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Cal. FGC § 2189

This is the official text of Cal. FGC § 2189, part of California’s Fish and Game Code — regulates hunting, fishing, and wildlife conservation.

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Official statutory text

(a) As used in this section “nonnative wild animal” means any nonnative animal species, or hybrid thereof, that is not normally domesticated pursuant to this code or regulations adopted pursuant thereto and that is not designated as a furbearing, game, nongame, threatened, or endangered animal.

(b) No person shall import into this state any live nonnative wild animal except pursuant to this chapter or regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

(c) Any live nonnative wild animal that is possessed or transported within this state in violation of this chapter or regulations adopted pursuant thereto shall be disposed of in accordance with regulations adopted pursuant to Section 2122, at the expense of the owner or possessor. The owner or possessor shall pay the costs associated with the seizure, care, holding, transfer, and destruction of the animal.

(d) Any live, nonnative wild animal found at large within this state shall be either summarily destroyed or, if captured, shall be confined for not less than 72 hours following notification of the local humane society. Any local, state, or federal governmental agency that has public safety responsibilities is authorized to implement this subdivision.

(e) If, during the 72-hour holding period, any person claims ownership of the animal, that person shall only be allowed to dispose of the animal pursuant to subdivision (c).

(f) After the 72-hour holding period, if the animal is unclaimed, it shall be disposed of in accordance with regulations adopted pursuant to Section 2122 unless the animal is listed as a threatened or endangered species by either state or federal regulation. Notwithstanding subdivision (c), if the animal is listed as a threatened or endangered species in either regulation, the department shall be notified of the animal’s location and the department shall be responsible for proper disposition.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.