A Wild Animal as a Pet
Minn. Stat. 346.155 — every wild cat, every bear and every primate is regulated
- All members of the cat family, lions, tigers, cougars, leopards, cheetahs, ocelots and servals among them, but not domestic cats or recognized domestic breeds.
- Bears.
- All nonhuman primates, lemurs, monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, marmosets, lorises and tamarins among them.
- Any hybrid of these with a domestic animal, and every later generation of offspring.
Who handles this in Minnesota: legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Minnesota directory.
Possession of a regulated animal is limited by the section to the facilities and people it names, and the section sets the conditions, inventories and limits on selling that apply to them.
Who qualifies, and the registration and care rules, are set out in the section and are not repeated here. Whether a particular animal can be kept is a question for local animal control or a licensed Minnesota attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- Minn. Stat. 346.155 — Possessing regulated animals
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Minnesota attorney.