Can You Own a Chimpanzee in Maine? What State and Federal Law Actually Say

If you’ve ever pictured raising a chimpanzee in your Maine backyard, the reality of state and federal wildlife law will likely change your plans fast. Owning a chimpanzee in Maine sits at the intersection of a near-total state permit restriction, a patchwork of federal wildlife statutes, and local ordinances that can tighten the rules even further.

Before you go any further with this idea, you need to understand how Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) classifies primates, what federal law does and does not cover, and what penalties you could face for skipping the paperwork. Here’s how the rules actually break down.

Is It Legal to Own a Chimpanzee in Maine

The short answer: not as a household pet, and not without clearing hurdles that almost no private individual can meet. The chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) falls into Maine’s most heavily restricted wildlife category, and the state does not treat great apes the way it treats, say, a ferret or a bearded dragon.

According to the Animal Legal & Historical Center’s detailed discussion of Maine’s great ape laws, while Maine does not ban the private possession of great apes, the state only issues licenses to keep apes to a select few. That distinction matters. There is no outright statutory ban naming chimpanzees specifically, but the permit criteria are written narrowly enough that a typical pet owner has no realistic path to qualifying.

This is different from how the state handles many other exotic species. If you’re weighing a less demanding alternative, it’s worth comparing Maine’s hedgehog ownership laws, which fall under a far less restrictive tier of the same regulatory system.

Pro Tip: Before researching permit paperwork for any exotic animal, confirm which of Maine’s three risk tiers (unrestricted, restricted, or prohibited) the species falls under. It changes everything about what you’re required to do next.

What Federal Law Currently Says About Primate Ownership

You might assume there’s a federal law banning chimpanzee ownership outright. As of the 2025-2026 legislative session, that’s not quite accurate. No federal statute currently prohibits the private possession of a pet primate nationwide, which is exactly why states like Maine have built their own permit systems to fill the gap.

The closest thing to a federal fix is the Captive Primate Safety Act, a bill that would amend the Lacey Act to treat primates as prohibited wildlife species. According to Wikipedia’s summary of the legislation, the bill modifies the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to treat nonhuman primates as prohibited wildlife species, allowing exemptions for zoos and research facilities, and would eliminate the use of primates in the domestic pet trade at a federal level.

The bill has a long history of stalling. The Captive Primate Safety Act was first introduced in 2005 and has been passed by the House of Representatives multiple times but, as of 2024, has not made it past both houses for a vote. It was reintroduced again in the current Congress. Earth.org reported that on May 5, the Captive Primate Safety Act – which bans the private ownership of primates in the United States – was reintroduced in Congress.

The proposed law’s text is specific about which animals it would cover. According to the bill text published on Congress.gov, the term “prohibited primate species” means any live species of nonhuman primate, including species of chimpanzee, galago, gibbon, gorilla, lemur, loris, monkey, orangutan, tarsier, or any hybrid of such species.

Until that bill clears both chambers, chimpanzee ownership remains a matter left largely to individual states. That’s the same regulatory gap that lets you see wildly different rules if you compare Maine’s approach to how the state protects its endangered species versus how it treats imported exotic wildlife.

Maine’s Laws on Owning a Chimpanzee

Maine regulates wildlife possession under Title 12 of its Revised Statutes, and the framework is built around risk tiers rather than a simple yes-or-no species list. According to LegalClarity’s breakdown of Maine’s exotic pet laws, Maine divides exotic animals into three categories — unrestricted, restricted, and prohibited — and you need a permit from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) before you can legally keep any restricted species.

Chimpanzees land in the most tightly controlled tier. The list includes all primates, all members of the cat family (including large cats like lions, tigers, and leopards), all crocodilians among the highest-risk animals that require a permit before you can legally possess them. This puts a chimpanzee in the same regulatory bracket as a tiger, not the same bracket as an unusual but low-risk pet.

What makes primates genuinely different from other restricted species is the extra layer written specifically for them. Maine’s regulations state that “no primate shall be permitted under this Part, except for purposes of therapeutic, emotional, or handicapped aid” under the section covering general wildlife possession permits. In practice, that clause closes off the “pet” pathway almost entirely, since it’s built for service-animal scenarios, not companionship.

For context, this is a much stricter standard than what applies to Maine’s native wildlife. If you’ve ever wondered how the state treats animals that already live in Maine’s woods and wetlands, its rules on owning a raccoon in Maine and the protections given to owls follow a related but separate set of restrictions built around native-species conservation rather than exotic-species risk.

Permits and Requirements for Chimpanzee Ownership in Maine

Even for restricted species that do have a realistic permit path, Maine sets a high bar. LegalClarity notes that application fees range from $27 to $250 depending on the permit type, and allowing a restricted animal to escape is a criminal offense carrying up to six months in jail. Fees alone won’t get you a chimpanzee, though; the applicant pool for primate permits is narrowed by design.

The rule specifically written for primates requires more than an application and a fee. As the Animal Legal & Historical Center explains, the rules state that a permit holder must demonstrate a legitimate need for the physical or emotional aid from a primate, and the animal must be specifically trained for such purposes. On top of that, the primate must be supplied by or approved by a recognized institution or organization that specializes in training service or therapy animals.

That combination of requirements is intentionally difficult to satisfy for a species like a chimpanzee. As the same source puts it plainly, the requirements are such that it would be difficult for a person seeking a permit for an ape to qualify. Other permit categories exist for exhibitors, wildlife rehabilitators, USDA-registered laboratories, and accredited research facilities, but none of those routes function as a “pet ownership” permit.

• Therapeutic/emotional aid permit: Requires a documented need and a primate trained by a recognized organization — not applicable to companion ownership.
• Exhibitor permit: Reserved for licensed zoos, educational exhibits, and similar operations.
• Research/laboratory permit: Limited to USDA-registered facilities and accredited institutions.
• Wildlife rehabilitation permit: Intended for restoring debilitated native wildlife, not for keeping exotic apes long-term.

If you’re curious how this compares to species Maine treats with less friction, its rules on backyard chicken ownership show what a genuinely accessible permit process looks like by comparison.

Local Laws That May Apply in Maine

State law sets the floor, not the ceiling, and Maine’s cities and towns can add restrictions of their own. According to CityRuleLookup’s overview of Maine’s exotic pet rules, municipalities may further restrict exotic pets under 30-A § 3001 home-rule authority, and some Maine cities ban venomous reptiles and large constrictors outright.

That same home-rule authority applies to primates. Even in the unlikely event you cleared every state permit requirement for a chimpanzee, your town could still have a local ordinance banning exotic or “dangerous wild animal” possession within municipal limits. This is the same layered approach you see with more common animal regulations, like the local leash laws that vary by municipality across the state.

Important Note: Always check with your specific city or town clerk’s office before assuming a state-level permit is the only approval you need. Local zoning and animal-control ordinances can be more restrictive than state law, and they’re enforced separately.

Local rules also tend to intersect with property and zoning codes, particularly around housing standards for large or potentially dangerous animals, and with animal-control ordinances that predate the state’s exotic species framework. A chimpanzee enclosure would almost certainly trigger review under both.

Penalties for Illegally Owning a Chimpanzee in Maine

Keeping a chimpanzee without the required state permit carries real legal consequences, and they escalate with repeated violations. Under Maine’s exotic pet law, penalties for violations incur fines of not less than $100 but not more than $500, and three or more such violations within a five year period are considered to be a Class E criminal offense.

CityRuleLookup describes the practical enforcement side similarly, noting that a Class E crime under 12 MRS § 12152 carries a minimum $50 fine plus twice the applicable permit fee, and the animal may be seized. Seizure means you don’t just pay a fine — you also lose the animal, and the state (or a partner sanctuary) takes custody going forward.

Beyond the initial possession violation, there’s added exposure if the animal ever gets loose. As LegalClarity points out, allowing a restricted animal to escape is a criminal offense carrying up to six months in jail. Given a chimpanzee’s strength and unpredictability compared to smaller restricted species, that escape scenario carries obvious public-safety stakes on top of the legal ones.

Violation	Consequence
First unpermitted possession	Fine between $100 and $500
Three or more violations within five years	Class E criminal offense
Class E crime under 12 MRS § 12152	Minimum $50 fine plus twice the permit fee; animal may be seized
Escape of a restricted animal	Criminal offense, up to six months in jail

None of this touches the animal-welfare side of the equation. Maine’s anti-cruelty statutes apply on top of the exotic pet law, meaning a poorly cared-for chimpanzee could expose an owner to a separate set of charges entirely, independent of the permit violation itself.

If you’re drawn to exotic or unusual animal companionship in Maine, there are legal paths that don’t carry this level of risk. Species regulated under Maine’s unrestricted list, or those requiring far more attainable permits, offer a way to satisfy that interest without the legal exposure that comes with a species like a chimpanzee. For a sense of scale, even native wildlife interactions, such as handling roadkill under state law or observing the snake species found across Maine, are governed by rules designed to be far more accessible than anything written for great apes.

Pro Tip: If you’re set on working with primates in some capacity, look into accredited sanctuaries or AZA-certified facilities that accept volunteers. It’s a legal way to spend time around these animals without the permit dead end that comes with private ownership.

This guide reflects general information about wildlife law and is not a substitute for legal advice. Permit requirements, fee schedules, and enforcement practices can change, so confirm current details directly with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife or a licensed attorney before making any decisions involving a restricted species.