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Why you can’t raise a wild animal as a pet.

Ohio law states that it is illegal for anyone to possess a wild-caught native or game animal without permits from the Ohio Division of Wildlife and/or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Ohio Wildlife Center is in possession of permits that allow us to temporarily hold native wild animals in our care, to provide wildlife rehabilitation services with the goal of release and to hold certain individual native animals in long-term wildlife care as educational ambassadors. Without these permits, we would not be allowed to take part in any of these activities.

Please consider important health and safety issues when dealing with a wild animal – even a baby wild animal you think would be better off with you than with a trained wildlife rehabilitator:

• Human health and safety: The potential health risks to yourself, your family or your pets. Wild animals are wild. They are unpredictable and are not meant to be confined. Even young wild animals have wild instincts and should never be treated as pets. They also carry parasites such as fleas, ticks and roundworms, and diseases that can cause you harm.
• Animal health and safety: Human care is a last resort for a wild animal. If a wild animal becomes ill, it will not have access to veterinary care without the proper permitting. Most people do not have the skills or resources to properly treat and provide for wild animals, such as specialized formula or feeding equipment.
• Time demands: The high demands on time that come with raising and caring for wild animals is another major consideration. For example, baby birds need to be fed every 10 minutes from sunrise to sunset for weeks.
• Being raised with others: It’s so important that young animals be raised with their own kind, so they learn what they are and how they are supposed to respond to their environment. Professional rehabilitators have the proper resources to pair up babies with conspecific adults or juveniles so they can learn the typical behavior to be successful in the wild.

There are two categories of wildlife rehabilitation permits in Ohio. See full detail in Ohio’s administrative code 1501:31-25-03v1 .

Category I Rehabilitation Permits allow individuals to rehabilitate healthy, orphaned or non-rabies vector mammals such as squirrels, rabbits and woodchucks.

Category II Rehabilitation Permits allows individuals with at least three years of rehabilitation experience as a Category I Rehabilitator or equivalent to rehabilitate all species of wild animals except rabies-vector species, deer, coyote, bobcat, mute swans, and state or federal endangered species unless otherwise approved by the Chief of the Division of Wildlife. Category II Rehabilitators must have the ability to properly care for wild animals that are diseased, injured or need rehabilitative care.

Ohio Wildlife Center’s Hospital holds a Category II permit, with special permissions for state and federal endangered species, osprey, peregrine falcons, trumpeter swans, fawns and rabies-vector species (not coyote, bobcat or bear).

See complete detail in Ohio’s administrative code 1501:31-15-03v1.

• Animals abandoned because of a purposeful action by the homeowner may not be rehabilitated. Any young from adults trapped or captured as nuisance animals shall not be accepted for rehabilitation. All adult raccoons, skunks, coyotes, fox and opossums trapped or captured under authority of the nuisance wild animal regulation must be euthanized by the commercial nuisance wild animal control operator or property owner, NOT given to or accepted by a rehabilitator.
• Some species of healthy animals trapped are required by the state to be euthanized or released back on the property where it was trapped. Our hospital is not a solution for a commercial nuisance wild animal control operator or property owner who has a healthy animal in a trap.
• Ohio Wildlife Center does not recommend relocating wildlife.

See full detail in Ohio’s administrative code 1501:31-25-04v1.

• It shall be unlawful to release any reptile or amphibian into the wild that has been produced in captivity or obtained from outside the state.
• It shall be unlawful to release any reptile or amphibian into the wild that was taken from the wild in Ohio and was held in captivity for more than 30 days.
• It shall be unlawful to release any reptile or amphibian into the wild at any place other than the location of capture.
• It shall be unlawful to release any reptile or amphibian into the wild that has been held in captivity, in the same enclosure with any other species of reptile or amphibian.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 prohibits the take (including killing, capturing, selling, trading and transport) of protected migratory bird species without prior authorization by the Department of Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Most birds we encounter in Ohio are federally protected and cannot be harmed or harassed without prior authorization. The protection extends to their nests and eggs. Ohio Wildlife Center recommends tolerance for birds nesting in less-than-ideal places.

See full details in Ohio’s Revised Code 935.

This law prohibits the ownership of “dangerous wild animals” unless the animal was possessed before the law or owned by an exempt organization such as an AZA accredited zoo.

Complaints about someone who possesses a “dangerous wild animal” should be directed to the Department of Agriculture by phone at (614) 728-6220 or email at dwa.cdb@agri.ohio.gov.

If a “dangerous wild animal” has escaped or is otherwise loose in a neighborhood, please have the caller dial 911 first, then call the 1-855-DWA-OHIO.

“Dangerous wild animal” means any of the following, including hybrids unless otherwise specified:

• Hyenas
• Gray wolves (excluding domestic dog hybrids), African wild dogs
• Lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards, cheetahs, lynxes, cougars/pumas/mountain lions, caracals, servals (excluding hybrids with domestic cats commonly known as Savannah cats)
• Bears
• Elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, Cape buffaloes
• Komodo dragons, alligators, crocodiles, caimans (excluding dwarf caimans), gharials
• Nonhuman primates: Chimps, other apes, most monkeys*

*Legal in Ohio (depending on local laws): marmosets, capuchins, lemurs and squirrel monkeys.

Restricted Snakes:

• Constricting snakes that are 12 feet or longer, such as anacondas or pythons
• Venomous snakes, such as vipers