For the past four years, Lenexa resident Stephen Kaspar has been feeding and training wild raccoons that wander onto his property.
“It is the highlight of my life,” he said during a legislative hearing on Monday. “These are the things that you do when you become an empty nester. You start playing with raccoons in the backyard.”
But it’s against Kansas law to own a pet raccoon. That’s why Kaspar is urging state lawmakers to pass a bill that would legalize pet ownership of raccoons.
Owners would be required to obtain a raccoon ownership permit, complete educational training and vaccinate their raccoons for rabies and other diseases. They’d have to provide raccoons with their own room or enclosure, a measure Kaspar said is designed to ensure people provide proper care and enrichment to the animals.
“It’s not supposed to be easy — not everybody should just get a permit,” he said. “This is a commitment.”
Kaspar said 20 other states have already legalized raccoon pet ownership. He said the bill text, which he suggested based on other states’ legislation, gives Kansas an opportunity to set a gold standard for pet raccoon ownership.
Rep. Joe Seiwert, a Republican from Pretty Prairie, testified in support of the proposal.
“I was a poor little farm kid back in the ’50s, and we had a lot of wild pets, and actually a little coyote we named Wiley after a famous movie star,” he said.
Seiwert’s legislative intern, Charles Simpson, delivered the remainder of Seiwert’s testimony.
“I strongly believe that this bill strikes an essential balance between allowing individual freedom to keep raccoons while ensuring their health and safety, as well as the well-being of the community,” Simpson read.
Seiwert said he decided to advocate for the bill because he believes some Kansans might already have pet raccoons, unknowingly breaking state law.
“A lot of people have them and don’t realize that they’re not legal pets,” he said.
But some at the hearing expressed concern about the potential for the bill to fuel the spread of infectious diseases like rabies.
“That is a major human health concern when it comes to pet ownership of raccoons, primarily because there is not a label vaccine for rabies in raccoons,” said Erin Petro, state public health veterinarian at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
She said rabid raccoons in the U.S. have caused human death as recently as 2018.
Kaspar suggested limiting ownership permits to Kansans who purchase raccoons from breeders certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Those raccoons, he said, have been bred in captivity since the 1960s and are genetically distinct from wild raccoons. He said there haven’t been any known instances of USDA-bred raccoons contracting rabies.
Kyle Hamilton, an assistant revisor of statutes, said the bill in its current form does not distinguish between USDA-bred raccoons and wild raccoons. Language clarifying that distinction could be added if lawmakers decide to work the bill.
Several lawmakers appeared skeptical of the proposal, including Rep. Brooklynne Mosley, a Lawrence Democrat.
“I’m happy I never got a chance to witness my parents as empty nesters because they had my little brother in their mid 40s. So I did not have to witness ‘raccoon dad,’” she said.
She asked Kaspar about local support for his bill. He said more than 100 Kansans have signed a petition in support of the bill, and estimated that he is in communication with 100 other people from around the country on TikTok who support the bill.
“There is a huge movement,” Kaspar said, noting that both Nebraska and Oklahoma have legalized raccoon pet ownership.
“Those are not great states to be comparing us to,” Mosley replied.
Eureka Republican Rep. Duane Droge, a former veterinarian, said it’s difficult to domesticate animals.
“Dogs were domesticated over hundreds and thousands of years,” he said. “You can’t domesticate in one generation.”
“I had a roommate in veterinary school that had (a pet raccoon) that took over the refrigerator,” he added. “It would hide until you opened the refrigerator door and it would take over the refrigerator. You couldn't even go in the kitchen.”
It’s unclear if lawmakers will work the bill this legislative session. Lawmakers have the option of taking up bills that are introduced but not passed this year during next year’s legislative session.
