Foxes love to pounce; it’s one way they hunt. In this case, the prey is a small orange tennis type ball!!
Can you keep a fox as a pet?
Pay yearly fee of $25.50 for the “Fur-bearing Mammal Breeder Permit”. The permit does not allow a person to capture or take a live fox from the wild. You have to purchase the fox from another licensed breeder and you must keep and maintain records of the purchase, sale, and propagation of your foxes [SOURCE: City-Data.com States That Allow Foxes as Pets (breeder, legal, rescues, tortoise)].
From Illinois General Assembly …
ANIMALS
(510 ILCS 60/) Domesticated Wild Animals Act.
…
(510 ILCS 60/2) (from Ch. 8, par. 24a)
Sec. 2. When fox, rabbit, mink, chinchilla, marten, fisher, muskrat, karakul and other fur bearing animals are raised in captivity for breeding or other useful purposes (a) such animals shall be deemed domestic animals; (b) such animals and the products thereof shall be deemed agricultural products; and (c) the breeding, raising, producing or marketing of such animals or their products by the producer thereof shall be deemed an agricultural pursuit.
(Source: Laws 1949, p. 27.)
Arlington Heights Village Code …
http://www.vah.com/assets/1/village_code/CHAPTER_16_05-10_Revision.pdf
Section 16-103 Prohibited Animals. It shall be unlawful for any person to keep any animal other than those customarily used as pets unless such animal shall be certified in writing as safe by a licensed veterinarian and such animal shall be given a rabies shot if there is a possibility of rabies. In no event shall any person or family keep or maintain more than two such animals.
The Cardinal doesn’t practice law, but it looks like you can own a fox if it is bred in captivity, but you can’t keep a wild fox that has been captured. And you have to get approval from a licensed veterinarian and show the approval in writing to Arlington Heights officials.
By the way it is illegal to capture a Northern Cardinal and keep it in a cage.
TITLE 16 > CHAPTER 7 > SUBCHAPTER II > § 703. Taking, killing, or possessing migratory birds unlawful
Unless and except as permitted by regulations made as hereinafter provided in this subchapter, it shall be unlawful at any time, by any means or in any manner, to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, attempt to take, capture, or kill, possess, offer for sale, sell, offer to barter, barter, offer to purchase, purchase, deliver for shipment, ship, export, import, cause to be shipped, exported, or imported, deliver for transportation, transport or cause to be transported, carry or cause to be carried, or receive for shipment, transportation, carriage, or export, any migratory bird, any part, nest, or eggs of any such bird, or any product, whether or not manufactured, which consists, or is composed in whole or part, of any such bird or any part, nest, or egg thereof, included in the terms of the conventions between the United States and Great Britain for the protection of migratory birds concluded August 16, 1916 (39 Stat. 1702), the United States and the United Mexican States for the protection of migratory birds and game mammals concluded February 7, 1936, the United States and the Government of Japan for the protection of migratory birds and birds in danger of extinction, and their environment concluded March 4, 1972 and the convention between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for the conservation of migratory birds and their environments concluded November 19, 1976.