Poster of missing caracat

The saga of

highlighted the issues with making a wild or semi-wild creature into a pet.

While the brother of the owner of the caracat that went missing and was ultimately caught said the animal is legal to own, he said he is now realizing that having a 35-pound feline in an apartment isn’t working, and they are looking for a new home or a spot in a sanctuary for the half-caracal, half-Abyssinian cat.

Many exotic animals are not legal to own in Oregon.

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Brad Leamaster, a state veterinarian with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said Tuesday that

, owning many exotic pets became illegal.

People who had permits to own such pets before the law passed -- things like “bears, except for the American Black Bear, non-human primates, non-indigenous canines which are not domestic or domestic crosses, non-indigenous felines which are not domestic or domestic crosses and crocodilians” -- were grandfathered in and able to keep their pets until the animal died or could no longer be cared for. But no new permits were issued,

Still, Leamaster said, “it’s probably more common than we know” for people to own animals as pets that are illegal in the state.

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The Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife are both involved with monitoring illegal pets, which extends well beyond the larger mammals and crocodilians outlined in the law and includes

.

Rick Boatner, the invasive species wildlife integrity supervisor with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, said over the phone Tuesday that these pets, when they are discovered, frequently have to be euthanized.

“Everybody goes, ‘Well send them back where they came from,’ but,” he said, “they don’t want them.”

That’s because it is impossible to know the origin of the pet. It could carry disease that makes it impossible to release back in the wild.

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With illegal cats, sometimes they can be placed in sanctuaries. But, said Boatner called these place “over-crowded and underfunded” and said owners frequently “will come to the realization that they can’t get rid of it and they have to euthanize.”

Boatner had a piece of advice for anyone who was thinking about buying an illegal exotic pet: Don’t.

Instead, he said, go to the Humane Society and get “a little kitty cat” if you want a cat, he said.

Boatner should know. His agency is often responsible for dealing with animals people are keeping as illegal pets. Here are some of the wild (literally) animals the Department of Fish and Wildlife has had to remove from Oregon homes.

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Greg Hume/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 3.0

Red-eared slider

This is one of the most-common prohibited animals kept as a pet in Oregon. But these turtles are illegal

when they are released into the wild.

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D. Gordon E. Robertson/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 3.0

Snapping turtle

This is another popular nonnative turtle that is illegal to own in Oregon.

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Wikipedia/Public Domain

Alligator

Boatner said removing alligators was “fairly common.”

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C-8/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 3.0

African crested porcupine

Boatner said this “huge porcupine with huge quills” is something the agency has had to deal with more than once.

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National Park Service

Fox

According to Boatner, the popularity of illegal pets goes in waves. “For a while,” he said, “foxes were the big item.”

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Isaacrubens/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 3.0

Mexican tree lizard

Currently, he said, Mexican tree lizards are popular.

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Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Photo by Brian Wolfer

Bobcats and cougars

“We’ve seen bobcats and cougars in apartments or in chicken wire cages,” Boatner said.

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Ross Elliott/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 3.0

Siberian lynx

Boatner said that in 2005 a Clackamas County sheriff’s deputy

because it attacked a young girl in Happy Valley.

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-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052

lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker

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