Can You Own a Pet Skunk in Maryland? What the Law Actually Says
June 29, 2026
If you have been wondering whether you can own a skunk as a pet in Maryland, the short answer is no — and the prohibition comes from multiple layers of state law. Skunks are explicitly named in Maryland’s criminal code alongside bears, wild cats, and alligators, making them one of the clearest examples of a banned species in the state.
That said, understanding why the law is written this way — and what it means for you practically — is worth your time before drawing any conclusions. This article walks through the state statute, local county rules, permit questions, veterinary access, and the penalties you face if you ignore the ban.
Important Note: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws can change, and county-level rules vary. Contact the Maryland Department of Natural Resources or your local animal control office to confirm the current rules in your jurisdiction.
Are Pet Skunks Legal in Maryland?
No. Maryland bans private ownership of a specific list of animals under its dangerous animal statute, Criminal Law § 10-621. The prohibited categories include bears, wild cats, foxes, skunks, raccoons, alligators, crocodiles, caimans, wild dogs, wolf-dog hybrids, nonhuman primates, and venomous snakes from certain families.
Under this Maryland law, a person may not import into the State, offer for sale, trade, barter, possess, breed, or exchange skunks — along with foxes, raccoons, bears, caimans, alligators, crocodiles, wild cats, wolves, nonhuman primates, and venomous snakes. The law covers every angle of ownership, from buying to breeding to simply keeping one in your home.
Skunks, raccoons, and foxes come up often because people occasionally find orphaned wildlife and attempt to raise it. Keeping any of these animals as a pet is illegal regardless of how you acquired it. Finding a baby skunk in your backyard does not create a legal right to keep it.
A second layer of state regulation reinforces this ban. Under COMAR 08.03.09.03, a person or organization may not harbor or move within Maryland any live raccoons, skunks, foxes, wolves, coyotes, bobcats, or any other mammalian wildlife species for which there is no USDA-certified vaccine against rabies, without first obtaining a permit from the service.
Foxes, skunks, raccoons, wolves, and coyotes are prohibited under both the criminal statute and COMAR’s health regulations. The reason is consistent: these species are mammals for which there is no USDA-certified vaccine against rabies, making their movement and harboring within Maryland illegal without a specific state permit — and that permit is not available for private pet ownership.
Maryland is not alone in this position. States where pet skunks are illegal include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. If you are curious about the broader landscape of keeping a skunk as a pet, the legal picture varies dramatically by state.
Local and Municipal Skunk Laws in Maryland
The state-level ban is already comprehensive, but Maryland law also gives counties and municipalities the authority to go further. This section does not limit a county or municipality from enacting laws or adopting regulations that are more restrictive pertaining to any potentially dangerous animals, including those specified in subsection (b) of this section. In practice, several Maryland counties have done exactly that.
Anne Arundel County addresses skunks directly in its local code. A person may not keep or permit to be kept on the person’s premises any wild animal, exotic animal, or vicious animal as a pet or for display or exhibition purposes, whether gratuitously or for a fee. Small animals such as hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, mice, rats, other small rodents, rabbits, ferrets, birds, fish, and nonpoisonous amphibians and reptiles are not considered wild animals or exotic animals. The keeping of skunks, raccoons, and opossums is illegal.
Howard County takes an equally firm stance. Wild or exotic animals are not permitted as pets. Included in this category are the offspring of domesticated animals bred with a wild or exotic animal. This means even a skunk bred from captive stock would not qualify as a legal pet there.
If you live in a part of Maryland not covered by a specific county ordinance, the state statute still applies. Just because an animal is legal to own in the state does not mean the city you live in allows it. Many local cities and counties have their own restrictions on which animals are legal to keep, and which are not. Consider checking with your local city and/or county for their regulations regarding what pets you can and cannot own.
Pro Tip: Contact your county’s animal control office directly before making any decisions. Each county administers its own ordinances, and local officers can tell you exactly what is and is not permitted in your specific jurisdiction.
Maryland is home to a wide variety of native wildlife, including the striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), which is protected under state wildlife rules. If you are interested in Maryland’s native animals, you might enjoy reading about types of snakes in Maryland or the types of owls in Maryland — all of which are equally off-limits as pets but fascinating to observe in the wild.
Permit and Registration Requirements in Maryland
A common question is whether you can obtain a special permit to legally keep a skunk in Maryland. The answer, for private individuals, is effectively no.
Individuals who wish to own or exhibit exotic animals must obtain a permit from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which includes providing proof of adequate housing, food, sanitation, veterinary care, and security measures to prevent escapes. The DNR also conducts yearly inspections of facilities where exotic animals are kept or exhibited to ensure compliance with state regulations. However, this permit pathway exists for exhibitors and institutions — not for private pet ownership of a species explicitly named in the criminal ban.
Animal sanctuaries, AWA licensed facilities, those holding valid permits from the Department of Natural Resources, and veterinarians are exempted from the prohibition — but these are narrow institutional exemptions, not a route available to someone who simply wants a pet skunk at home.
There is one narrow historical exception worth knowing about. This section does not prohibit a person who had lawful possession of an animal listed above on or before May 31, 2006, from continuing to possess that animal if the person provided written notification to the local animal control authority on or before August 1, 2006. That grandfathering window closed nearly two decades ago and does not apply to anyone acquiring a skunk today.
| Who Is Exempt from the Ban? | Applies to Private Pet Owners? |
|---|---|
| Animal sanctuaries | No |
| AWA-licensed exhibitors / zoos | No |
| Licensed veterinarians (treatment only) | No |
| DNR permit holders (institutional) | No |
| Pre-2006 grandfathered owners (with notice filed) | Extremely narrow; closed window |
| Private individuals seeking a pet skunk | No exemption available |
Where to Legally Obtain a Pet Skunk in Maryland
There is nowhere in Maryland where you can legally obtain a pet skunk for private ownership. Because possession itself is a criminal offense under § 10-621, no licensed breeder or pet store within the state can lawfully sell you one. Purchasing a skunk in another state and bringing it into Maryland would also violate the law, since the statute explicitly prohibits importation.
Anyone selling a skunk must be USDA licensed, whether it is a facility, breeder, dealer, pet store, private person, or broker. Even in states where skunks are legal to sell, bringing that animal across the Maryland border would put you in violation of state law the moment you crossed the state line.
Only five states clearly allow pet skunk ownership without a statewide permit requirement: Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming. These states do not impose a general state-level licensing barrier for ownership. The fact that neighboring Pennsylvania allows skunks does not give Maryland residents any legal cover — the Maryland ban applies based on where you live and where the animal is kept.
If you are drawn to the idea of an unusual or exotic companion animal, Maryland does permit several non-traditional pets that fall outside the § 10-621 prohibited list. Hedgehogs, sugar gliders, chinchillas, pot-bellied pigs, and capybaras all fall outside the prohibited list. Non-venomous reptiles — ball pythons, corn snakes, iguanas, bearded dragons, leopard geckos — are legal. You can also explore the skunk species overview to learn more about skunks in general, or browse Maryland’s native wildlife through guides like types of frogs in Maryland and types of bats in Maryland.
Veterinary Care and Rabies Vaccine Considerations in Maryland
Even if you were somehow in possession of a skunk, finding a veterinarian willing to treat it in Maryland would be extremely difficult — and the underlying science explains why the law is written the way it is.
The core public health problem is straightforward: skunks are mammals for which there is no USDA-certified vaccine against rabies, making their movement and harboring within Maryland illegal without a specific state permit. Unlike dogs and cats, which have well-established, USDA-approved rabies vaccines, no equivalent product exists for skunks. This means a skunk that bites someone cannot be cleared through a standard post-exposure protocol the way a vaccinated dog can.
A person may not import into Maryland any live raccoons, skunks, foxes, wolves, coyotes, bobcats, or any other mammalian wildlife species, or hybrids, for which there is no USDA certified vaccine against rabies. This health regulation runs parallel to the criminal statute and provides the public health rationale behind the ban.
From a veterinary standpoint, the state has the right to confiscate your skunk if you are found in violation, and it also means you may not be able to find vet care for your skunk. Most licensed Maryland veterinarians will decline to treat a prohibited animal because doing so could expose them to regulatory scrutiny, even though the statute does carve out an exemption for veterinary treatment. Finding routine wellness care, dental work, or emergency treatment for an illegal skunk is a practical problem that compounds the legal one.
Key Insight: The absence of a USDA-certified rabies vaccine for skunks is not just a technicality — it is the central public health reason why Maryland and most other states prohibit private skunk ownership. This is unlikely to change without a federally approved vaccine product.
If a skunk bites a person in Maryland, public health officials may require euthanasia of the animal to test for rabies, since there is no approved observation protocol for unvaccinated skunks the way there is for dogs and cats. This outcome affects both the animal and any person who was bitten.
Penalties for Illegal Skunk Ownership in Maryland
Owning a skunk in Maryland is not a gray area — it is a misdemeanor offense with concrete consequences. Violations are a misdemeanor carrying fines up to $1,000 for individuals. That figure applies per violation, meaning separate charges for possession, importation, and breeding could each carry their own fine.
Beyond the financial penalty, violation results in a fine and seizure of the animal. Law enforcement and animal control officers have the authority to remove the skunk from your property. The state has the right to kill your skunk if you are caught. Once seized, an animal named in § 10-621 may be euthanized if no suitable sanctuary placement can be found.
Separate state and federal protections on endangered species and native wildlife add additional layers of restriction, and local counties can impose even stricter rules than the state. If you live in Anne Arundel or Howard County, for example, you face both the state criminal penalty and any additional county-level enforcement action.
- Criminal classification: Misdemeanor under Maryland Criminal Law § 10-621
- Maximum fine: Up to $1,000 per violation
- Animal seizure: Mandatory upon confirmed violation
- Animal disposition: Transfer to sanctuary or euthanasia if no placement is available
- Additional exposure: County-level citations on top of state charges
- Liability: If the skunk injures a person, you bear civil liability as the owner of an illegal animal
It is also worth noting that laws regarding skunk ownership can change at any time, and pet skunks may be regulated at the county, municipal, or local level even when they are legal at the state level. Staying current with Maryland Department of Natural Resources guidance and your county’s animal control office is the only reliable way to know your exact legal exposure.
If you are passionate about Maryland wildlife and want to engage with the natural world legally, there is plenty to explore — from the hawks soaring over Maryland to the butterflies found across the state, woodpeckers in Maryland, and even the venomous animals in Maryland worth knowing about for safety reasons. Maryland’s biodiversity is remarkable — and all of it is best appreciated in the wild.
The bottom line is simple: if you live in Maryland and want a skunk, current state law leaves no legal path forward for private ownership. The ban is statutory, health-driven, and enforced at both the state and county level. Your best course of action is to contact the Maryland Department of Natural Resources or your local animal control office if you have specific questions about your situation.