Can You Have a Pet Raccoon in Tennessee? Permits, Sourcing, and Penalties

You can keep a pet raccoon in Tennessee, but only if you obtain a Class II Wildlife Possession Permit from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency before you bring the animal home, and only if the raccoon comes from a licensed breeder rather than the wild. The permit is the easy part. The harder part is that no rabies vaccine is approved for raccoons, which has serious consequences if your animal ever bites someone.

The Permit You Need

Raccoons are native to Tennessee, which places them in Class II under Tennessee Code 70-4-403 and TWRA Rule 1660-01-18.¹² No one can legally possess a Class II species without first obtaining a Wildlife Possession Permit for Class II Animals.³

The application is Form WR-0548 on the TWRA website.⁴ It asks for your name, date of birth, mailing address, the species you want to keep, and the name and address of the source where you plan to get the animal. Submit it and wait for approval before taking possession of a raccoon.

A Class II permit does not require a pre-issuance facility inspection. That inspection applies to Class I species only. TWRA officers can still inspect your setup after the fact and act on unsafe conditions, so meeting the housing standards from day one matters.

Permits generally run twelve months from the date of issuance under TWRA licensing rules.⁵ Plan to renew every year for the animal’s entire life, which can stretch 15 to 20 years in captivity.

Where the Raccoon Has to Come From

Taking a raccoon from the wild to keep as a pet is illegal. TWRA states this plainly.⁶ Your raccoon has to come from a licensed breeder or commercial propagator. Keep the purchase receipt. The permit application itself requires you to list your source so TWRA can confirm the animal was captive-bred.⁴

Licensed raccoon breeders in Tennessee are scarce, and buying across state lines adds complications. Any business transporting animals interstate for sale as pets falls under the federal Animal Welfare Act and must register with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.⁷ If you buy out of state, confirm the breeder’s USDA registration and make sure the import also satisfies Tennessee’s permit requirements.

Housing and Care Rules

Tennessee Code 70-4-405 sets housing and care standards for all captive wildlife, including Class II animals.⁸ The core requirements:

Enclosures must be strong enough to prevent escape and protect the animal from injury. An escape is itself treated as maintaining wildlife in an unsafe manner, which is a violation.
Fecal and food waste must be removed from cages daily. Hard floors must be scrubbed and disinfected weekly. Dirt-floored pens must be raked every three days.
Clean drinking water goes in clean containers every day. Food must be unspoiled and uncontaminated.
No nails or sharp protrusions inside the enclosure.

Wildlife kept in dangerously unsafe conditions can be seized by TWRA and placed in an agency-approved facility at the owner’s expense.⁸ The elaborate setups you may see described online, with perimeter fences and double safety doors, come from the Class I rules in subsection (g) of the same statute and don’t apply to raccoons.

The Rabies Problem

No rabies vaccine is licensed for use in raccoons. Even if a veterinarian vaccinates your animal off-label, Tennessee’s public health authorities will treat it as unvaccinated if it ever bites or scratches a person.⁹

Under Tennessee’s rabies protocol, raccoons are classified as wild carnivores regardless of whether they were captive-bred. If yours bites someone, the exposed person should start post-exposure prophylaxis right away. If the animal is available, the guidelines call for testing it for rabies, and that test requires euthanizing the raccoon and examining its brain tissue.⁹ There is no quarantine-and-observe option the way there is for dogs and cats.

Raccoons also tend to become more territorial and aggressive after they reach sexual maturity, so bite incidents aren’t hypothetical. TWRA itself warns that raccoons do not make good pets and can carry diseases and parasites.⁶ A single bite can end with your animal killed for testing and the person undergoing an expensive series of rabies injections.

Local Ordinances Still Apply

A TWRA permit covers state law. It does not override local rules. Cities and counties in Tennessee can pass their own animal control ordinances, and some restrict what animals residents can keep in residential zones. A state wildlife permit will not exempt you from a local ban. Call your city or county animal control office before you start the permit process to confirm raccoons are allowed where you live.

Penalties If You Skip the Permit

Possessing a raccoon without a permit, or taking one from the wild, is a Class A misdemeanor under Tennessee Code 70-4-201.¹⁰ That carries up to 11 months and 29 days in jail, a fine of up to $2,500, or both.¹¹

If the wildlife involved is valued at $500 or more, the offense becomes a Class E felony, punishable by one to six years in prison and a fine of up to $3,000.¹⁰¹¹ Captive-bred raccoons from licensed breeders routinely sell for several hundred dollars, so clearing that threshold isn’t far-fetched. And again, TWRA can confiscate the animal and bill you for its care if it finds your housing unsafe.⁸

1
Justia. Tennessee Code 70-4-403 – Classifications of Wildlife
2
Legal Information Institute. Tennessee Code 1660-01-18-.03 – Classes of Wildlife
3
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Wildlife Permits Available
4
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Wildlife Possession Permit Application Class II Animals
5
Tennessee Secretary of State. Tennessee Rule 1660-01-28 – License and Permit Regulations
6
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Raccoon
7
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Transporting Animals in Commerce
8
Justia. Tennessee Code 70-4-405 – Housing and Transportation of Wildlife
9
Tennessee Department of Health. Tennessee Rabies Manual
10
Justia. Tennessee Code 70-4-201 – Possession of or Traffic in Protected Wildlife Illegal – Exception – Penalty
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Justia. Tennessee Code 40-35-111 – Authorized Terms of Imprisonment and Fines for Misdemeanors and Felonies