Where is the flying squirrel legal?

Any of the following from any area outside the state of Alabama; ...species of raccoon, species of skunk, wild rodent, or strain of wild turkey

The wild-rodent import ban that this site's prairie-dog research already documents names squirrels specifically in the underlying regulation text. A flying squirrel brought into Alabama from outside the state is a wild rodent under this rule.

How this rule works: Alabama's prohibited list, not a permitted one, so absence from it means an animal is unrestricted. The official code site is a React app that serves nothing to a fetcher, but /api/rule/<number> returns the current rule as a PDF; use it, because Cornell LII's copy is the 2020 version and the current one differs. Two clauses do most of the work: everything the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act is banned by reference, and a block of mammals is banned when it comes from outside Alabama.

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 is a clean list and Glaucomys volans is not on it. A flying squirrel is a mammal, so it is game under AS 16.05.940(19), § 92.029(a) then bars possessing or importing live game without a permit, and § 92.029(c) forbids the department from issuing that permit for a pet at all. The clean list does carry nine exotic mammals, from the chinchilla to the African pygmy hedgehog, so a mammal can get on it; the route is § 92.029(h), which requires clear and convincing evidence to the board. Alaska has its own flying squirrel, the northern, but that changes nothing here, because the bar runs on absence from the list rather than on nativity.

How this rule works: The strictest structure in the country and the clearest. Subsection (a) bars possessing live game without a permit, (b) is a short clean list of species needing no permit, and (c) then removes the escape hatch: the department may not issue a permit for any game animal for use as a pet. So an animal missing from the clean list cannot be kept, permit or not.

Order Rodentia is restricted as a whole ('All species (D)') except for a specific list of domesticated species (hamsters, rats, mice, guinea pigs, chinchillas); flying squirrels are not among the exceptions. This section number is carried over from this site's prairie-dog research, which cites the same Sciuridae subsection for a different genus in the same family; the exact subsection should be re-confirmed against the primary text before publishing.

How this rule works: § 671(b) defines (D) detrimental and (W) welfare. § 671.1(a) lists permit types; none covers pet keeping. The only possession permit, Animal Care, requires lawful possession in California before January 1992.

Any species of wildlife that is not specifically listed in Chapter W-11 as Domestic or Unregulated or in Chapter W-07 as Appendix A or Appendix B, the species is regulated wildlife and a CPW license is required. CPW will not issue a license for private possession (eg pet) of regulated wildlife.

No Glaucomys appears on the domestic list, the unregulated list or the prohibited list, so it is regulated. Colorado has no pet licence to issue. Chapter W-11 § 1104 offers commercial wildlife park licences, which require commercial status, and a non-commercial wildlife park licence that § 1104(B)(2) closed to new entrants: it is available only to someone who held one already or held exotic mammals lawfully before 1 January 1983. The chapter introduction states the effect plainly, that "noncommercial (pet) possession of regulated mammals has been prohibited by these regulations since 1983". The squirrels § 008(B) does prohibit outright are African genera, tree or sun squirrels (Heliosciurus) and rope squirrels (Funisciurus), which is a different rule aimed at a monkeypox-era import concern rather than at this animal. Colorado also has its own native northern flying squirrel, and C.R.S. 33-6-109 bars live possession of native wildlife independently of any of this.

How this rule works: CPW's own page, with four downloadable lists, herpetofauna, mammals, birds, and fish and marine animals, each row giving a species and the regulation that decides it: Domestic, Unregulated, Appendix A or B, Appendix C, Regulated or Prohibited. Updated 1 May 2026. Not exhaustive, and CPW takes questions on unlisted species by email. This is the agency applying its own rule, which matters most where Appendix A turns on whether a species is native only to the tropics.

A member within the order Rodentia, except for guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus), chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera), rat (Rattus norvegicus), mouse (Mus musculus), hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), dwarf hamster (genera Phodopus and Cricetulus), Patagonia mara (Dolichotis patagonum) and American beaver (Castor canadensis)

Connecticut regulates rodents the opposite way round from most states: rather than naming the ones it bars, it puts the whole order Rodentia in Category Two and then excepts nine, the guinea pig, gerbil, chinchilla, rat, mouse, hamster, dwarf hamsters, Patagonian mara and American beaver. No squirrel is among them. Connecticut has its own native southern flying squirrel, which would otherwise be a Category Three native species; the rodent entry takes precedence, because Category Three is defined as applying only to an animal that is not already Category One, Two or Four. Subsection (b)(3) allows possession of a Category Two animal only by a vet treating it, a municipal park, zoo, marine mammal park, aquarium, nature centre, museum, exhibitor, laboratory or research facility. There is no private permit.

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.

Except as provided in this subsection, a person shall not import into the District, possess, display, offer for sale, trade, barter, exchange, or adoption, or give as a household pet, any living member of the animal kingdom, including those born or raised in captivity, except the following: (A) Domestic dogs, excluding hybrids with wolves, coyotes, or jackals; (B) Domestic cats, excluding hybrids with ocelots or margays; (C) Domesticated rodents and rabbits; (D) Captive-bred species of common cage birds, including chickens; (E) Non-venomous snakes, fish, and turtles, traditionally kept in the home for pleasure rather than for commercial purposes; (F) Ferrets; and (G) Racing pigeons, when kept in compliance with permit requirements.

The rodent category at (C) is qualified: "Domesticated rodents and rabbits". A southern flying squirrel is a rodent and is not domesticated, so it falls outside the exception the guinea pig and the hamster sit inside. This is the same qualifier that decides the rabbit the other way in the same clause. The clause is a bar with seven exceptions and no permit behind it: subsections (j)(2) to (j)(5) reach public zoos, federally licensed exhibitors, rehabilitators, veterinarians, shelters, and goats and sheep brought in to eat grass. There is no route for a private keeper.

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.

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. These restrictions apply to the various species of animal, regardless of the origin or morphology. ... The following list of species native to Georgia may not be held as a pet regardless of its origin or morphology.

Georgia handles its own wildlife separately from the wild animal rule, and the sentence that matters is "These restrictions apply to the various species of animal, regardless of the origin or morphology." A captive-bred animal from an out-of-state breeder is in the same position as one caught in a Georgia yard, and a colour morph is too. The flying squirrel is on DNR's list of native species that may not be held as a pet. Licences exist under O.C.G.A. § 27-5-4 and DNR says in terms that they "are not issued for the purpose of holding native wildlife as pets". It is reached twice over, once as a native and once by R. 391-4-8-.05(1)(a)16, which licenses all Rodentia outside six named genera. This entry previously read as a permit, which neither route supports.

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".

FAMILY Sciuridae Sciuridae (all in family, except the following two species for exhibition in government zoos only: Callosciurus prevosti (squirrel, prevost's) and Sciurus variegatoides (squirrel, variegated) and except all species in the genus Marmota for research in government universities only)

Confirmed directly from the HDOA prohibited-animal-list PDF. The whole squirrel family is prohibited; the only carve-outs are two unrelated tree squirrels (zoo exhibition only) and marmots (university research only). The flying squirrel is not one of the named exceptions, so no legal pathway exists at all, unlike states where a science/exhibition permit at least exists.

How this rule works: HDOA's prohibited species list, which bans the entire squirrel family Sciuridae except two zoo-exhibition species and university-research marmots.

The following species shall be designated nongame species in need of conservation within the boundaries of the state of Kansas. ... (6) Mammals ... Southern flying squirrel, Glaucomys volans (Linnaeus, 1758)

Three rules have to be read together and each one closes a door. K.S.A. 32-1002(a)(2) makes it unlawful to possess any wildlife except as permitted by law or regulation. 115-20-3 permits exotic wildlife, but 115-20-3(d) defines that as species not native to Kansas, and this regulation is the state saying in terms that Glaucomys volans is a Kansas species. 115-20-2 permits taking certain Kansas wildlife for personal use, but subsection (b) excludes any species listed in K.A.R. 115-15-1 or K.A.R. 115-15-2, which is this list. Nothing is left, and the special-permit regulation at 115-15-3 covers threatened and endangered wildlife rather than nongame species in need of conservation.

Existing owners: K.A.R. 115-15-2(c) lets an animal possessed before the regulation took effect be retained if an affidavit was filed with and approved by the secretary before 1 January 1990, or possession had already been approved by the department.

How this rule works: The list of nongame species in need of conservation, adopted under K.S.A. 32-959. It is both a protection and a statement of nativity: a species on it exists in Kansas, which takes it out of the exotic wildlife definition in 115-20-3(d) and out of the takeable list in 115-20-2(b).

Unclassified Species: A person may not possess any species that has not been categorized. Any species which has not been identified as a Prohibited, Restricted, or Unrestricted species will not be eligible for a permit under this chapter, however a request may be made to review the categorization of a species subject to section 7.06(5).

Glaucomys volans is in none of Maine's four buckets. The Unrestricted List's Rodentia section runs to thirteen entries, all cage rodents, and no Glaucomys. § 7.18(1) Prohibited is two species, the monk parakeet and the mute swan. Category 1 Mammalia reaches Callosciurus prevostii and Cynomys ludovicianus by name and twenty-one families wholesale, none of them Sciuridae; Category 2 Mammalia is Camelidae, the binturong, genets, three coatis and Caviidae. So § 7.06(4) applies and says in terms that the animal is not eligible for a permit, which is why this is banned rather than permit. The wild-take escape at 12 M.R.S. § 12152(1-B) covers only reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates, so it does not reach a native mammal. The live route is § 7.06(5), a request to the commissioner and the technical committee to classify the species.

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 uncategorised 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.

The following mammals are classified as prohibited species: ... (q) Southern flying squirrel - Glaucomys volans

Named outright, which makes Montana the only jurisdiction on this map to prohibit this animal by binomial. ARM 12.6.2201(7) defines a prohibited species as one that "may not be possessed, sold, purchased, exchanged, or transported in Montana, except as provided in 87-5-709, MCA, or this subchapter", and 87-5-709 is the exception for zoos, research and rehabilitation rather than for pets. The company it keeps on that list is telling: the Virginia opossum, the short-tailed opossum, the brush-tailed possum, nutria and the African soft fur rat, all animals Montana treats as escape and establishment risks rather than as dangerous ones. Montana has its own flying squirrel, the northern, and the prohibition is written for the southern species alone.

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

Squirrel, Southern Flying Glaucomys volans

Requires Permittee Category 5, the same exhibitor-only category New Hampshire uses for the box turtle. There is no category 1 for an individual, so a private keeper cannot be permitted for one.

How this rule works: Readopted in full by Document #14558, effective 21 April 2026. Four buckets and a closing rule. Fis 804.02 is the non-controlled possession list, Fis 804.03 the prohibited list, Fis 804.05 with Table 800.2 the controlled table, and Fis 804.04(b) then says "All species not specifically listed under the categories of non-controlled, prohibited, or controlled shall be designated as prohibited." Fis 803 runs the same three-way split for importation against Table 800.1. The number beside a species in either table is the permittee category from Fis 802.01: 1 is an individual, 5 an exhibitor, so a species marked 5 alone cannot be held privately. Fis 802.05 is the waiver for unlisted species and subsection (c) closes it to categories 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7, which leaves only exhibitors.

Mammal | Squirrel | Sciuridae | Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus | Squirrel, Carolina northern flying | IV | Federally Endangered

The only flying squirrel named is the Carolina northern, in Group IV as federally endangered. The southern flying squirrel kept as a pet is not on the list, so the default clause designates it Group IV too. Group IV importation is prohibited for the general public and allowed only for scientific study, department approved restoration, zoological display, temporary events, use as a service animal, or by a qualified expert. One caveat on all of this: 19.35.7 NMAC is an importation rule, its stated scope being persons who desire to bring wildlife species into New Mexico, so it governs getting the animal here rather than keeping one already in the state.

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.

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 whole of clause (9) is three words plus a family name: "All squirrels (Sciuridae)." A flying squirrel is a sciurid, so it is caught without being mentioned, and so is a chipmunk. This is the shortest clause in the article and one of the widest. § 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.

Southern flying squirrel — Sciuridae — Glaucomys volans;

Oregon names Glaucomys volans specifically, and separately prohibits the giant flying squirrels of the genus Petaurista. Oregon has its own native flying squirrel, the northern, which is why the prohibition is written to the southern species: this is a rule about keeping a nonnative congener out rather than about the pet trade as such. OAR 635-056-0150 allows someone who held the animal before the commission listed it to keep it for its life, on proof of lawful prior possession, with no transfer, sale or transport inside Oregon and no release. Oregon cities and counties may prohibit exotic animals by ordinance on top of state law, so check the municipality as well.

How this rule works: The ban list, and the one to check before assuming a common pet is fine in Oregon. It reaches the prairie dog, the capybara, the southern flying squirrel, the tiger salamander, the snapping turtle and the whole of Trachemys, all of which are ordinary pet-trade animals elsewhere on this map.

It is unlawful for a person to possess live wildlife taken from a wild state within this Commonwealth

The southern flying squirrel is a Pennsylvania native wild mammal, so it is wildlife under 34 Pa.C.S. § 102 and both routes into a home are closed. Taking one here is barred by § 137.31(a), whose only exception is a permit to hold up to five foxes for urine collection. Buying one from out of state is barred by § 137.1(a)(11), which prohibits possessing wildlife captive bred in another state, and § 137.1(a)(10) covers wildlife taken alive from the wild. Unlike the small exotic mammals, this one does not rest on an agency reading of an open-ended definition. A native squirrel is squarely what the Game Code was written for.

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.

Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans)

Listed among Rhode Island's native wild animals that cannot be kept without institutional status, the same treatment this site's box-turtle research documents for other Rhode Island natives. Not a pet species here.

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.

To hunt, trap, take, capture, kill, attempt to take, capture, or kill, possess, deliver for transportation, transport, cause to be transported, by any means whatever, receive for transportation or export, or import, at any time or in any manner, any wild bird or wild animal or the carcass or any part thereof, except as specifically permitted by law and only by the manner or means and within the numbers stated.

The southern flying squirrel is a Virginia native, carried on the department's incorporated fauna list as "Small Eastern Flying Squirrel ... Glaucomys volans volans" and "Southeastern Flying Squirrel ... Glaucomys volans saturatus" with no naturalized asterisk. So it is not a nonnative (exotic) animal and the permit table at 4VAC15-30-40 is not its rule; § 29.1-521(A)(10) is, and it bars possessing a wild animal except as specifically permitted. Nothing specifically permits it. The one-per-address allowance at 4VAC15-360-10(A) covers aquatic invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles and nongame fish, and no mammal. Chapter 290 has no captive wildlife permit for a pet: 4VAC15-290-60 is for an exhibit "educational and purposeful in nature", 4VAC15-290-20 is scientific collection, and 4VAC15-360-50's propagation and sale permits reach amphibians and reptiles only. Recorded banned on the strength of the statute rather than on a named prohibition, which is the shape to re-check if the department ever publishes a captive wildlife permit reaching native mammals.

How this rule works: The definitions that decide which of Virginia's two schemes reaches an animal, and the one place a species can be written out of both. "Wild animal" is "any member of the animal kingdom, except domestic animals", and the list that follows names arthropods expressly. "Nonnative (exotic) animal" excludes domestic AND naturalized species, so a naturalized animal is not an exotic and goes to the native rules instead. The domestic animal list is closed and unusually specific: it clears "Domesticated breeds of European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association, Inc." and "Domesticated morphs of red cornsnake (Pantherophis guttatus) visibly distinguishable from native red cornsnakes". Native and naturalized status is fixed by the department's List of Native and Naturalized Fauna of Virginia, incorporated by reference: https://dwr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/media/virginia-native-naturalized-species.pdf

The family Sciuridae. Common names include: chipmunks, marmots, prairie dogs, squirrels, and woodchucks.

Arizona's restricted-live-wildlife rule reaches the whole squirrel family by name (the same entry this site's prairie-dog research already documents), which covers the flying squirrel.

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.

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 southern flying squirrel is a wild mammal and squirrels are not on the exempt list, which covers hamsters, gerbils, mice, Norway rats, guinea pigs, chinchillas, degus, rabbits, possums, ferrets, hedgehogs and sugar gliders. A permit is therefore required. 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. Delaware's flying squirrel is also a native animal, so DNREC's native wildlife rules bear on taking one from the wild here regardless of the Agriculture permit.

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.

OTHER MAMMALS-Flying squirrel, Glaucomys volans ... It shall be unlawful for any person at any time to take, possess, sell, or offer for sale, propagate, or release into the wild, any of these wild birds (dead or alive) and parts of wild birds ... wild mammals (dead or alive) and parts of wild mammals ... contrary to the provisions of this Act.

Illinois names the southern flying squirrel in its protected species list, in the "OTHER MAMMALS" group alongside the red squirrel, the eastern woodrat and the bats, and then makes possession unlawful except as the Act provides. The route the Act provides is § 3.23: anyone wishing to possess, propagate or hold in captivity but not sell a protected species may do so under a Class A Noncommercial game breeders permit, $10 a year, expiring 31 March. That is a real personal permit rather than an institutional one, which is what separates the flying squirrel here from a species that is simply barred. The protection is species-specific and does not turn on where the animal came from, so a captive-bred out-of-state Glaucomys volans is still a protected species once it is in Illinois. Illinois is a home rule state, so a municipal ordinance can be stricter than anything above and is often the rule that actually decides this.

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

A permit is required under this rule for the following Class I wild animals: (1) Rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus). (2) Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis, Sciurus niger, and Glaucomys volans).

Glaucomys volans is named explicitly as a Class I wild animal requiring a permit; whether this permit tier is issued for personal/pet purposes specifically was not separately confirmed.

How this rule works: Three classes by risk. Class I is rabbits and squirrels, Class II is a long and specific list of small wild cats plus Indiana's furbearers, Class III is wolves, bears, all other wild cats, venomous reptiles and large crocodilians. Both the Class II and Class III lists end with the same sentence exempting hybrids with a domestic dog or cat, which is the clearest hybrid answer any state gives.

The Sciuridae: such as gray squirrels and fox squirrels.

Iowa defines game by family and then gives two examples, so the whole of Sciuridae is game and the southern flying squirrel, a native, is inside it. § 481A.38 then makes it unlawful "to take, pursue, kill, trap or ensnare, buy, sell, possess, transport ... any game" except as the chapter provides, and the only provision under which a person may hold a live game animal is § 481A.61(1): "a licensed game breeder whose original stock is obtained from a lawful source may possess any game bird, game animal, or fur-bearing animal". § 481A.60 requires that licence before raising or selling. Recorded permit rather than banned because the licence does authorise possession, and permitFor commercial rather than personal because it is a breeder's licence: Iowa writes no pet allowance for game anywhere in the chapter.

How this rule works: The native side of Iowa, and the half that 717F never reaches. § 481A.1(36) defines a wild animal as "a wild mammal, bird, fish, amphibian, reptile, or other wildlife found in this state", a geographic qualifier that puts an exotic pet outside the chapter. § 481A.1(21) defines game as a closed list of taxa and (f) is "The Sciuridae: such as gray squirrels and fox squirrels", the family rather than the two examples. § 481A.38 then bars possessing game or protected nongame except as the chapter provides, § 481A.42 makes protected nongame "wild fish, wild birds, wild bats, wild reptiles, and wild amphibians" and no invertebrate, and §§ 481A.60 and 481A.61 are the game breeder licence, which is the only route by which a person may possess a live game animal.

Except as established in Sections 5(9) and 7(1) of this administrative regulation and subsections (4), (5), (6), and (9) of this section, a person holding native wildlife in captivity shall apply for and obtain the appropriate permit prior to acquiring wildlife.

The southern flying squirrel is a Kentucky native, so 301 KAR 2:082 does not reach it and 2:081 does. It is not on the § 6 prohibited natives list, which is bats, black bear, bobcat, cougar, otter, wild turkey, wolf, the rabies vector species and three herps, so a noncommercial captive wildlife permit under § 3(2)(a) is available to a private keeper and is required before acquiring the animal. Two conditions ride with it: § 2(2) bars buying or selling any native wildlife obtained from the wild, and § 5(6) limits a permit holder to a commercial permit holder, a gift, a legal trapping season or a legal out-of-state source under a transportation permit. The § 2(5) five-per-species free allowance is written for reptiles and amphibians only. § 2(9) says no captive wildlife permit is required "for captive-bred native wildlife legally imported or held in a temporary facility for ten (10) days or less", which on one reading would free an imported captive-bred squirrel outright; the ten-day clause reads more naturally as qualifying both limbs, so the permit is recorded as required.

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.

A game breeder's license must be issued before any game quadrupeds (deer, rabbits, squirrels, etc.) are obtained.

Louisiana names the animal. La. R.S. 56:8(151)(a)(i) makes squirrels game quadrupeds, and LAC 76:V.107(B)(6) writes pen specifications for "Squirrels (gray, fox, red, flying and others endemic to North America)": three feet by three by four for one animal, six more inches of length per additional animal, limbs and a nest box, plus a veterinary certificate that the animals show no symptoms of rabies, which the rule requires "due to the inherent tendency of these animals to bite people". The licence must be in hand before the animal is acquired, and § 107(C)(1)(a) bars taking a game quadruped from the wild at all, so a permitted animal has to be captive bred. Recorded permit rather than conditional because the licence is issued, inspected and held.

How this rule works: The rule that reaches a native Louisiana mammal kept as a pet. § 107(C)(2)(a): "A game breeder's license must be issued before any game quadrupeds (deer, rabbits, squirrels, etc.) are obtained", and § 107(C)(1)(a) bars taking them from the wild at all. § 107(B)(6) writes pen specifications for "Squirrels (gray, fox, red, flying and others endemic to North America)" by name, so the flying squirrel is expressly inside the scheme rather than caught by inference.

Any person desiring to possess, import, export, breed, raise, protect, rehabilitate, hunt, kill, trap, capture, purchase, or sell any wildlife native to Maryland, shall first obtain a permit or license from the Department.

The southern flying squirrel is native to Maryland, and that single fact is the whole answer: § 10-902(a) attaches a permit requirement to possessing any native wildlife, with no exception for captive-bred animals and no exception for animals lawfully bought out of state. Section 10-901 sets out why, in findings about competition with native wildlife, disease and enforcement. The Secretary may exempt species by regulation under § 10-902(b)(2), which is what COMAR 08.03.11 does for reptiles and amphibians, and no equivalent exemption or personal pet permit class for a native mammal was located in COMAR subtitle 08.03, whose wildlife possession chapter deals with importation for release, protected birds, falconry, cervids and mute swans. So the permit exists in statute and the class a pet keeper would apply under is not evident in the regulations. 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.

How this rule works: The captive wildlife permit requirement, and the reason a native Maryland mammal is not a free pet here: anyone wishing to possess any wildlife native to Maryland must first obtain a permit or licence from the Department. Subsection (b)(2) lets the Secretary exempt species by regulation, which is what COMAR 08.03.11 does for reptiles and amphibians. Section 10-903 gives a separate power to restrict NON-native wildlife by regulation, which Maryland has used for aquatic organisms and not for pet mammals, birds or reptiles. Section 10-101(dd) defines wildlife broadly enough to reach an invertebrate, but the permit only ever attaches to natives.

badger, bobcat, red and gray fox, raccoon, coyote, beaver, otter, muskrat, mink, squirrels, striped skunk, woodchuck, opossum, ring-necked pheasant, bobwhite quail, Hungarian partridge, ducks, geese and wild turkeys

Squirrels are on the closed list of species that may be held under a permit to hold game in captivity, so Michigan's native flying squirrel needs one. Two limits matter. The permit authorizes captive-bred game, so an animal taken from the wild cannot be brought under it, and the permit is issued for the species rather than as a general exotic pet licence. This is the opposite of the answer for the non-native rodents on this map, which need no permit at all.

How this rule works: Michigan's route for keeping a native mammal or game bird, and it is a closed list of species rather than a general exotic pet permit. It authorizes captive-bred animals only, so a wild-caught animal cannot be brought under it. Non-native species are outside it entirely, which is why a native red fox needs this permit and a fennec fox does not.

NONGAME MAMMALS ... SQUIRRELS Tamias striatus EASTERN CHIPMUNK Marmota monax WOODCHUCK Glaucomys volans SOUTHERN FLYING

Named by binomial on the nongame mammal list, which settles both nativity and treatment. The same licence requirement in 2.3(C)(2) that covers the anole covers this animal, and 2.3(F) caps nongame mammals at ten in possession with no more than two of the same species. Selling one taken from the wild is barred by 2.3(C)(1), and captive propagation for commercial purposes needs a separate permit under 2.3(I).

How this rule works: The rule that answers Mississippi natives, and the one the dangerous animal rule never reaches. It covers thirty-two small mammals and all native reptiles and amphibians, names each species, and requires a hunting licence to possess any of them for personal use. mdwfp.com serves a cert without its GlobalSign intermediate; complete the chain rather than skipping verification.

It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to retain any wild birds or wild mammals (as defined in Nebraska revised statute 37-245 and 37-246) in captivity except the following species may be kept under authority of a Captive Wildlife Permit, a Controlled Shooting Area Permit, a Rehabilitation Permit or a Scientific Collectors Permit, issued by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission ... Badger ... Beaver ... Bobcat* ... Cottontail rabbit ... Squirrel - Fox, Gray, Flying (Glaucomys volans) ...

The southern flying squirrel, Glaucomys volans, is named on the § 001.01B list, so unlike the prairie dog it has a route: a Captive Wildlife Permit, expiring 31 December of the year issued, with an annual report due by 15 January and a fee of not more than $30 under § 37-479. Two conditions bite harder than the fee. § 001.01D says a Captive Wildlife Permit shall not be issued for an animal taken or removed from the wild, and § 001.02A requires proof the animal came from a licensed nonresident breeder or another permittee, so the paperwork is about provenance rather than about the keeper.

How this rule works: Nebraska renumbered its Game and Parks regulations: what used to be 163 NAC ch. 4 is now Title 166, and captive wildlife has its own chapter 8 rather than a subsection. Anything on this map citing "163 NAC ch. 4, § 008" is pointing at a title that is now called ADMINISTRATION. Chapter 8 has three operative parts. § 001.01B bars retaining any WILD BIRD or WILD MAMMAL in captivity except a listed set of Nebraska natives under a Captive Wildlife Permit. § 001.07A prohibits six species outright, none of them a pet: the Asian raccoon dog, white-tailed and mule deer, red deer, wild pigs and bighorn or thinhorn sheep. And § 001.08A is a closed importation list, which is what actually answers most exotic mammals here, because they are not wild mammals and so the permit scheme never reaches them. Chapter 10 does the same job for reptiles and amphibians and is limited to species native to Nebraska.

it is unlawful, except by the written consent and approval of the Department, for any person at any time to receive, bring or have brought or shipped into this State, or remove from one stream or body of water in this State to any other...any aquatic life or wildlife

The flying squirrel is on neither Nevada list. That is not the same as being unregulated, which is the point earlier research could not settle: NRS 503.597 makes it unlawful to bring any wildlife into the state without the written consent and approval of the Department, and NAC 503.140 is the Commission's list of exemptions from exactly that. An animal off both lists therefore needs Department approval. Nevada leaves county and city ordinances untouched, and Clark County, Las Vegas and Henderson are all stricter than the state, so check the municipality before the state.

How this rule works: The default nobody had pinned down. NRS 503.597 makes it unlawful without the written consent and approval of the Department for any person to receive, bring or have brought or shipped into the state any aquatic life or wildlife, so an animal that is neither prohibited by NAC 503.110 nor cleared by NAC 503.140 needs Department approval rather than being unregulated. NRS 501.097 defines wildlife as any wild mammal, wild bird, fish, reptile, amphibian, mollusk or crustacean found naturally in a wild state, which leaves insects and arachnids outside the Department's authority entirely.

the wild animal or wild bird was not acquired unlawfully or merely as a pet

North Carolina's captivity license covers native wildlife (including the flying squirrel) for 'scientific, educational, exhibition, or other purposes,' but the statute expressly disqualifies a license sought merely for pet-keeping.

How this rule works: North Carolina's captivity-license statute, which bars issuing a license for a wild animal acquired merely as a pet.

Ohio classifies the flying squirrel as a game quadruped; no person may take, possess, buy, sell, or transport native wildlife without a permit from the Division of Wildlife. The permits confirmed in the sources reviewed were rehabilitation-oriented; a personal-pet pathway was not confirmed.

How this rule works: Ohio's Division of Wildlife chapter, which defines game quadrupeds (including the flying squirrel) and requires a permit to possess native wildlife.

(24) Rabbits (except cottontails, jackrabbits and swamp rabbits, and other such species normally found in the wild).

The exemption list at 800:25-25-3(a) runs to thirty-seven entries and no squirrel is among them. Mice and rats are exempt "except those species normally found in the wild", which is the drafting Oklahoma uses when it wants to free the pet form of a wild genus, and the southern flying squirrel is squarely a species normally found in the wild here. So a flying squirrel is not exempt, and what it is not exempt from is import and export permits and the commercial and noncommercial wildlife breeder licences. 29 O.S. § 4-121 requires the noncommercial licence of anyone who breeds or raises wildlife for noncommercial purposes, and § 7-502(E) says the applicable licence must be obtained "if any wildlife is being propagated". Recorded as a permit on that basis. The statutory possession bar is separately survivable, since § 7-502(B)(4) exempts a legally obtained animal from a source other than the wild kept as a pet.

How this rule works: One of the most permissive exemption lists in the country, naming the fennec fox, the sugar glider, the coatimundi, the wallaby and primates individually. Note what the exemptions are from: import and export permits and commercial and noncommercial wildlife breeder licences, not a ban. Subsection (c) exempts non-indigenous reptiles and amphibians as a class, with a two-limb carve-out for species that could establish here and are injurious under federal rules. Oklahoma's own rules site, rules.ok.gov, returns 403 to this container, so this is read from Cornell LII and cited to the official section.

the Commissioner shall not issue a permit for the keeping or possession of any wild animal in captivity

Vermont bars bringing in, transporting, or possessing any live wild bird or animal without authorization, and permits are described as rarely issued outside science, education, or rehabilitation purposes.

How this rule works: Closed list. § 4709 bars bringing in, transporting or possessing any live wild bird or animal without authorisation. Reg 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' unless the species is designated domestic, a domestic pet, or unrestricted. The Unrestricted Wild Animals List is maintained separately on the department website and was not obtainable.

The director may issue a permit to a person to keep and maintain in captivity as a pet, a wild animal or wild bird that has been acquired from a commercial dealer or during the legal open season. The fee therefor shall be $2.

A flying squirrel is a mammal native to West Virginia, so it is a wild animal under § 20-1-2 and § 20-2-4(a) makes it unlawful to maintain one in captivity except as the chapter or a rule provides. § 20-2-51 is that provision and it is unusually direct about pets: a two dollar permit from the director, for an animal acquired from a commercial dealer or taken in the open season. The DNR names the West Virginia northern flying squirrel, Glaucomys sabrinus fuscus, as a state species, and the southern flying squirrel shares the state with it. A West Virginia citation naming Glaucomys volans specifically was not found, so if the department treats only the northern species as native the analysis would need revisiting.

How this rule works: West Virginia splits its animals by two definitions in one section. Wildlife takes in reptiles, amphibians, mollusks and crustaceans with no nativity limit and no terrestrial arthropod at all. Wild animals means all mammals native to the State of West Virginia, which is the phrase that decides every mammal here. § 20-2-4 bars possessing either except as the chapter or a rule provides, and § 20-2-51 is the only pet route, a two dollar permit from the director.

Flying squirrels are a protected wild animal; no person may take, transport, or possess one except as authorized by the DNR, though 'proof of source' allows possessing one legally killed, taken, or obtained in another state or province.

How this rule works: Lists Wisconsin's protected wild animals, which may not be taken, transported or possessed without DNR authorization.

Except as otherwise specified or exempted in this regulation, a permit from the Department is required prior to importation, possession, confinement or transportation of any living warm-blooded wildlife.

Wyoming is a closed-list state on the warm-blooded side and the southern flying squirrel is on none of the lists. It is not among the eighteen animals defined as Domestic at Ch. 10 § 2(i) or the twenty-four defined as Domesticated at § 2(j); it is not prohibited under § 11, whose only rodent entry is the order Rodentia from Africa; it is not a furbearer or a game bird under § 13; and § 16, the no-permit section, covers domestic and domesticated animals plus three classes of bird and no other mammal. So § 3 applies and § 13(d) is the route: "A permit may be authorized upon approval for other warm-blooded wildlife unless otherwise specified in this regulation." Recorded permit rather than banned because that clause is a grant of discretion rather than a bar, unlike Alaska, whose rule forbids issuing a pet permit at all. Wyoming's own flying squirrel is the northern, Glaucomys sabrinus; § 15 lets a Wyoming-caught nongame mammal be possessed without a permit while still requiring one to import the same animal.

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 authorised upon approval.

It is unlawful to possess native wildlife as pets except as follows: ... No more than 6 per household of any combination of the following animals may be possessed as pets: Hand-captured opossum, rabbit, raccoon and squirrel

The southern flying squirrel is an Arkansas native and appears nowhere in Addendum R1.01, whose mammal section runs to thirteen entries and no sciurid, so it is a Code 09.14 animal rather than an unrestricted one. Six per household, by either route: hand-captured in Arkansas under (A), which bars sale and removal from the state, or commercially obtained and captive born under (B), which requires a Commission-permitted Wildlife Breeder/Dealer or a Wildlife Importation Permit and acquisition records. Recorded conditional rather than permit because nothing is issued and nothing is paid at six or fewer; above six the Wildlife Breeder/Dealer Permit at Code 09.07 is what applies.

How this rule works: Code 09.01 makes it unlawful to hold any live wildlife captive unless otherwise specified, and its exceptions include terrestrial invertebrates. Code 09.02 conditions non-native wildlife on sourcing and veterinary certification. Code 09.14 caps native wildlife pets at six per household. Chapter 01.00 supplies the two definitions that decide the rest: WILDLIFE reaches "all other wild animals, regardless of classification", and WILD means "living in a state of nature and not domesticated". Addendum R1.02 closes with "Species not listed in Addenda R1.01, R1.02, or R1.03 are prohibited until evaluated", so absence is a bar rather than a silence.

A maximum of five (5) specimens of any native wildlife not listed in 3 CSR 10-4.110(4) or 3 CSR 10-9.240, except endangered species, bats, dusty hog-nosed snake, Kirtland's snake, western fox snake, and alligator snapping turtles, may be taken and possessed alive by a resident of Missouri without permit, but these animals shall not be bought or sold.

The southern flying squirrel is a Missouri native, common in forested areas statewide on the Department of Conservation's own account, so it is Class I wildlife rather than a cleared non-native mammal. Five may be taken and possessed alive by a resident without permit or fee, never bought or sold and never shipped out of the state. It is not a game mammal under 3 CSR 10-20.805(33), which names black bears, cottontail rabbit, deer, elk, fox squirrel, gray squirrel, groundhog, jackrabbit, swamp rabbit and furbearers, so the Wildlife Hobby Permit allowance for one purchased game mammal does not reach it either. Note the animal it is nearest to on that list: the fox and gray squirrels are game mammals and Glaucomys is not, which is what leaves this cell resting on the take-five rule alone.

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.

That a scientific collecting permit under the terms of § 50-11-2190, 1976 Code of Laws, shall be required for the collecting of all nongame species or subspecies of the Classes Pices (Fish), Amphibia (Amphibians), Reptilia (Reptiles), Aves (Birds) and Mammalia (Mammals).

The southern flying squirrel is a South Carolina native and a nongame mammal, and the answer turns on where an individual animal came from. Regulation 123-150.3 requires a scientific collecting permit for collecting any nongame species of the class Mammalia, so taking one from the wild is out for a keeper. Possession of a lawfully acquired captive-bred animal is a different question and South Carolina does not answer it directly: § 50-16-20(A) requires a permit for furbearers, cervids, pigs, bovids, coyote, bear and turkey, and a flying squirrel is none of those, while the pet-trade exemption at § 50-16-60 names rats, mice, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs and no squirrel. Recorded conditional on origin rather than as a permit, because there is no possession permit in the chapter to apply for.

How this rule works: The 2021 native reptile rules. 123-151.3(A) bars selling, purchasing, trading, exchanging, bartering, exporting, shipping, transferring or re-homing any native reptile or amphibian, with twelve exceptions that are mostly named snakes under a size limit. 123-151.4 adds possession caps for turtles, two for the eastern box turtle with shell notching and registration. 123-151.4(I) is the clause that matters most: the pet-trade exemption at S.C. Code § 50-16-60 does not privilege a native reptile.

A person without a nongame or nongame dealer’s permit may: (A) possess six or fewer specimens of a species of nongame wildlife listed in §65.331(e) of this title, provided the person does not engage in commercial activity involving the nongame wildlife; and (B) possess 25 or fewer specimens of a species of nongame wildlife listed in §65.331(d) of this title, provided the person does not engage in commercial activity involving the nongame wildlife.

The eastern flying squirrel is named on the § 65.331(d) list, and the word "squirrels" is not what puts it there; the list names Glaucomys volans specifically. So Texas allows 25 without a permit and bars selling, offering for sale, exchanging or bartering any of them. This entry previously read as unrestricted, citing the fur-bearing animal definition at Parks & Wild. Code § 71.001, which is a closed list of eleven animals that includes no squirrel. That reading was correct about the fur-bearer chapter and was looking at the wrong rule. The cap reaches captive-bred animals: § 65.325(a) says nongame wildlife "includes captive-bred nongame wildlife", so a pet shop receipt does not lift it.

How this rule works: The rule that decides a Texas pet question whenever the animal is native, and the one the dangerous wild animal statute distracts from. § 65.327(a) starts from a prohibition, "no person may collect, acquire, possess, import, export, cause the import or export of, or engage in a commercial activity involving nongame wildlife", and § 65.327(b)(3) then gives an unlicensed keeper two numbers: 25 of a species on the § 65.331(d) list, six of anything else. Three definitions carry the weight. § 65.325(a) says nongame wildlife "includes captive-bred nongame wildlife", so buying from a breeder does not lift the cap. The same sentence limits the subchapter to VERTEBRATE wildlife, which is narrower than the statute it implements, since Parks & Wild. Code § 67.001 says "vertebrate and invertebrate", and that gap is what leaves every terrestrial invertebrate outside the scheme entirely. And § 65.326(2) defines commercial activity as "the sale, offer for sale, exchange, or barter", so buying is not itself commercial activity, and § 65.327(b)(1)(B) lets a permitted dealer "sell lawfully obtained nongame wildlife to anyone". The two species lists are attached figures rather than statutory text: the (d) list names about 100 species, and the (e) list is longer and expressly "not limited to" what it names, so a native species on neither list falls to the six cap.

Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.

Not listed anywhere in Table 3b-1, and the table's default is inverted: unlisted birds and mammals are 'presumed prohibited' and require a division assessment before possession will be authorized. So this is neither cleared nor expressly banned, it is an application to DWR with no published answer. The northern flying squirrel is also a Utah native, which brings the state's native wildlife rules to bear on a wild-caught animal independently of this table.

How this rule works: Five sections: domestic mammals and birds not covered by the rule, noncontrolled mammals and birds, controlled mammals, and prohibited mammals. The header sets an inverted default: 'Except as otherwise listed, all species are presumed prohibited. All species not listed will require an assessment before collection, importation, or possession will be authorized.' The prohibited section adds that 'personal possession will not be authorized'.

"Small game" means black, gray and fox squirrels, European hares, varying hares, cottontail rabbits, native frogs, native salamanders, native turtles, native lizards, native snakes, coyotes, red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) except captive bred red fox or gray fox, raccoon, opossum, or weasel, skunk, bobcat, lynx, muskrat, mink, except mink born in captivity, fisher, otter, beaver, sable and marten but does not include coydogs. ... No person shall, at any time of the year, buy, sell, offer or expose for sale, transport, or have in his possession any fish protected by law, game, protected wildlife ... whether taken within the state or coming from without the state, except as permitted by the Fish and Wildlife Law.

Recorded unclear because the statutes point one way and the agency points the other, and the regulation that would settle it could not be read. Every statutory route comes up empty. The flying squirrel is not on the closed wild animal list at § 11-0103(6)(e), so § 11-0512 does not reach it. It is not on 6 NYCRR § 180.1, so the permit requirement in § 11-0511 does not attach. It is not protected wildlife: the small game definition at § 11-0103(2)(c) names "black, gray and fox squirrels" and no other, and no flying squirrel appears anywhere on DEC's endangered, threatened and special concern list. On the statutes alone this animal is unprotected wildlife and unregulated. DEC and every secondary source say possession requires a licence, and the place a general possession rule would live is 6 NYCRR Part 175, which New York publishes only through Westlaw. Westlaw serves individual NYCRR sections to a browser User-Agent but its document identifiers for Part 175 could not be resolved from here, so that chapter is the open item. This entry previously read as banned, which is the likely answer and is not one the readable law supports.

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.