HB0366JCS

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL 366

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

AN ACT

RELATING TO WILDLIFE; ENACTING THE WILDLIFE PROTECTION AND PUBLIC SAFETY ACT; PROVIDING FOR RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF TRAPS, SNARES AND POISONS; PROVIDING PENALTIES; IMPOSING CIVIL LIABILITY.

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

SECTION 1. A new Section 17-9-1 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

"17-9-1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--Chapter 17, Article 9 NMSA 1978 may be cited as the "Wildlife Protection and Public Safety Act"."

SECTION 2. A new Section 17-9-2 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

"17-9-2. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Wildlife Protection and Public Safety Act:

A. "bona fide scientific research" means an investigation using commonly accepted scientific techniques or the scientific method of comparing effects with outcomes experienced by a control group and that is not being conducted for commercial gain from the sale of animal parts and that is conducted by employees or contractors of the department, the United States fish and wildlife service or other government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, educational institutions or individuals who are affiliated with educational institutions conducting investigations and who have applied for and received a scientific collection permit from the department;

B. "cage trap" means a trap that captures a live animal but does not grip an animal's body or body part and is not intended to kill the animal, including a live trap, a cage or box trap, a colony trap, a net and a suitcase-type live beaver trap;

C. "department" means the department of game and fish;

D. "depredation trapping" means the act of setting traps, snares or poisons on public land to reduce or prevent damage caused by wildlife to property or waterways, including growing, harvested and stored crops and livestock;

E. "domestic animal" means any animal that is bred for and is typically subject to human control;

F. "ecosystem management" means actions that are necessary to maintain or increase the long-term sustainability and integrity of an entire system of living wildlife and their environment, including the restoration and conservation of wildlife populations and habitat, wildlife relocation, medical treatment of wildlife and the protection of threatened or endangered species;

G. "feral animal" means a domestic animal existing in an untamed state outside captivity or domestication and not under human control;

H. "government entity" means a local, state or federal government body or agency, a political subdivision of the state or an employee, agent or representative of the body, agency or political subdivision when acting within the scope of its governmental duties, but does not include an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo;

I. "leghold trap" means a spring-actuated device, either padded or unpadded, designed to capture an animal by the foot, leg or other limb, including a steel-jawed leghold trap, a padded-jaw leghold trap, a foot-hold trap, an egg trap, a duffer trap and all other similar traps;

J. "lethal body-gripping trap" means a rotating jaw trap designed to capture an animal by the body that is intended to fatally crush or otherwise kill the animal and includes conibear traps and all other similar traps;

K. "public land" means land owned by a government entity, but does not include physical structures or land belonging to or held in trust for an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo;

L. "snare" means a wire or cable with a single closing device, often with a noose, with or without stops, that is used to capture, strangle or otherwise entangle an animal, but does not include use of a catch pole, leash or tether lawfully used by a person to temporarily restrain or relocate an animal;

M. "trap" includes a leghold trap, lethal body- gripping trap or cage trap;

N. "wildlife" means a member of a vertebrate species that is native to or found in New Mexico that is not under the direct control of a human or in captivity, but does not include a feral or escaped domestic animal; and

O. "wildlife poison" means a substance or mixture of substances applied in a manner intended to kill wildlife."

SECTION 3. A new Section 17-9-3 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

"17-9-3. [NEW MATERIAL] PROHIBITIONS ON PUBLIC LAND.--It is a violation of the Wildlife Protection and Public Safety Act for a person or government entity to use a trap, snare or wildlife poison on public land except as provided in Section 17-9-4 NMSA 1978."

SECTION 4. A new Section 17-9-4 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

"17-9-4. [NEW MATERIAL] EXCEPTIONS.--

A. The provisions of the Wildlife Protection and Public Safety Act do not apply to:

(1) any land or property that is not defined as public land pursuant to the Wildlife Protection and Public Safety Act;

(2) the taking of wildlife with firearms, fishing equipment, archery equipment, falconry equipment or other implements in hand as authorized by law;

(3) the control of mice, rats, pack rats, gophers, prairie dogs, moles, voles or rock squirrels;

(4) the taking of birds or fish;

(5) a government entity acting in the course of its official duties to prevent or mitigate actual threats to human health and safety;

(6) the department, the United States fish and wildlife service or a conservancy district of the state or its employee, agent or representative acting in the course of its official duties related to ecosystem management;

(7) bona fide scientific research;

(8) depredation trapping by:

(a) a designated agent of the department using cage traps; and

(b) the department; provided that the department shall not use wildlife poisons, lethal body-gripping traps or snares designed to cause strangulation;

(9) the use of cage traps by an owner or the owner's agent of property, crops or livestock that are lawfully situated on public land for the lawful capture of offending wildlife, feral animals or domestic animals to abate damages caused to property, crops or livestock; provided that:

(a) once the damage has been abated, use of the cage trap shall cease; and

(b) any captured wildlife is disposed of in accordance with rules established by the department;

(10) the use of cage traps:

(a) by an owner of a domestic animal to recover that animal;

(b) to engage in a trap-neuter-return program for feral animals; or

(11) enrolled members of a federally recognized Indian nation, tribe or pueblo when trapping is conducted solely for religious or ceremonial purposes.

B. Nothing in this section shall be construed to allow recreational or commercial trapping on public land."

SECTION 5. A new Section 17-9-5 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

"17-9-5. [NEW MATERIAL] PENALTIES.--

A. A person who violates the Wildlife Protection and Public Safety Act is guilty of a petty misdemeanor. Every prohibited use of a trap, snare or wildlife poison shall be prosecuted as a single unit of prosecution for each trap, snare or wildlife poison used.

B. Any penalties under this section shall be cumulative to any other available penalties at law.

C. In addition to other penalties, upon conviction, the court may consider appropriate restitution to a state agency that incurs costs in enforcing the Wildlife Protection and Public Safety Act."

SECTION 6. A new Section 17-9-6 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

"17-9-6. [NEW MATERIAL] CIVIL LIABILITY.--A person who is convicted of a violation of the Wildlife Protection and Public Safety Act shall be strictly liable in a civil action for damages related to the conduct for which the person was convicted. If a violation results in the death of a domestic animal, the court may award up to three times actual damages to the party complaining of the violation."

SECTION 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2019.