ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 107
(Senators Love, Dempsey, Lanham, Barnes and Yoder, original sponsors)
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[Passed April 8, 2005; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §20-2-7 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to hunting with dogs; and providing
that persons may not be guilty of hunting without permission,
under certain circumstances, when the person's dog pursues an
animal or wild bird onto another person's land without the
person's direction or encouragement.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §20-2-7 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-7. Hunting, trapping or fishing on lands of another; damages
and compensation.
(a) It is unlawful for any person to shoot, hunt, fish or trap
upon the fenced, enclosed or posted lands of another person; or to
peel trees or timber, build fires or do any other act in connection
with shooting, hunting, fishing or trapping on such lands without written permission in his or her possession from the owner, tenant
or agent of the owner.
(b) Any person who hunts, traps or fishes on land without the
permission of the owner, tenant or agent of the owner is guilty of
a misdemeanor and liable to the owner or person suffering damage
for all costs and damages for: (1) Killing or injuring any domestic
animal or fowl; (2) cutting, destroying or damaging any bars, gates
or fence or any part of the property; or (3) leaving open any bars
or gates resulting in damage to the property.
(c) The owner, tenant or agent of the owner may arrest a
person violating this section and immediately take him or her
before a magistrate. The owner, tenant or agent of the owner is
vested with the powers and rights of a conservation officer for
these purposes. The officers charged with the enforcement of the
provisions of this chapter shall enforce the provisions of this
section if requested to do so by the owner, tenant or agent of the
owner, but not otherwise.
(d) The provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of this section
related to criminal penalties and being subject to arrest are
inapplicable to a person whose dog, without the person's direction
or encouragement, travels onto the fenced, enclosed or posted land
of another in pursuit of an animal or wild bird:
Provided, That the
pursuit does not result in the taking of game from the fenced,
enclosed or posted land and does not result in the killing of
domestic animals or fowl or other damage to or on the fenced,
enclosed or posted land.