Sept. 9, 2026 — One consequence of having a child who loves animals is that over the years I’ve had many conversations centered around what I like to call “forbidden pets.”
In the past, I’ve always relied on my local ordinances on possession of exotic or wild animals to bolster my argument for why we can’t keep a bobcat in the bedroom or host a full complement of chipmunks in the house. (Don’t get me started on the petition to stable a horse in my urban backyard.) But what if we were to move? What then?
How do I provide her with an accurate answer? Can we legally adopt a bobcat?
Let the research begin.
Books and Articles
It’s always helpful to check a book or find a relevant article early in your research. These sources can do the hard work for you right away and give lists of laws as well as summarize the issues.
The
Animal Law Handbook, published by the State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE®, provides a helpful overview of domestic and wild animals in the first chapter. While this didn’t provide a tidy answer that I could hand to my child about owning wild animals as pets, this book defines animals and cites extensively to state and federal laws and cases that deal with wild animals.
Animal welfare is a topic included in this book and includes a discussion of animal abuse and animal fighting — both topics that might be of interest for someone researching wild animal possession, and both of which point to
Wis. Stat. chapter 951.
A recent article I came across in an internet search seemed like an appealing (and child-friendly) starting point: “Can you legally own a tiger, wallaby, or other wild pet in Wisconsin?” by Quinn Clark, from the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Oct. 30, 2025.
However, the article couldn’t be read for free online. Any time I encounter a news article citation, my first stop is always a newspaper database. Wisconsin is fortunate to have excellent Wisconsin newspaper coverage through
Badgerlink’s newspaper databases.
These databases are available throughout Wisconsin with your local public library card. Finding articles can be a challenge. Pay attention to specific newspaper titles and coverage dates to find out if a database will work for you. Badgerlink has a handy
newspaper title list for all of their news databases. Using this list, I was able to quickly see that while
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was partially covered, it didn’t include articles from 2025.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a separate
archive through Newsbank, which can be individually subscribed to, or individual articles can be purchased with an account. Some libraries also subscribe to this archive, so check with your local public library before creating your own account.
Newspaper and magazine archives can have complicated licensed content coverage, so always ask your local library to see what you are able to access online or in print.
Don’t forget that many libraries offer an interlibrary loan service as well, where they may be able to borrow or request copies on your behalf.
50-state Surveys
A 50-state survey is very helpful for any research that requires a general overview of laws and regulations on a broader topic. Read Laura Olsen’s April 7, 2021, legal research column in this publication, “Multistate Survey Research: Getting to Your Best Results,” for some great tips on quickly finding sources.
Wild animal possession is a little too niche to show up in HeinOnline’s
National Survey of State Laws. (Available to many Wisconsin State Law Library cardholders, with some restrictions.)
An internet search gave me a few casual 50-state surveys from animal-enthusiast websites or general articles listing specific animals that can’t be kept as pets. The downside of casual legal articles, news articles, and some other types of secondary sources is that they don’t always include citations to the laws, so you have to do some additional research. If you find an article that explains but does not cite to Wisconsin law, turn to
the Wisconsin statutes index for help.
Subject Searching Statutes and Regulations
Instead of keyword searching into the statutes, I prefer to dive in through the subject index if I’m doing topical research. The subject index to the laws categorizes every law in Wisconsin under broad categories, and narrower subtopics, which can save a lot of time when researching a topic.
In the Wisconsin statutes, get to the subject index by heading to the top of any statute page. Look for the gray list of links, and choose “Statutes related” (see
Figure 1).
Figure 1
Wis. Stat. chapter 951 on the Wisconsin State Legislature website.
From your list of options, choose “Statutes Index.” Now, type in a broad keyword. For this search, I started with “animal.” Immediately, a subject heading for
Animals and
Wild animals comes up. A good subject index won’t have unnecessary duplication. For Wild animals, I get three references to related terms, instead of a list of statutes:
WILD
ANIMALS
SeeAnimals; Endangered Species;
Fish and Game
Under Animals and Endangered Species, I discover connections to Wis. Stat. chapter 29, but I also get referred to see the Fish and Game subject heading again. Under Fish and Game, I find a subtopic of “captive wildlife” and under that,
Wis. Stat. section 169.04 Possession of wild animals regulated, which seems like a good place to start reading.
Wis. Stat. chapter 169 outlines when a person may possess a live wild animal, and is an excellent resource that tells me the license and approval requirements to formally possess a wild animal. You can’t just adopt a wild cougar, like a child in a novel. However, to my dismay, chipmunks are listed under the licensing exemption in
Wis. Stat. 169.04(4)(a) Exemption for certain wild animals.
A similar subject search approach can be done with the
Wisconsin Administrative Code. From the top of any administrative code page, look for the “Administrative Rules Related” link and then choose “Subject Index to Administrative Code.”
Unsurprisingly,
Animals in this index under the subtopic of
Wild leads to conservation regulations and to the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
ANIMALS
Domestic,
see
Agriculture
Racing, Chs.
Game 7,
15
Wild,
see
Conservation and Outdoor Activities
My Results
So: Can I keep a bobcat as a pet?
Between secondary sources and the laws and regulations we’ve assembled, I now have a much better picture of wild animal possession in Wisconsin. Exotic animal law intersects at the local, state, and federal levels. The type of animal and how it was acquired are important factors to consider when researching as well.
First, you need to live somewhere where it isn’t disallowed by local ordinance. According to
Wis. Stat. section 169.04, bobcat ownership would require that the cat be legally obtained and your possession is licensed (like a
captive wild animal farm license) or otherwise approved.
Federal and state requirements, including a
Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection animal movement permit must be met to import a bobcat. Additional laws may apply to bobcat possession, breeding, and sales. (For example:
USDA breeder licensing, or
NR 17.07(3)(b) on captive bobcats used for dog trials). This can get complicated!
The simpler answer is this: adopting a bobcat through a chance wild encounter is not permitted (seeWis. Stat. section 169.05 “Taking of wild animals,” to start.)
When my child is grown, will I end up visiting what is essentially a wild animal zoo? Only time will tell.
We’re Here to Help
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the resources above or are unsure where to start, contact a librarian! We are trained to assist patrons with finding and using the best resources for them and their unique legal research topics. Reach out and ask your local law librarian for help with your research, or at these libraries:
