45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2001
RELATING TO GAME; PROVIDING FOR REGULATIONS FOR LANDOWNER TAKINGS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 17-2-7.2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997, Chapter 224, Section 3) is amended to read:
"17-2-7.2. LANDOWNER TAKING--CONDITIONS--DEPARTMENT
RESPONSIBILITIES.--
A. A landowner or lessee, or employee of either,
may take or kill an animal on private land, in which they have
an ownership or leasehold interest, including game animals and
other quadrupeds, game birds and fowl, that presents an
immediate threat to human life or an immediate threat of
damage to property, including crops; provided, however, that
the taking or killing is reported to the department [of game
and fish] within twenty-four hours and before the removal of
the carcass of the animal killed, in accordance with
regulations adopted by the commission.
B. A landowner or lessee, or employee of either, may take or kill animals on private land, in which they have an ownership or leasehold interest, including game animals and other quadrupeds, game birds and fowl, that present a threat to human life or damage to property, including crops, according to regulations adopted by the commission. The regulations shall:
(1) provide a method for filing a complaint to the department by the landowner or lessee, or employee of either of them, of the existence of a depredation problem;
(2) provide for various departmental interventions, depending upon the type of animal and depredation;
(3) [require the department to offer at least
three different interventions, if practical] provide for the
landowner to implement a minimum number of interventions prior
to implementing the killing provision;
(4) require the department to respond to the initial and any subsequent complaints within ten days with an intervention response to the complaint and to carry out the intervention, if agreed upon between the department and the landowner, within five days of that agreement;
(5) permit the landowner or lessee to reject for good cause the interventions offered by the department;
(6) require a landowner or lessee to
demonstrate that the property depredation is greater in value
than the value of any wildlife-related income or fee collected
by the landowner or lessee for permission to take or kill an
animal of the same species on the private property or portion
of the private property identified in the complaint as the
location where the depredation occurred; [and]
(7) permit the landowner, lessee or employee, when interventions by the department have not been successful and after one year from the date of the filing of the initial complaint, to kill or take an animal believed responsible for property depredation; and
(8) require the department and the landowner to establish a process for salvaging the game meat.
C. For purposes of this section:
(1) "commission" means the state game commission;
(2) "department" means the department of game and fish; and
(3) "intervention" means a solution proposed by the department to eliminate the depredation."