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Bill to permit possession of rehabilitated squirrel, raccoon pets draws strong opposition from Fish & Game and animal welfare groups
Summary
Representative Jim Splane's HB 251 would permit possession of rehabilitated gray squirrels and raccoons determined unreleasable. Fish & Game and animal‑welfare organizations testified the measure raises public‑health, welfare, and enforcement concerns; committee comments focused on vaccine rules, quarantine, and existing rehabilitation practice.
Representative Jim Splane introduced HB 251 to authorize possession of raccoons and gray squirrels as companion animals when a licensed wildlife rehabilitator determines the individual animal cannot survive in the wild.
Proponents said the change would allow rehabilitators to place unreleasable animals in permanent homes instead of euthanizing them. Splane and cosponsors said their intent was to avoid forcing licensed rehabilitation facilities into the choice of keeping animals indefinitely or euthanizing them after successful rehabilitation but failed release.
Multiple witnesses spoke in opposition. Kurt Ehrenberg of the Humane Society of the United States said wild animals are not domesticated, are unpredictable, and can carry zoonotic diseases such as rabies and raccoon roundworm; he noted rabies vaccines are not licensed for wildlife and warned offsetting risks to public health. Dan Bergeron, chief of the Wildlife Division at New Hampshire Fish and Game, likewise opposed the measure. Bergeron said current Fish and Game rules and the licensing structure for rehabilitators require that unreleasable wildlife held by rehabilitators be euthanized unless maintained under an exhibitor's permit for education; Fish and Game licensing and public‑health safeguards are structured around that framework.
Committee members pressed about quarantine and vaccination protocols for animals moving between states, and whether a rehabilitator's documented determination could serve as a legal pathway to keeping an animal. Bergeron and other agency witnesses stressed there are no approved wildlife rabies vaccines for these species under current practice, and Fish & Game said rehabilitators typically euthanize animals they determine cannot be safely released.
Representative Splane and a cosponsor, Representative Jeanine Nader, said the bill can be amended to include clearer rules on vaccination, quarantine and permitting, and that a grandfathering clause could protect existing owners. Testimony showed substantial public opposition in the online portal. The committee closed the hearing without taking further action.
