HB 2390 Text

H. B. 2390

(By Delegates Williams and Tabb)
[Introduced January 22, 2007; referred to the
Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources then Finance.]

A BILL to amend and reenact §19-2E-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §19-9-1 of said code; and to amend and reenact §19-20-14 of said code, all relating to the definition of domestic animals and livestock.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §19-2E-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that §19-9-1 of said code be amended and reenacted; and that §19-20-14 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 2E. HUMANE SLAUGHTER OF LIVESTOCK.

§19-2E-3. Definitions.

As used in this article:
(a) "Commercial slaughtering establishments" means a person engaged for profit in this state in the business of slaughtering or dressing animals for human consumption which are to be sold or offered for sale through a commercial outlet or establishment;
(b) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of West Virginia and his or her duly authorized representatives;
(c) "License" means any person licensed under the provisions of article two-b, chapter nineteen of the Code of West Virginia;
(d) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, fiduciary or other group of persons whether organized or not;
(e) "Livestock" means cattle, swine, sheep, or goats or any animal raised for domestic or commercial agricultural purposes.

ARTICLE 9. DISEASES AMONG DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

§19-9-1. Definitions.
The following words, as used in this article, or in any rule or regulation authorized thereunder, unless the context otherwise requires or a different meaning is specifically prescribed, shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Commissioner," the State Commissioner of Agriculture;
(b) "Animal," any domestic equine or bovine animal, sheep, goat, swine, dog, cat, or poultry or any animal raised for domestic or commercial agricultural purposes;
(c) "Owner," any person who owns, leases or hires any domestic animal from another, or who allows a domestic animal habitually to remain about the premises inhabited by such person;
(d) "Premises," is to be taken in its widest sense, and shall include land, any structure, building, pen, coop or enclosure thereon, and any vehicle, car or vessel used in transporting passengers, goods or animals by land or water;
(e) "Communicable disease," actinobacillosis, actinomycosis, anaplasmosis, anthrax, apthous fever (foot-and-mouth disease), aujesky's disease (mad itch), bacillary hemoglobinuria, blackleg, brucellosis (cattle, swine and goats), contagious ecthyma (sheep sore mouth), contagious pleuropneumonia, dourine (horses), encephalomyelitis, equine encephalomyelitis, erysipelas (swine), glanders, hemorrhagic enteritis in swine, hemorrhagic septicemia (shipping fever), hog cholera, influenza (horses and swine), infectious equine anemia, infectious keratitis, Johne's disease (paratuberculosis in cattle), laryngo tracheitis (poultry), leptospirosis, listerellosis, malignant oedema, necrobacillosis, newcastle disease (avian pneumonencephalitis), psittacosis, pullorum disease, pox (chicken, cow, swine and horse), Q fever, rabies, rinderpest, Rocky Mountain spotted fever (in rodents and dogs), salmonellosis, scabies (mange -- in all species), tick fever, tularemia, trichinosis, trichomoniasis, tuberculosis, vesicular exanthema (swine), vesicular stomatitis, vibrio foetus, X-disease (hyperkeratosis), or any other disease which has been or may hereafter be adjudged and proclaimed by the commissioner or the bureau of animal industry of the United States Department of Agriculture to be contagious, infectious or otherwise transmissible or communicable.
ARTICLE 20. DOGS AND CATS.

§19-20-14. Dog killing, wounding or worrying livestock or poultry -- Recovery of damages.

If any dog has killed or assisted in killing, wounding or worrying any sheep, lambs, goats, kids, calves, cattle, swine, show or breeding rabbits, horses, colts, or poultry or any animal raised for domestic or commercial agricultural purposes out of the enclosure of the owner of the dog, the owner or keeper of the dog shall be liable for the sheep, lambs, goats, kids, calves, cattle, swine, show or breeding rabbits, horses, colts, or poultry or any animal raised for domestic or commercial agricultural purposes in the amount of the damages sustained, to be recovered in an action before any court or magistrate having jurisdiction of the action. It shall not be necessary to sustain the action to prove that the owner of the dog knew the dog was accustomed to worrying, killing or wounding. A recovery under this section shall bar and preclude the owner of the sheep, lambs, goats, kids, calves, cattle, swine, show or breeding rabbits, horses, colts, or poultry or any animal raised for domestic or commercial agricultural purposes from obtaining compensation from the county commission under the provisions of this article. If the person suffering the loss or damage cannot ascertain the owner or keeper of the dog, or if the owner or keeper is not financially responsible, then the person suffering the loss or damage may file his or her claim with and prove the same before the county commission of the county in which the loss or damage is sustained, in the manner provided in this article, and the commission shall pay the loss or damage out of the fund provided for such purposes and according to the provisions of this article. When compensation is so obtained from the county commission, the county commission is authorized to sue under this section and recover as the owner of the sheep, lambs, goats, kids, calves, cattle, swine, show or breeding rabbits, horses, colts, or poultry or any animal raised for domestic or commercial agricultural purposes. The amount so recovered shall be paid into the county treasury; but no suit shall be commenced unless authorized by the county commission.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow owners of nontraditional livestock such as deer, ostrich, llama, etc., to recover against the owner of any dog that kills, wounds or worries such livestock, by broadening the definition of "livestock" and domestic "animal" to include any animal raised for domestic or commercial agricultural purposes.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.

Print On Demand