Law of the jungle

SO CUTE, IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL But lucky for you, this sugar glider is kosher in Illinois.

Photo: istockphoto.com

No matter how adorable the rattlesnake you bought at that swap meet is, he still spells Class C misdemeanor, according to the Illinois Dangerous Animals Act. The law also bans private citizens from owning lions, tigers, leopards, ocelots, jaguars, cheetahs, margays, mountain lions, lynxes, bobcats, bears, hyenas, wolves, coyotes, and any poisonous or life-threatening reptile. But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with cats and dogs.

“It’s a poorly written law,” says Colleen O’Keefe of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. “It doesn’t say you can’t keep an elephant.”

Hedgehogs, sugar gliders and other wild animals are also potentially legal, according to Chris McCloud of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, but if you don’t go through a pet store or registered U.S. breeder, you’re required to apply for an importation permit (call 217-782-6384 to start the process) and provide a vet’s health certificate 30 days prior to bringing baby home. Few people do this, however, so outbreaks of weird diseases occur (remember 2003’s monkeypox epidemic?), and without documentation, it’s difficult for health officials to trace the disease back to its source.

Mark Rosenthal, operations manager for Chicago Animal Care and Control, suggests local ordinances should impose more restrictions not covered by Illinois law, including banning ownership of pigeons, Asian carp and snakehead fish. But who’d want to own one of those anyway?