An Act To Enhance Protection against Rabies in Wolf Hybrids
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 1293
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Sponsors: MILLER

Legislative Document 
No. 1293 
H.P.911 
House of Representatives, March 9, 2007 
An Act To Enhance Protection against Rabies in Wolf Hybrids 
Submitted by the Department of Health and Human Services pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry suggested and 
ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative MILLER of Somerville. 
PnnteJ on ret:ycled paper 
'!r/~ /J7.1J7dC~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 22 MRSA § 1313, as amended by PL 1999, c. 731, Pt. Q, § 1, is further 
amended to read: 
§1313. Procedures for the transportation, quarantine, euthanasia and testing of 
animals suspected of having rabies 
l3 
1. 
Establishment of procedures. 
The COlllilllSSlOner, in consultation with the 
Commissioner of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources and the Commissioner of Inland 
Fisheries and Wildlife~ shall adopt rules, in accordance with the Maine Administrative 
Procedure Act, establishing procedures for responding to a report of an animal suspected 
of having rabies. 
The procedures must include provisions for the transportation, 
quarantine, euthanasia and testing of an animal suspected of having rabies and, when that 
animal has bitten a person, provisions for the notification of the animal control officer in 
the locality where the bite occurred. The procedures may differ based on the perceived 
public health threat determined in part by consideration of the following factors: 
A. 
Whether the animal is a domesticated animal for which a known effective 
vaccine exists and, if so, eaB whether the animal's vaccination status can be verified; 
aHd 
B. 
Whether the animal has bitten a person or exhibited other aggressive behavior~~ 
and 
C. Whether the animal is a wolf hybrid that has bitten or otherwise exposed a person 
or a domesticated animal to rabies. 
2. 
Role of animal control officer; game warden. 
An animal control officer 
appointed in accordance with Title 7, section 3947, receiving a report of an animal 
suspected of having rabies shall ensure that the procedures established pursuant to this 
section and section sections l3l3-A and l313-B are carried out. If the animal is an 
undomesticated animal, other than a wolf hybrid, a game warden shall assist the animal 
control officer. 
3. Costs associated with transportation, quarantine, testing and euthanasia. The 
Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife shall provide for or pay all necessary costs 
for transportation and euthanasia of an undomesticated animal suspected of having rabies. 
The owner of a domesticated animal or a wolf hybrid suspected of having rabies shall pay 
all costs for transportation, quarantine, euthanasia and testing of the animal. 
If a 
domesticated animal or a wolf hybrid is a stray or the owner is unknown, the municipality 
in which the animal was apprehended is responsible for transportation, quarantine, 
euthanasia and testing costs. Cost of testing animals judged by the department to have 
created a public health risk of rabies must be borne by the department, through its 
General Fund appropriations. 
Sec. 2. 22 MRS A §1313-A, first ~, as amended by PL 1997, c. 704, §11, is 
further amended to read: 
If an undomesticated animal or a wolf hybrid suspected of having rabies bites or 
otherwise exposes to rabies a person or a domestic animal, an animal control officer, a 
local health officer or a game warden HffiSt shall immediately either remove the 
undomesticated animal or vlOlf hybrid or cause the undomesticated animal or wolf hybrid 
to be removed and euthanized for testing. If a wolf hybrid suspected of having rabies 
bites or otherwise exposes to rabies a person or a domestic animal, an animal control 
officer, a local health officer or a law enforcement officer shall immediately cause the 
animal to be euthanized for testing. When in the judgment of the animal control officer, 
local health officer, game warden or law enforcement officer the animal poses an 
immediate threat to a person or domestic animal, the animal control officer, local health 
officer, game warden or law enforcement officer may immediately kill or order killed that 
animal without destroying the head. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife 
shall arrange for the transportation of the head to the State Health and Environmental 
Testing Laboratory~~ except that the animal control officer shall make the arrangements if 
the animal is a wolf hybrid. 
Sec. 3. 22 MRS A §1313-B, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 704, §12, IS 
amended to read: 
2. 
Court authorization for removal. 
When home quarantine procedures, as 
described on the official notice of quarantine, have been violated, or in the case of a wolf 
hybrid, when the owner fails to bring the animal to a veterinarian for euthanasia and 
testing or to turn the animal over to authorities as required by rules established pursuant 
to this chapter, an animal control officer, person acting in that capacity or law 
enforcement officer may shall apply to the District Court or Superior Court for 
authorization to take possession of the animal for placement, at the owner's expense, in a 
veterinary hospital, boarding kennel or other suitable location for the remainder of the 
quarantine period or, in the case of a wolf hybrid, removal for euthanasia. At the end of 
the quarantine period for domestic animals, or if the animal shows signs of rabies, the 
person in possession of the animal HH:l5t shall report to the court, and the court shall either 
dissolve the possession order or order the animal euthanized and tested for rabies. 
SUMMARY 
This bill clarifies that the primary responsibility for enforcement of statutory and 
regulatory provisions governing rabies protection in wolf hybrids rests with municipal 
animal control officers. 
This bill also clarifies that it is the responsibility of the municipal animal control 
officer, a local health officer or a law enforcement officer to euthanize for testing any 
wolf hybrid exposed to the rabies virus. 
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