H. B. 4576
(By Delegates Williams and Tabb)
[Introduced February 15, 2006; referred to the
Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources then the
Judiciary.]
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, §19-9-1 and §19-20-14 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, 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 non-
traditional 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.