Where is the Bengal cat legal?

The following species, not including a hybrid of a game animal and a species listed in this subsection, may be possessed, imported, exported, bought, sold, or traded without a permit

Cat, Felis catus, is on the clean list but hybrids of a listed species and a game animal are carved straight back out, and subsection (c) then bars any pet permit for such a hybrid by name. The rule sets no filial generation cut off, so it gives no comfort to a late generation Bengal the way Iowa and New York do.

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.

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

The fourteenth Bengal answer on this map and the bluntest. Georgia has no generation rule, no weight test and no registry carve-out. The inherently dangerous list is "Family Felidae (cats) - All species", and DNR states the hybrid position directly: "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", followed by "Most exotic cat hybrids, such as a savannah cat, are not a legal pet in Georgia." The phrase "all subsequent generations" is what forecloses the argument every other state on this row leaves open.

How this rule works: Georgia sorts wild animals into three tiers and none of them is a pet tier. Rule .03 prohibits outright, and its only pet-relevant entry is the monk parakeet. Rule .04 is inherently dangerous animals needing a licence AND liability insurance: all Felidae, four canid genera, bears, hyenas, kangaroos, great apes, crocodilians, the venomous snake families and a short list of fish and scorpions. Rule .05 requires a licence, and it works by taxonomic order rather than by species, which is why it is so wide: all Carnivora, all hedgehogs, all lagomorphs, all marsupials, all primates, and all rodents except six named genera. The thing to read before any of it is O.C.G.A. § 27-5-4(b)(1), because it says who a licence is issued to: the wild animal trade and public exhibitors, plus no-cost permits for science, education, a capuchin monkey for a person with a permanent disability, and grass carp for a pond owner. No pet. So an animal on .04 or .05 is not a permit animal for a keeper, it is a no, and the rule proves it by writing express "may be held as a pet without a license" exceptions for exactly two animals, the European ferret and the sugar glider.

Felis catus crossed with lynx, ocelot, margay, puma, jaguarandi, bobcat, leopard cat, wild cat, etc. ... cat, hybrid; (all hybrid-crosses where one or both parents are prohibited or restricted)

Hawaii is one of the few states to write the hybrid question into the rule instead of leaving it open. The prohibited list names the leopard cat cross specifically, and § 150A-6.2(b) sets up an expert committee to settle disputed lineage. There is no filial generation cutoff, so a late generation Bengal 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.

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

The fifteenth Bengal answer on this map and the only one with no exit at all. The cat clause ends "and any hybrid or cross-breed offspring of a wild cat and domesticated or other cat", with no filial number, no weight test and no registry exception. New York State allows a registered hybrid five generations clear of wild parentage; inside the five boroughs that carve-out does not exist, so the same cat is lawful in Buffalo and not in Brooklyn. § 161.01(d) is worth knowing alongside the prohibition: a prohibited animal may be seized by any authorized city employee, the owner has three business days to request a hearing, and with the Department's written consent the animal may be removed to a jurisdiction where it is not prohibited. That last provision is the closest thing to relief in the article.

How this rule works: A city rule that is stricter than any state on this map, and it works in three layers. It opens with a standard rather than a list, deeming a wild animal to be "any animal which is naturally inclined to do harm and capable of inflicting harm upon human beings". It then adds, at (b)(ii), any wildlife protected or endangered under federal, STATE or local law, which imports New York State's protected wildlife scheme into the city wholesale. And it closes with 24 numbered clauses that work mostly by family: all cats other than Felis catus and their hybrids, all dogs other than Canis familiaris, all Mustelidae including the ferret by name, all squirrels, all marsupials, all large rodents, all Boidae, all Pythonidae, all Varanidae, all Iguanidae, all teiidae, all Chelydridae, all venomous spiders including the tarantula by name, and all turtles under four inches. § 161.01(c) is the short answer to what is left: gerbil, hamster, guinea pig, domesticated rabbit, and small birds such as parakeet, parrot, canary and finch.

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

The Bengal is a hybrid of a wild mammal, which § 7201 names expressly alongside wild mammals themselves, and no cat appears on the exempt list. So an Individual permit is required and the filial generation does not enter into it, because the statute reaches the hybrid as such. The permit is a $25 Individual permit from the Department of Agriculture, issued where possession will be in the public interest, so this is a real route rather than a closed door.

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.

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

The words or any of its hybrids sit in the operative sentence rather than in a separate clause, so a Bengal is caught by the Felidae entry. No filial generation cut off is given.

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.

The bengal must be the fourth or later filial generation of offspring with the first filial generation being the offspring of a domestic cat and an Asian leopard cat, and each subsequent generation being the offspring of a domestic cat.

F4 and later are carved out of the definition. F1 to F3 are dangerous wild animals and are banned.

How this rule works: § 717F.3 bars owning, possessing, breeding or importing a dangerous wild animal. § 717F.1(5) defines the class by family and order rather than by species name, so the boundaries are read off the taxonomy. § 717F.4 grandfathers animals already owned on 1 July 2007.

A person may not import into the State, offer for sale, trade, barter, possess, breed, or exchange a live: (i) fox, skunk, raccoon, or bear; (ii) caiman, alligator, or crocodile; (iii) member of the cat family other than the domestic cat; (iv) hybrid of a member of the cat family and a domestic cat if the hybrid weighs over 30 pounds; (v) member of the dog family other than the domestic dog; (vi) hybrid of a member of the dog family and a domestic dog; (vii) nonhuman primate ...; or (viii) poisonous snake in the family groups of Hydrophidae, Elapidae, Viperidae, or Crotolidae.

Maryland is the one state on this map that answers the hybrid cat question by weight. The prohibition reaches a cat hybrid only "if the hybrid weighs over 30 pounds", with no generation test, no registry requirement and no reference to filial number at all. Most Bengals are well under that, so most Bengals are lawful, and the same clause would catch a large Savannah. The line is drawn on the individual animal rather than on its ancestry, which means the answer can in principle change as a cat grows. Subsection (e) of § 10-621 preserves stricter county and municipal rules, and Maryland counties use that power, so the local ordinance is worth checking before the state list.

Existing owners: Lawful possession on or before 31 May 2006 may continue, but only if the keeper gave written notification to the local animal control authority by 1 August 2006, with the number and type of animals and a photograph or a description of a tattoo or microchip. That window is long closed.

How this rule works: Maryland's dangerous animal list, on the General Assembly's own site. Eight clauses and nothing else: fox, skunk, raccoon or bear; caiman, alligator or crocodile; any cat other than the domestic cat; a cat hybrid over 30 pounds; any dog other than the domestic dog and any dog hybrid; non-human primates; and venomous snakes of four named families. A misdemeanour, and subsection (e) says in terms that counties and municipalities may go further. Note COMAR 15.11.16.01, titled List of Prohibited Animals, is an agriculture rule about feral swine and is not this provision.

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 provisions of this section shall not apply to an owner or person possessing 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.

The tenth Bengal answer on this map, and the only one that requires the registry paperwork rather than merely referring to it. § 77A prohibits possessing a wild felid hybrid outright, and 321 CMR 9.02(2)(e) confirms the route by making every wild-domestic mammal hybrid domestic EXCEPT wild canid and wild felid hybrids, which it sends back to § 77A. The exit is a cat registered with a national or international registry whose pedigree certifies no wild felid parentage for at least three generations, which lands on the same animal as Iowa's fourth filial generation but reaches it by counting backwards from the cat rather than forwards from the cross. Two conditions, not one: the generations alone are not enough without the registration, and the registration alone is not enough without the certified pedigree. MassWildlife applies the same test to the Savannah, saying it is domestic "only if it can be documented to be generations (F4) past the original mating with an African Serval".

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.

(1) No person shall keep in captivity in this state any wild birds, any wild mammals, any nongame wildlife in need of conservation as determined by the commission under section 37-805, or any wildlife determined to be an endangered or threatened species ... without first having obtained a permit. (2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, no person shall keep in captivity in this state any wolf, any skunk, or any member of the families Felidae and Ursidae. This subsection shall not apply to (a) the species Felis domesticus, (b) any zoo, park, refuge, wildlife area, or nature center owned or operated by a city, village, state, or federal agency or any zoo accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums or the Zoological Association of America, or (c) any person who holds a captive wildlife permit ... and who raises Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis) or bobcats (Lynx rufus) solely for the purpose of producing furs.

The eleventh Bengal answer on this map, and it turns on two words with no generation rule attached. Nebraska bans every member of Felidae and then excepts "the species Felis domesticus". A late-generation Bengal registered and sold as a domestic cat is Felis catus and clears it. An early-generation animal is a hybrid rather than a member of that species, and nothing in the statute or in 166 NAC 8 says where the line falls: the chapter defines a hybrid as "an animal produced by crossing species or subspecies" and then never uses the definition to answer this. So the condition is real and its threshold is not written down anywhere, which is a different problem from the states that pick a filial number and stick to it.

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.

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

The thirteenth Bengal answer on this map and the strictest generation rule on it. Felidae "and all hybrids thereof" is a wild animal, with one exit: hybrids of Felis catus "that are registered by the American Cat Fanciers Association or the International Cat Association provided that such cats be without any wild felid parentage for a minimum of five generations". So F5 and later, and only with ACFA or TICA registration. Two conditions rather than one, exactly as in Massachusetts, but at five generations rather than three. 6 NYCRR § 180.1(b)(8) repeats the sentence word for word, which is unusual and useful: the regulation cannot be read as narrowing the statute here.

How this rule works: New York answers exotic and native animals through two entirely separate mechanisms, and the famous one is the smaller. § 11-0103(6)(e) is a closed "wild animal" list, six clauses long, that § 11-0512 then bars keeping as a pet: primates, Felidae, Canidae, Ursidae, a named set of large constrictors and monitors plus all venomous reptiles, and Crocodylia. It carries two express carve-outs that decide cells on this map, for registered Felis catus hybrids five generations clear of wild parentage and for captive bred fennec foxes. The other mechanism is the one that catches natives, and it is a definition rather than a list: § 11-0103(2)(c) makes native frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards and snakes SMALL GAME, therefore game, therefore protected wildlife under § 11-0103(6)(c), and § 11-0107(2) bars possessing protected wildlife "whether taken within the state or coming from without the state". The only licence, § 11-0515, is for propagation, banding, scientific or exhibition purposes, so there is no pet route behind it.

Carnivora | Feliformia | Felidae | All wild-domestic hybrid cats of F4 generation or greater

Vermont draws the line by generation, which is unusually precise. An F4 or later Bengal is unrestricted. An earlier generation animal is on no list and therefore restricted, and the permit that would cover it is not issued for pet keeping. Ask the breeder for the filial generation before you buy, because it is the whole answer here.

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.

Hybrid wildlife, as defined in R12-4-401, that result from the interbreeding of at least one parent species of wildlife that is listed under this Section are regulated by this Section.

Arizona is one of the few states with an express rule on hybrids, and it points the wrong way for the Bengal. The whole order Carnivora is restricted, which takes in the Asian leopard cat behind the breed, and subsection E then says hybrids resulting from the interbreeding of at least one listed parent species are regulated by the same section. No filial generation cutoff appears, so on the text a late-generation Bengal is caught alongside an F1. The counterweight is subsection D, which exempts domestic animals, defined as a species that does not exist in the wild, and a Bengal is a cross rather than a species. Recorded restricted rather than banned or legal, because the permit regime plainly reaches it and pet keeping is not clearly ruled out.

How this rule works: The operative rule. Restricted live wildlife needs a special licence, and the lists run by order and family rather than by species, so the whole of Carnivora is caught while most of the pet reptile trade is not. Two exceptions are written in by name: the genus Atelerix, the pet hedgehogs, and the genus Oryctolagus, which the rule says are not wildlife at all. Two subsections do quiet work: (D) exempts domestic animals, defined at R12-4-401 as a species that does not exist in the wild, and (E) pulls hybrids back in whenever one parent species is on the list. Note that the AZGFD commission rules PDF circulating as Supp. 13-2 is a 2013 edition and predates the Atelerix and Oryctolagus exceptions; read the current text, not that one.

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

The unrestricted list names one hybrid, the wolf and dog cross, and no cat of any kind. A Bengal is registered as a domestic cat, so whether Code 09.02 reaches it at all is the question, and this document does not answer it. Ask the Game and Fish Commission.

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

Carnivora (Carnivores) Mustela putorius furo Domestic Ferret

A Bengal is registered as Felis catus, and a domestic cat is not wildlife, so the unrestricted list is arguably the wrong document to consult. But the list clears exactly one carnivore, and Maine regulates hybrids of wild species elsewhere in its wildlife rules. Nothing here settles which side a Bengal falls on. Ask Inland Fisheries and Wildlife before buying.

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

all members of the Felidae family including, but not limited to, lions, tigers, cougars, leopards, cheetahs, ocelots, and servals, but not including domestic cats or cats recognized as a domestic breed, registered as a domestic breed, and shown as a domestic breed by a national or international multibreed cat registry association; (2) bears; and (3) all nonhuman primates

Two sentences of the same definition point opposite ways for this animal, and Minnesota has never said which wins. The Felidae clause excludes "domestic cats or cats recognized as a domestic breed, registered as a domestic breed, and shown as a domestic breed by a national or international multibreed cat registry association", and the Bengal is registered and shown as a domestic breed by TICA. But the definition closes with a sentence providing that a regulated animal "includes any hybrid or cross between an animal listed in clause (1), (2), or (3) and a domestic animal and offspring from all subsequent generations of those crosses or hybrids", and the Asian leopard cat behind the Bengal is a clause (1) animal. Read the hybrid sentence alone and every Bengal is banned at every generation. Read the carve-out as doing real work and the Bengal is exempt, since the registered domestic breeds it could describe are almost all wild hybrids and the carve-out would otherwise add nothing to "domestic cats". This entry previously read as banned on the hybrid sentence alone, without the carve-out. Recorded unclear rather than either, because the conflict is on the face of the statute and enforcement sits with local animal control rather than one agency that could settle it.

How this rule works: Revisor of Statutes text. 'Regulated animal' is the whole family Felidae, bears, and all non-human primates, plus any hybrid with a domestic animal and all subsequent generations. Possession has been unlawful since 1 January 2005 except for animals already held then and brought into federal Animal Welfare Act compliance. Note the carve-out inside the Felidae clause, which excludes not only domestic cats but cats registered and shown as a domestic breed by a multibreed registry; it and the hybrid sentence pull in opposite directions.

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

New Jersey writes the cat line as "Felidae--Nondomestic cats" and stops there. There is no hybrid provision anywhere in subchapter 4, no generation count of the sort New York and Massachusetts use, and no filial cutoff in the Division's published notice, so the whole question is carried by the word "nondomestic" doing work the rule never defines. A Bengal is Felis catus crossed to Prionailurus bengalensis, which makes it half of each category the line distinguishes. The statute above the rule does not help either, because N.J.S.A. 23:4-63.3(j) excludes "domesticated companion animals ... as defined by the Fish and Game Council" and the Council has not defined that term by rule. Recorded as unread rather than guessed, because the two available guesses are a free pet and a species 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.

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

Genuinely unresolved, and the ambiguity is structural. The Bengal is a cross between the domestic cat and the Asian leopard cat, so it sits on both sides of this line at once: the opening sentence of § 137.1(a) prohibits a crossbreed or hybrid of the listed animals which are similar in appearance, while the Felidae line exempts species commonly called house cats. Nothing in the regulation names a filial generation, a percentage of wild ancestry, or the Bengal itself, so an early generation animal and a late generation one get the same silent text. Rendered grey rather than guessed.

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.

Domestic Cat (Felis catus) excluding hybrids with wild felines,

An F1 cross is plainly excluded from the domestic animal list and then caught by the § 3.9(B) bar on permits for Carnivora hybrids. A late generation Bengal is the offspring of two domestic cats, so on the § 3.6(A)(13) definition of hybrid it arguably is not one. The regulation sets no filial generation cut off the way Iowa and New York do. Ask the Division of Agriculture before buying.

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.

Felidae All Species Cats*

The table restricts the cat family without exception and without a hybrid clause, which is the problem. A Bengal is registered as Felis catus but carries leopard cat ancestry, and the rule offers no filial generation line to settle which side it falls. Ask the Department of Wildlife Resources before buying.

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