Where is the prairie dog 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

A prairie dog is a wild rodent on any reading of the phrase, and one brought into Alabama comes from outside the state by definition.

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... for use as a pet

Not on the clean list.

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.

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.

Prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) provided however that native prairie dogs may continue to be possessed pursuant to licenses or permits granted by the Division for scientific collection, relocation or rehabilitation purposes.

Prohibited at genus level, not merely unlisted, which is the stricter of the two ways Colorado can say no. The proviso is not a pet route: it preserves scientific collection, relocation and rehabilitation permits, all of which are institutional. The § 008(B) grandfather clause covers only subsections 1 through 8 and this is 18, so there is no existing-owner exemption either. Colorado has wild black-tailed prairie dogs across its eastern plains, which is the context the rule sits in.

How this rule works: The Commission's prohibited species list. Nineteen entries, and the grandfather clause in the opening paragraph reaches only subsections 1 through 8, so the later additions, monk parakeet and prairie dogs among them, have no route for existing owners.

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. The prairie dog is not among them. This entry previously read as unrestricted on the strength of § 26-40a, which lists four mammal families and reaches no rodent; that is true of the statute and beside the point, because the regulation is where a rodent question is answered here. 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.

A rodent, but not a domesticated one.

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.

The following wild animals are subject to licensing requirements pursuant to O.C.G.A. Sec. 27-5-4. (a) Mammals ... 3. Order Carnivora (weasels, ferrets, cats, bears, wolves, etc.) - All species, except that European ferret (Mustela putorius furo) may be sold, purchased, exhibited, or held as a pet without a license or permit ... 7. Orders Diprotodontia and Peramelemorphia (Marsupials) - All species except that Petaurus breviceps (sugar glider) may be sold, purchased, exhibited, or held as a pet without a license or permit ... 8. Order Erinaceopmorpha (hedgehogs) - All species ... 10. Order Lagomorpha (Rabbits, hares, etc) - All species ... 16. Order Rodentia (rats, mice, etc.) - All species except Genera Cavia, Chinchilla, Gerbillus, Meriones, Mesocricetus, and species Mus musculus, Rattus rattus, and Rattus norvegicus

Georgia's licence rule works by taxonomic order rather than by species, which is what catches the prairie dog. Named by DNR alongside the capybara and the degu as a rodent outside the six excepted genera. This entry previously read as a permit. The reason a licence does not help is in the statute rather than the rule. O.C.G.A. § 27-5-4(b)(1) says wild animal licences "will be issued only to persons engaged in the wholesale or retail wild animal business or persons exhibiting wild animals to the public", and permits only for scientific or educational purposes, for a capuchin monkey held by a person with a permanent disability, or to a pond owner for grass carp. There is no pet category anywhere in it, which is why the rule has to write an express pet exception where it wants one, as it does for the European ferret and the sugar glider.

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.

Any animal that is not on the lists of conditionally approved, restricted, or prohibited animals shall be prohibited until the board's review and determination for placement on one of these lists

Cynomys is on no Hawaii list, so the default prohibition applies.

How this rule works: The statute behind the lists. Subsection (c) is the default rule: anything not on the conditionally approved, restricted or prohibited list is prohibited until the board reviews it.

Prairie dog (Cynomys spp.);

How this rule works: Three lists. Section 4(1) is prohibited species, injurious to native ecosystems. Section 4(2) is inherently dangerous exotic wildlife. Section 7 is the permit-exempt list. Anything on none of the three may be possessed, but a transportation permit is needed to bring it into the state. KRS 65.877, cited in the regulation itself, lets local governments prohibit inherently dangerous wildlife outright.

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 black-tailed prairie dog is native to Nebraska, which makes it a wild mammal under § 37-246, which puts it inside the § 001.01B prohibition. What decides the answer is the list that follows: badger, beaver, bobcat, cottontail, crows, deer, ducks, foxes, geese, grouse, lynx, migratory birds, mink, muskrat, opossum, partridge, pheasant, quail, raccoon, river otter, bighorn sheep, fox and gray and flying squirrels, swans, turkey and long-tailed weasel. The prairie dog is not on it, and § 001.01B is written as a prohibition with the list as the only exception, so there is no permit to apply for. Nebraska is in the animal's core range and answers it with an omission.

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.

5 Prairie Dog Cynamys, spp.

Exhibitor only. New Hampshire is one of the stricter states on prairie dogs.

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.

Rodentia Cynomys spp.--Prairie dogs / Spermophilus spp.--Ground Squirrels ... Also note: due to the possibility of Monkey Pox, a health warning restriction has been announced for the following species: prairie dog; and six types of African rodents: tree squirrels, rope squirrels, dormice, Gambian giant pouched rats, brush-tailed porcupines, and striped mice are not allowed to be possessed or sold for any reason.

Two separate bars land on the same animal. 4.8(a) puts Cynomys spp. in the potentially dangerous table on the disease limb of the definition, "a menace to the public health", and 4.9(a)3 then says a potentially dangerous species shall not be kept as a pet. On top of that the Division's notice carries the monkeypox restriction from the 2003 outbreak, which prairie dogs actually caused, and states the prairie dog and six African rodents "are not allowed to be possessed or sold for any reason". Either route alone would answer the question; together they leave no pet route at all.

How this rule works: The Division's restricted species notice. It reproduces the 4.8(a) table and then adds things that are nowhere in the rule text: that it treats an IUCN Red List entry as an endangered listing, that only nine named corn snake morphs may be kept, and that axolotls and larval salamanders may not be kept at all.

Mammal | Squirrel | Sciuridae | Cynomys mexicanus | Prairie dog, Mexican | IV | Federally Endangered

Resolved from unclear. Two prairie dogs are named, the Mexican and the Utah, both Group IV as federally listed animals. The black-tailed prairie dog of the pet trade appears nowhere on the list, and the default clause puts an unlisted animal in Group IV as well, so every route lands in the same place. 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:

Named in a clause covering "All large rodents (Rodentia)", whose examples run gopher, muskrat, nutria, paca, woodchuck, marmot, beaver, prairie dog, capybara, sewellel, viscacha, porcupine and hutia. The clause is about size rather than family, which is what leaves the hamster, gerbil and guinea pig outside it. § 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.

Prairie dogs — Sciuridae — Cynomys All species and hybrids;

Prohibited at genus level, not merely unlisted. This entry previously read as unrestricted on the strength of the Agriculture exotic animal statute, which covers cats, primates, canids, bears and crocodilians and never reaches a rodent. The statute is the wrong law for this question: ODFW runs the nonnative wildlife lists, and the prairie dog is on the ban list alongside the capybara, the marmots and the southern flying squirrel. 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.

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)

No Cynomys is on the unrestricted mammal list, so the restriction and permit codes still apply.

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".

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.

Corrected from banned. The previous entry read a wild rodent prohibition into Delaware's rules; no such prohibition exists in chapter 903. The exempt mammal list simply does not reach the prairie dog, which leaves it a live wild mammal needing an Individual permit under 6.2. 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.

Prairie Dogs (Cynomys).

How this rule works: Section 100.01 bars possession of a deleterious exotic animal without a possession permit from the Administrator. Sections 401 to 412 are the list itself, by taxon.

Rodentia (Rodents)

The unrestricted rodent list runs to thirteen species, all of them small cage animals. Cynomys is not among them.

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.

The purpose of 321 CMR 9.01 is to list those species which are exempt from the licensing provisions of M.G.L. c. 131, § 23, and which may be imported, possessed, maintained, propagated, bought, sold, exchanged or offered for sale without a license or permit from the Division. Species not listed, or which are expressly listed as "require(s) a permit", are not exempt from the provisions of M.G.L. c. 131, § 23.

The mammal exemption list is thirteen entries and the prairie dog is not one of them, which in a closed-list state is the whole answer. 9.01(1) says species not listed "are not exempt from the provisions of M.G.L. c. 131, § 23", and 9.02(2)(c) adds that any vertebrate taxon not on the domestic list is presumed wild. Note that the southern flying squirrel and the deer mouse ARE listed, so being a North American native rodent is not the obstacle; the prairie dog simply was not put on. MassWildlife's own guidance is blunt about what that means in practice: permits for non-exempt wildlife "are issued only for certain scientific, educational, commercial, or other specific reasons" and "You will not be issued a permit for keeping a wild animal as a pet." The statute is less absolute, since § 23 contemplates "an individual license for an animal that is not on the special exemption list" and even sets a preference for captive-bred animals where wild depletion is an issue, so the licence exists on paper and the agency says it will not grant one for a pet.

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.

Class I wildlife shall include birds (including ring-necked pheasants and gray partridge) native to the continental United States, and those species of mammals (except bison and those listed in 3 CSR 10-9.240 and 3 CSR 10-9.250) and nonvenomous reptiles and amphibians native to Missouri.

The black-tailed prairie dog is native to Missouri, which puts it in Class I. Permits are issued only for species on the Approved Confined Wildlife Species List in 3 CSR 10-9.105.

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.

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

Resolved from unclear. The previous entry noted this animal is on neither Nevada list and that no default could be found for unlisted species. The default is NRS 503.597, which makes it unlawful to bring any wildlife into the state without the written consent and approval of the Department. NAC 503.140 is the list of exemptions from that requirement, so being absent from it leaves the requirement in place rather than leaving the animal unregulated. 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.

Category 2 species of nontraditional livestock includes ... prairie dogs, and other ground squirrels

Named in category 2, so a licence from the state board of animal health is required, and 48.1-09-01-03(1) says the owner shall obtain it before acquiring the animal. The board also has to inspect and approve the premises first under 48.1-09-01-03(2)(b), and the annual fee under NDCC 36-01-08.1 is fifteen dollars for a non-bird species to a hundred dollar cap.

How this rule works: The nontraditional livestock category system is alive and sits here, not in the repealed title 48. 48.1-09-01-02 sorts every nondomestic species held in confinement into three categories, category 1 needing no licence and categories 2 and 3 needing one before the animal is acquired. Subsection 4 exempts arachnids and invertebrates from even the importation permit.

The following wildlife species are exempt from import and export permits, commercial wildlife breeders licenses, noncommercial wildlife breeders licenses and commercial hunting area license requirements

Native to Oklahoma and absent from the exemption list. The department has a dedicated subchapter on black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs.

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.

no person shall be allowed to import, or possess any animals defined as exotic wild animals or native wild animals without first obtaining a permit from the Department

Absent from the § 3.17 exempt mammal list.

How this rule works: One of the most species-specific schemes in the country. § 3.6 defines domestic animals, § 3.7 sets general prohibitions, § 3.9 governs permits, and § 3.17 is the long exempt list of animals that need no exotic animal possession permit. Anything not domestic, not native and not on the § 3.17 list needs a permit.

Species not found on the Restricted, Unrestricted or Domestic species lists are considered Restricted.

The prairie dog is on neither the Unrestricted nor the Restricted list, and Vermont treats absence as a restriction. The rodents it does allow are a specific set: guinea pigs, chinchillas, agoutis, degus, hamsters, gerbils, spiny mice, kangaroo rats and domesticated mice and rats. A permit exists on paper but not for a pet: Regulation 881 says the Commissioner shall not issue a permit for keeping or possessing a wild animal in captivity except for bona fide scientific or educational purposes. So restricted here means a private keeper cannot have one, not that there is paperwork to fill in. Resolved from a previous unclear entry now that the list is in hand.

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.

Sciuridae Cynomys spp. Prairie dogs

Listed by genus in the squirrel family section of the permit table, so every prairie dog species is covered.

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.

A permit may be authorized upon approval for other warm-blooded wildlife unless otherwise specified in this regulation.

Native to Wyoming. Section 14 allows possession without a permit of mammals declared pests if they were captured in the state, but importation of those same animals is barred.

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.

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 black-tailed prairie dog is on the § 65.331(d) list by name, which makes it nongame wildlife with a hard cap of 25 and no permit below that, provided the keeper does not sell, offer for sale, exchange or barter one. This entry previously read as unrestricted on the strength of the dangerous wild animal statute, which is accurate and is the wrong rule: that list contains no rodent, and Cynomys ludovicianus is native to the Texas panhandle and plains, which is what brings the nongame rule down on it. 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. Taking one from the wild is a further question governed by the hunting licence requirement in § 65.327(c)(1).

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.

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

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.

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. Utah also has its own native species, the federally threatened Utah prairie dog, which is protected separately from anything in 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'.

"Exotic wildlife" means a wildlife species that is not native to Montana.

Both the black-tailed and white-tailed prairie dog are native, so the exotic wildlife white list does not apply, and Montana's only prairie dog rules are the translocation program at ARM 12.9.1001 through 12.9.1035, which governs moving whole colonies between wild sites under department approval and plague monitoring. Nothing there addresses keeping one as a pet in either direction.

How this rule works: Montana runs a white list, which is unusual. § 87-5-705(1) says a person may not import, possess or sell any exotic wildlife unless it is allowed by law or commission rule, so an animal that appears on none of the three lists is not permitted rather than unregulated. § 87-5-706 is the statutory noncontrolled list and § 87-5-702 puts rodents, cats, dogs and Eurasian ferrets outside the scheme as domestic animals.

Game or wild held captive . Game or wildlife held in captivity or captive bred in another state or nation.

The prairie dog is named nowhere in Pennsylvania law. What arguably reaches it is this catch-all, which bars possessing wildlife captive bred in another state, read together with 34 Pa.C.S. § 102, where wild animals means every mammal except horses, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. That is the same reading the Game Commission uses to ban hedgehogs and sugar gliders, and it is an agency interpretation of a definition rather than a rule anyone wrote about this species. Recorded unclear rather than banned because no text names the animal.

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.