HOUSE BILL 54

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

INTRODUCED BY

Joanne J. Ferrary

AN ACT

RELATING TO ANIMALS; AMENDING A SECTION OF THE NMSA 1978 PERTAINING TO DOGS THAT KILL OR INJURE LIVESTOCK; REMOVING A REQUIREMENT THAT A DOG THAT KILLS POULTRY MUST BE KILLED.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 77-1-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1901, Chapter 105, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:

     "77-1-2. DOG KILLING OR INJURING LIVESTOCK OR POULTRY-- DAMAGES--DISPOSITION OF DOG [TO BE KILLED].--

          A. If [any] a dog [shall kill] kills or [injure any] injures livestock or poultry, the owner or keeper of [such] the dog [shall be] is liable for all damages that may be sustained thereby, to be recovered by the party so injured before [any] a court having competent jurisdiction. [and]

          B. It [shall be] is unlawful to keep [such] a dog after it is known that the dog is liable to kill livestock, and it [shall be] is the duty of the owner to kill or have killed the dog upon order of the court after a finding that the dog has killed or injured livestock. [and provided further, that]

          C. It [shall be] is the right of [any] an owner of livestock [so] or poultry killed or injured by the actions of [any] a dog to kill the dog while it is upon property controlled by the owner of the livestock or poultry.

          D. For the purposes of this section:

                (1) "livestock" means domestic or domesticated animals that are used or raised on a farm or ranch, including exotic animals in captivity, and includes horses, asses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, bison, ostriches, emus, rheas, camelids and farmed cervidae, but does not include poultry, canine animals or feline animals; and

                (2) "poultry" means domestic or domesticated fowl, including chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and any other domestic or domesticated bird kept for its eggs or flesh, but does not include ostriches, emus or rheas."

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