New Yorkers will never be satisfied. Whereas Main Street America is content to find companionship with dogs, cats, fish and the occasional Guinea Pig, New Yorkers keep getting busted for harboring weird, illegal pets like turkeys, iguanas and sugar bears. The Post reports that the "lions share" of the 42 New Yorkers busted for having illegal pets were in Brooklyn, probably because their chicken coops weren't as inconspicuous as they imagined.
City law [pdf] pretty much prohibits keeping anything other than domesticated cats, dogs, small rodents, non-predatory birds, non-venomous spiders or horses. But lest you think that finding an illegal hyrax would be a daunting task, there seem to be plenty of exotic pet exchanges on the vast and wonderful internet. One shows pets like sugar gliders, chipmunks and opossums for sale. Though, for your own opossum, you could just head to Brooklyn. And though you could be fined up to $2,000 for keeping an illegal pet, it might be worth it. C'mon, look at that face!
