Is that what the law should be in Mississippi?

Squirrels and coons held as pets?

I agree on the common sense approach by LE, but selective enforcement doesn't make any officer appear to be doing his job fairly.

If not ever held in a cage and free to come and go as he pleased...Peanut would still be alive in Georgia.

I suppose that is all a matter of opinion, SW.

There are plenty of folks who regard their wild pets as "pets".

You then may need to fill in the void in not wanting the term "pet" used, or "owned." Simply correcting someone with no better term to be used in expressing themselves won't fly well.

I say OWNED and PET because it is fast and natural in language to express . That said, there are plenty of folks who have had or have wildlife as pets. Their words firmly.

I believe or highly esteemed Jack , the biologist, called his coyote a pet too. It was as a dog for him.

Unless it was legal (Peanut was not) .....then wildlife is not a pet or owned.

Well, then you have a lot of folks to correct in wordage use.

Still, that isn't a replacement term/s when someone is simply trying to relate their "pet" stories.

No one is going to be so controlled in how they describe having as a pet, or owned, a "wild" critter raised in the house.

OK, I have a stab at it....

"Geeee. I found this squirrel and I'm having such fun having it as my.....wait.....can't say pet....well, well, I'm BORROWING it from the state !"

Dude keeping a squirrel is clearly a menace to society and should be hung at high noon in the public square.

Are you more aggravated that illegally-held wildlife cannot be owned or because I said that squirrel was NOT a pet?

I didn't intend to correct you with my above post. Just stated the facts of this incident.

Wildlife (held illegally) are not pets or owned.

Iowa has that law and penalty?

You better be careful out there.

I am not aggravated, I am simply saying that you have a lot of folks to correct in how they describe having, owning, borrowing, a varmint, not legally.

I don't care how you describe it, or want others to say the same description as you. I'm saying you're in for a challenge, wanting to control HOW others describe enjoying some critter they found or caught in the wild, illegally.

So if they have one legally, suddenly the term "pet" is ok ....

OK.

"Keep talking", SW. You will need it .

I've raised a few critters. The two most memorable ones were a whitetail deer. and a squirrel. I was a kid when I had the deer and he followed me everywhere. I distinctly remember running through fields of wildflowers and the fawn leaping along right beside me like a dog. It slept in a closet in my bedroom with my yellow lab. Eventually though, his little button antlers started growing in and he started getting a bit wild. He'd race back and forth from one side of the house to other in sheer joy. Then one day, during one of his playing sprees, he leapt at and broke a window. He wasn't hurt, but I realized then he couldn't stay in the house much longer.

I knew if I built a pen for him to stay in outside when I was at school, some mean old game warden like Swamp would come and kill him. I went to the library and found the state regulations for getting a permit to keep a deer and found it would cost about 10 grand (this was in the 90s) to build an enclosure to meet their ridiculous requirements. As luck would have it, I knew of a man who DID have a permit to keep deer. I gave the deer to him, and he kept him. I went back a few times over the years to see him. The last time I did, he was a six point buck and had had a fawn with one of the does there.

There may be laws in MS against keeping wildlife, but if there is, they're not enforced... due to our live market.

… cool story Yote

… my uncle was a logger and always had a few critters in the house

Love,

Savell

When I was a kid l had 5 pet Coyote's they hid in neighboring timber I could go out to the field and howl at them and they would all come to me and do there sunrise serenade, also my pet raccoon that would follow me to the river fishing, he would ride on the window seal and hold onto the rear view mirror when we went for a ride. Not to mention my pet squirrel that would climb up the panelling and sleep in my dad's old tobacco can. Didn't dawn on me then, but I surely was a outlaw!!

Thete used to be a TV show years ago I remember a guy who had a hyena as a pet he had to get rid of it because it broke his arm. A guy who used to be in the boilermakers paid 10k to get a wold from Alaska he showd me picture of it the thing standing on his back legs is as big as he is and he 6 '1.

And yet if my animal gets in the road and a school bus crashes I'm held responsible financially. But that state owned wildlife causes a wreck and the state is some how not responsible!

They are not responsible for the damage caused by a squirrel or coon in the attic or cost to have them removed either. Funny how you find double standard yet miss these.

Not so much DEC did enforce the law, It's how they did it....You would have thought the guy was bin laden

I can see from the conversations on this thread that not many people really care about wildlife. That Squirrel wasn't hurting anyone and it was free to rome. It was healthy and the people it lived with loved it. Since all dogs came from wolves that would make all dogs wildlife. If you really believe that no one should care for wildlife the local game wardens should raid your house with 8 agents and kill all your dogs.

Maybe that's^^ why cops shoot so many dogs!!!

Now, I guess I should go and try to get people that have illegally-held wildlife to not call them pets.

Nah..I could care less what they call em. I can only say what those wild critters are NOT.

And Dang!...why does it seem like I'm discussing this with an animal rights person?

Peace out!

What?

Ol Peanut was free to roam?

If so, then Peanut was not illegally held.

Btw....wildlife ain't dogs.

What are stray cats?