In the United States sugargliders are considered to be wild or exotic animals because their life cycle, habits, and potential threat to native species is unknown. Because of this some states choose to make it illegal to own them and the national government stipulates that you must be licensed to breed them. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates licensing of breeders through the Animal Welfare Act. As far as I know, there are no illegal areas in Canada. Some Canadian areas require a free license or registration to own the animals just as they would a dog or cat. If you have questions about legality in your specific area, you might contact your local Fish & Wildlife Office.
Owners who would like more information on the breeding requirements or legalities of this animal in the US should contact:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Regulatory Enforcement and Animal Care
Sector Supervisor
9580 Micron Avenue, Suite E
Sacramento, California 85827
United States:
- Alaska: Illegal
- Arizona: Legal
- Arkansas: Legal
- California: Illegal
- Florida: Legal
- Georgia: Illegal
- Hawaii: Illegal
- Illinois: Legal
- Indiana: Legal
- Iowa: Legal
- Kentucky: Legal
- Mississippi: Legal
- Missouri: Legal
- New York: Legal
- North Carolina: Legal
- North Dakota: Legal
- Ohio: Legal
- Oklahoma: Legal
- Pennsylvania: requires permit, please call local game and wildlife commision
- Tennessee: Legal
- Texas: Legal
Canada:
GLIDERS ARE ILLEGAL TO HAVE IN THE FOLLOWING PROVINCES AND/OR CITIES
- OTTAWA ONTARIO
- MAPLE RIDGE-B.C.
- BURLINGTON ONTARIO
- AJAX ONTARIO
- BELLEVILLE ONATRIO
- BOWMANVILLE ONTARIO
- CLARINGTON ONTARIO
- Timmins-ontario
- Cochrane-ontario
- brampton-ontario
- Brantford-ontario
- BARRIE-Ontario
- North Bay-ontario-not confirmed
- Peterborough -not confirmed
- WHITBY ONTARIO-not confirmed
- Minden-ontario (this town does not have speicifc animal by-laws,however they donnot allow exotics in residential areas so caution is recomended,and preferably individual,written aceptions to individuals by request owning exotics.)
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GLIDERS ARE OK TO HAVE (legal) IN THESES PROVINCES AND/OR CITIES
- Alberta
- BC
- NFLD
- Labrador
- Quebec (except for ottawa) -ontario
- Toronto-ontario
- Missisauga - ontario
- Oshawa -ontario (while it is not specified on the bylaw gliders are omitted from the listing)
- HAMILTON ONTARIO-limit of 2 per household
- Stoney Creek Ontario-limit of 4 per household
- KITCHENER ONTARIO-possible limits on number of pets per household
- Tweed- ontario
- Oakville-ontario
- Perth, Smith Falls,surrounding area -Ontario
- Madoc-ontario
- Kingston-ontario
- St. Catherines
- Pelham region
- Niagara on the Lake
- Niagra Falls- ontario
- Cambridge- ontario
- Pt Colbourne
- Thorold
- Oro-Medonte
- Orillia-Ontario
Australia:
To keep protected species in Australia, you must have the appropriate licence. These vary majorly from state to state and in fact, in some states you may not keep protected species at all. Here are each state's wildlife licence law pages & applications for reference.
Please note, even with the appropriate licence, wildlife may not be taken from the wild.
- Victoria - Private Wildlife Licence :-
Victorian Licencing
This form explains the regulations/costs and what type of wildlife you may keep under this licence.
- New South Wales - Only three native mammals can be kept as pets in N.S.W: dingos, spinifex hopping-mice and plains rats. You'll need a licence for the last two of these. Find out more.
N.S.W Licencing
- Western Australia - This is the Nature Base site for the WA Government. Western Australian Licencing It appears you may only keep some reptiles in captivity. Unable to find reference to other animals. If someone has any further information on this, please let us know so we can keep this site up to date.
- Australian Capital Territory :- website currently down. Will update when its back.
It appears from this website, the only permit you can get is to care and rehabilitate wildlife back into the wild. You may not keep wildlife in captivity. If anyone has any further information on this, please let us know.
- Queensland :- Queensland Licencing It appears that you can get licences to privately or commerically keep various birds/reptiles. Unable to find any reference to mammal. If anyone has any more information on this, please let us know.