Senate Bill No. 334
(By Senators Dittmar, Chernenko and Anderson)
____________
[Introduced February 14, 1994;
referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article one, chapter
twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to natural
resources; and including reptiles, mollusks and crustaceans
in the definition of "wildlife".
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article one, chapter twenty of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.
§20-1-2. Definitions.
As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly requires
a different meaning:
"Agency" means any branch, department or unit of the state
government, however designated or constituted.
"Alien" means any person not a citizen of the United States.
"Bag limit" or "creel limit" means the maximum number ofwildlife which may be taken, caught, killed or possessed by any
licensee.
"Board" means the water resources board of the department of
natural resources.
"Bona fide resident, tenant or lessee" means a person who
permanently resides on the land.
"Citizen" means any native born citizen of the United
States, and foreign born persons who have procured their final
naturalization papers.
"Closed season" means the time or period during which it
shall be unlawful to take any wildlife as specified and limited
by the provisions of this chapter.
"Commission" means the natural resources commission.
"Commissioner" means a member of the advisory commission of
the natural resources commission.
"Director" means the director of the department of natural
resources.
"Fishing" or "to fish" means the taking, by any means, of
fish, minnows, frogs or other amphibians, aquatic turtles and
other forms of aquatic life used as fish bait.
"Fur-bearing animals" shall include: (a) The mink; (b) the
weasel; (c) the muskrat; (d) the beaver; (e) the opossum; (f) the
skunk and civet cat, commonly called polecat; (g) the otter; (h)
the red fox; (i) the gray fox; (j) the wildcat, bobcat or bay
lynx; (k) the raccoon; and (l) the fisher.
"Game" means game animals, game birds and game fish asherein defined.
"Game animals" shall include: (a) The elk; (b) the deer;
(c) the cottontail rabbits and hares; (d) the fox squirrels,
commonly called red squirrels, and gray squirrels and all their
color phases -- red, gray, black or albino; (e) the raccoon; (f)
the black bear; and (g) the wild boar.
"Game birds" shall include: (a) The Anatidae, commonly
known as swan, geese, brants and river and sea ducks; (b) the
Rallidae, commonly known as rails, sora, coots, mudhens and
gallinales; (c) the Limicolae, commonly known as shorebirds,
plover, snipe, woodcock, sandpipers, yellow legs and curlews; (d)
the Galli, commonly known as wild turkey, grouse, pheasants,
quails and partridges (both native and foreign species); and (e)
the Columbidae, commonly known as doves, and the Icteridae,
commonly known as blackbirds, redwings and grackle.
"Game fish" shall include: (a) Brook trout; (b) brown
trout; (c) rainbow trout; (d) golden rainbow trout; (e) Kokanee
salmon; (f) largemouth bass; (g) smallmouth bass; (h) Kentucky or
spotted bass; (i) striped bass; (j) pickerel; (k) muskellunge;
(l) walleye pike or pike perch; (m) northern pike; (n) rock bass;
(o) white bass; (p) white and black crappie; (q) all sunfish; (r)
channel and flathead catfish; and (s) sauger.
"Hunt" means to pursue, chase, catch or take any wild birds
or wild animals.
"Lands" means land, waters and all other appurtenances
connected therewith.
"Migratory birds" means any migratory game or nongame birds
included in the terms of conventions between the United States
and Great Britain and between the United States and United
Mexican States, known as the "Migratory Bird Treaty Act", for the
protection of migratory birds and game mammals concluded,
respectively, the sixteenth day of August, one thousand nine
hundred sixteen, and the seventh day of February, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-six.
"Nonresident" means any person who is a citizen of the
United States and who has not been a domiciled resident of the
state of West Virginia for a period of thirty consecutive days
immediately prior to the date of his application for a license or
permit except any full-time student of any college or university
of this state, even though he be paying a nonresident tuition.
"Open season" means the time during which the various
species of wildlife may be legally caught, taken, killed or
chased in a specified manner, and shall include both the first
and the last day of the season or period designated by the
director.
"Person" except as otherwise defined elsewhere in this
chapter, means the plural "persons" and shall include
individuals, partnerships, corporations or other legal entities.
"Preserve" means all duly licensed private game farmlands,
or private plants, ponds or areas, where hunting or fishing is
permitted under special licenses or seasons other than the
regular public hunting or fishing seasons.
"Protected birds" means all wild birds not included within
the definition of "game birds" and "unprotected birds"
"Resident" means any person who is a citizen of the United
States and who has been a domiciled resident of the state of West
Virginia for a period of thirty consecutive days or more
immediately prior to the date of his application for a license or
permit:
Provided,
That a member of the armed forces of the
United States who is stationed beyond the territorial limits of
this state, but who was a resident of this state at the time of
his entry into such service, and any full-time student of any
college or university of this state, even though he be paying a
nonresident tuition, shall be considered a resident under the
provisions of this chapter.
"Roadside menagerie" means any place of business, other than
commercial game farm, commercial fish preserve, place or pond,
where any wild bird, game bird, unprotected bird, game animal or
fur-bearing animal is kept in confinement for the attraction and
amusement of the people for commercial purposes.
"Take" means to hunt, shoot, pursue, lure, kill, destroy,
catch, capture, keep in captivity, gig, spear, trap, ensnare,
wound or injure any wildlife, or attempt to do so.
"Unprotected birds" shall include: (a) The English sparrow,
(b) the European starling, (c) the cowbird, and (d) the crow.
"Wild animals" means all mammals native to the state of West
Virginia occurring either in a natural state or in captivity,
except house mice or rats.
"Wild birds" shall include all birds other than: (a)
Domestic poultry -- chickens, ducks, geese, guinea fowl, peafowls
and turkeys; (b) psittacidae, commonly called parrots and
parakeets; and (c) other foreign cage birds such as the common
canary, exotic finches and ring dove. All wild birds, either:
(a) Those occurring in a natural state in West Virginia; or (b)
those imported foreign game birds, such as waterfowl, pheasants,
partridges, quail and grouse, regardless of how long raised or
held in captivity, shall remain wild birds under the meaning of
this chapter.
"Wildlife" means wild birds, wild animals, game and fur-
bearing animals, fish (including minnows), reptiles, amphibians,
mollusks, crustaceans and all forms of aquatic life used as fish
bait, whether dead or alive.
"Wildlife refuse" means any land set aside by action of the
director as an inviolate refuge or sanctuary for the protection
of designated forms of wildlife.
_________
(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to include reptiles,
mollusks and crustaceans in the definition of "wildlife".)
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
