2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XIX - Agriculture and Conservation › Chapter 131 - Inland Fisheries and Game and Other Natural Resources › Section 27 - Taxidermists' Licenses; Permits; Accounts; Shipments

Section 27. The director is hereby authorized to issue a taxidermist's license, upon payment of a fee, the amount of which shall be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven for the filing thereof, to any person residing in or maintaining an established business in this commonwealth. Any licensee hereunder may practice taxidermy commercially and may receive from any person any fish, bird or mammal which has been lawfully taken or lawfully propagated, and may keep such specimen, or any part thereof, in possession indefinitely, and may sell or dispose of any unclaimed specimen to any person for the tanning, curing, mounting or preserving charge only; and may mount, or acquire and sell, any fish, bird or mammal which was raised under authority of a propagator's license issued under section twenty-three. Before any such specimen is sold, shipped or transported to a nonresident of the commonwealth, a permit therefor shall be obtained from the director.
A taxidermist shall not receive, mount, tan, cure or otherwise preserve, as the case may be, any fish, bird or mammal, or part thereof, which was not lawfully taken, until the person presenting said specimen also presents a permit therefor obtained from the director; which permit the director is hereby authorized to issue for a fee, the amount of which shall be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven for the filing thereof. In the case of any fish, bird or mammal, or part thereof, not lawfully taken the taxidermist shall, within twenty-four hours, report the presentation of such specimen to the director of law enforcement.
Every taxidermist holding a license under this section shall keep an accurate account of all dealings subject to this section, including the names and addresses of all persons from whom any fish, bird or mammal, or parts thereof, have been obtained and how and where they were taken. Such records shall be open for inspection at all reasonable times by the director or his agents, the director of law enforcement, deputy directors of enforcement, chiefs of enforcement, deputy chiefs of enforcement and environmental police officers. The holder of a taxidermist's license may ship from, or remove or permit the removal out of, the commonwealth of any specimen of fish, bird or mammal, or part thereof, which was lawfully taken or is otherwise lawfully possessed by a nonresident of the commonwealth and shipped or delivered, to the holder of such license for mounting, tanning, curing or preserving; provided, that to the outside of any package or container used for such shipping purposes there shall be attached a label or tag accurately identifying the contents thereof, and that a permit has been granted by the director authorizing such export; and any such licensee may ship from the commonwealth, or remove or permit the removal out of the commonwealth, of any such specimen or part thereof so taken or possessed and so shipped or delivered, to any person lawfully engaged in fur dressing, tanning, curing or taxidermy in another state, but solely for the purpose of dressing, tanning, curing or mounting, and return to such licensee.