliance of animal welfare groups and wildlife experts fighting the exotic pet trade, estimates the following figures: 5,000 to 7,000 tigers (more than the wild population in Asia), 10,000 to 20,000 big cats, 17.3 million birds, 8.8 million reptiles and at least 3,000 great apes. CWAPC Fact Sheet, Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition, at cwapc.org/education/download/cwapc_factsheets1.pdf (accessed August 6, 2004). Restrictions on the keeping of wild animals by private parties: Some states prohibit the keeping of wild and exotic animals. Others allow private parties to keep animals such as tigers or primates with a permit. Fewer and fewer states allow residents to keep wild animals in captivity without permission. In 2017, there were five such states when South Carolina passed a law banning the keeping of wild and exotic animals as pets. (This law does not apply to zoos or circuses.) We know that most people buy exotic animals because they love animals.

Animals bring joy into our lives, so why wouldn`t we want them to be a part of our daily lives at home? Unfortunately, the truth is that all wild animals that are part of the exotic animal trade suffer. There is no federal law prohibiting the keeping of all exotic animals as pets. However, there are specific laws that prohibit the possession of certain animals. There are only a handful of federal animal welfare laws: Under Florida`s administrative code, Class I animals are illegal to possess and Class II animals require a license. Class I animals include bears, big cats, rhinos, crocodiles, chimpanzees and more. Class II includes howler monkeys, macaques, bobcats, pumas, cheetahs, alligators, wolves, giraffes and more. A 2010 law prohibits the import, sale and release of non-native species. This law further restricts the capture and keeping of venomous reptiles and other reptiles of concern, unless the owner already had a permit before the law.

You do not need a permit to keep ferrets, parrots, hedgehogs, chinchillas and other small rodents. We think these animals look cute, but they have actually been sentenced to suffering for life. The PACT Act (Prevention of Cruelty and Torture to Animals): The PACT Act, enacted in 2019, makes some of the most egregious forms of cruelty to animals — particularly crushing, burning, drowning, suffocation, impalement or sexual exploitation — a federal crime in interstate commerce or within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. The possession of large carnivores such as lions, tigers and bears is illegal, as are monkeys, baboons and macaques. There is also a limit of six animals per owner for bobcats, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, quail, opossums, coyotes, deer, red foxes and gray foxes. If you acquired an animal in another state, you must prove that it was acquired legally. The Colorado Wildlife Act does not allow you to keep most exotic animals as pets. These include wildebeest, wild boar, raccoon, skunk, hedgehog, opossum, squirrels, porcupines, monk parakeets and primates. You can keep some native reptiles.

Performance bans for wild animals: Some states regulate the use of wild animals in shows. In 2017, Illinois and New York passed the first statewide bans on the use of elephants in entertainment. This is generally considered to be the beginning of a more widespread trend. In 2007, Washington state laws were changed to prevent dangerous animals from being kept as pets. This list includes bears, wolves, big cats, alligators, elephants, primates and poisonous snakes. You can keep ferrets and llamas without permission. If you want to import wildlife into Wisconsin, you will need an import permit and veterinary control certificate. There are some rodents that you cannot import unless you get a permit from the Department of Natural Resources. You cannot keep certain native pests as pets, including cougars, black bears, raccoons and bobcats.

Wisconsin allows the possession of monkeys, but not chimpanzees as pets. Local animal welfare laws: Many other pet welfare measures are enacted and enforced at the local level. For example, hundreds of cities and counties have banned pet retailing like California and Maryland. Most animal welfare laws are passed at the state level. There are also a handful of federal animal welfare laws. In addition, some cities and counties issue ordinances to protect animals. In 2014, the Animal Legal Defense Fund successfully filed a lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act against a street zoo called Cricket Hollow Animal Park that abused protected animals. This was the first time ESA had been successfully deployed to protect wildlife in captivity. In 2018, the Eighth District issued a unanimous ruling in Cricket Hollow`s appeal in that case that it could be a violation of the Endangered Species Act if captive animals are not properly cared for. New York law states that you cannot own wild animals, including non-domestic cats or dogs, bears, crocodiles, venomous reptiles, and primates.

Animals you can keep as pets without permission include sugar gliders, wallabies, kangaroos, capybaras, porcupines and most non-venomous reptiles. The «28-hour law»: This law enacted in 1873 stipulates that vehicles carrying certain animals for slaughter must stop every 28 hours so that the animals need exercise, food and water.