Where is the cockatoo legal?

Birds Psittaciformes Psittacidae Nymphicus hollandicus Cockatiel Captive Bred Only

Vermont is an inverted-list state and the cockatoo falls through all three of its lists. 10 V.S.A. § 4709 bars bringing in, transporting or possessing any live wild bird or animal without authorisation, and the Unrestricted Wild Animal List closes the loop by saying a species found on none of the Restricted, Unrestricted or Domestic lists is considered Restricted. the cockatoo is on none of them: the Unrestricted list's birds are the rock dove, the European buzzard, a run of estrildid finches and the canary, with no psittacine at all, and the Domestic Species List's psittacine section is a closed list of about thirty species that names the budgerigar, the cockatiel, the lovebirds, the rosellas, the conures and Psittacula, and stops. What makes Restricted a ban rather than paperwork is Regulation 881: "the Commissioner shall not issue a permit for the keeping or possession of any wild animal in captivity, except for bona fide scientific or educational purposes". There is no pet category to apply under. This entry read unclear because the Domestic Species List could not be read; it can be now. The list does carry one cacatuid, the cockatiel, Nymphicus hollandicus, which is in the same family as the cockatoos and is the bird people most often assume settles the question. No Cacatua appears anywhere. So Vermont allows the cockatiel and not the cockatoo, off a list that names each species individually.

How this rule works: The third of Vermont's three lists and the one earlier sittings could not read; it extracts cleanly with pypdf from this URL, fetched with a browser User-Agent. It is what makes the domestic cat, the dog, the ferret and the domestic rabbit lawful in a state where anything unlisted is Restricted. Its bird section is a closed list of about thirty psittacines, every one marked Captive Bred Only, and it decides the parrot cells: budgerigar, cockatiel, lovebirds, rosellas and Psittacula are on it, and Cacatua, Psittacus and Myiopsitta are not.

All Species in Order Psittaciformes (Parrots) Except for: Myiopsitta monachus; Cyanoliseus patagonus; Enicognathus leptorhynchus; Enicognathus ferrugineus; Family Strigopidae *Except if listed on: IUCN Red List (Endangered, Critically Endangered, or Extinct in the Wild) OR CITES Appendix I

Maine clears the whole parrot order but then strips back out anything on CITES Appendix I or the IUCN's Endangered/Critically Endangered tiers. That carve-out catches several of the most commonly kept pet cockatoos: the Moluccan and yellow-crested cockatoos are CITES Appendix I, and the umbrella cockatoo is IUCN Endangered even though it's only CITES Appendix II. Smaller, more secure species like the cockatiel or galah would still clear the list; the larger, more iconic cockatoos generally need Maine's captivity permit instead.

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.

A permit shall be required for any other exotic mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians, or nongame species not specifically exempted by N.J.A.C. 7:25-4.4.

This entry previously read legal, cited to 4.8(a), because the potentially dangerous table lists three parrots and no cockatoo among them. That reads the rule backwards. The three parrots on 4.8(a), the ring-necked parakeets, Myiopsitta and the Patagonian conure, are there as escape-and-establish agricultural pests, and being off that table only means a bird is not banned. The exempt list at 4.4 is what decides whether a bird is free, and its nine entries are the budgerigar, cockatiel, peafowl, rock dove, canary, house sparrow, European starling, zebra finch and society finch. No cockatoo, so 4.5 requires a permit. One caveat on top: the Division treats an IUCN Red List entry as an endangered listing, and several cockatoos in the trade carry one, the umbrella cockatoo as Endangered and the Moluccan as Vulnerable, so the answer may be harder than a permit depending on species.

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.

White cockatoos (Umbrella, Moluccan, Sulphur-crested, Little Corella, etc.)

Cockatoos are named on Hawaii's conditionally approved list, alongside the galah, gang-gang, black cockatoos, and palm cockatoo, so keeping one is possible but requires an import permit, pre-departure quarantine, health certification, and permanent ID before the bird ever lands in the state.

How this rule works: The list that matters most for pet keepers and the one almost never quoted. Conditional approval means importation and possession are allowed subject to the conditions the Board of Agriculture sets, unlike the restricted list, which is research and exhibition only.

List of Birds. (a) The following groups of birds are prohibited without a permit: 1. Species categorically non-exempt pursuant to 321 CMR 9.01(3). 2. Migratory birds listed in the Code of Federal Regulations, 50 CFR 10.13. 3. Any other bird native to the United States and Canada. (b) Except for species listed in 321 CMR 9.01(11)(a), the birds or groups of birds may be kept without a permit: ... 6. Psittacidae (parrots and their allies)

Cockatoos are parrots for the purpose of the family exemption, so the answer turns entirely on the species and on 9.01(3)(b). The common pet cockatoos split both ways: the umbrella (Cacatua alba) and Moluccan (C. moluccensis) are IUCN endangered and the sulphur-crested group includes critically endangered species, all of which are categorically non-exempt, while the Major Mitchell's (C. leadbeateri) and long-billed corella (C. tenuirostris) are least concern and clear the bar. Goffin's (C. goffiniana) is near threatened, which is where the language runs out: the statute bars listing an animal "in any category" of the IUCN Red Data Books and MassWildlife paraphrases that as "any rarity category", and whether near threatened counts is not answered anywhere in the text. Check the species before assuming this is a bird question rather than a permit one.

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.