Code of Maine Rules › 10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › 144 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES - GENERAL › Chapter 251 - RULES GOVERNING RABIES MANAGEMENT › Section 144-251-2 - Definitions

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A.
Animal Control
: Control of
				dogs, cats, and domesticated or undomesticated animals in accordance with
				 7 M.R.S.A.
				§3948.
B.
Animal Control Officer (ACO)
:
				An agent charged with the control of dogs, cats, and domesticated or
				undomesticated animals or a person acting in that capacity that is appointed
				periodically by municipal officers pursuant to
				 7 M.R.S.A.
				§3947.
C.
Animal Damage Control Cooperator
				(ADC)
: Also referred to as an ADC agent, a cooperating trapper or hunter
				certified by the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife and operating as
				an agent of the Department for purposes of animal damage control.
D.
Confinement and Observation
:
				Term used to describe the period of time (10 days) that a domesticated dog, cat
				or ferret is to remain separate and apart from other animals and humans and
				observed after having bitten or otherwise exposed a human or another
				domesticated animal. Note that the term "10 day quarantine" is commonly used to
				describe this activity.
E.
Confirmed Rabid Animal
: An animal that has been confirmed rabid by
				the Health & Environmental Testing Laboratory using the direct fluorescent
				antibody test of neural tissue.
F.
Control
: To limit by reasonable means all unnecessary exposure of
				a suspect rabid animal to humans and other animals.
G.
Currently Vaccinated
:
				Domesticated animals are considered currently vaccinated for rabies if at least
				28 days has elapsed since the initial vaccination and the duration of
				vaccination has not exceeded the time period recommended for that species based
				upon the type of vaccine used. If a previously vaccinated animal is overdue for
				a booster, it should be revaccinated. Immediately after the booster, the animal
				is considered currently vaccinated and should be placed on a booster schedule
				depending on the label duration of the vaccine used. The Maine "Certificate of
				Rabies Vaccination" or a form approved by the Commissioner of the Department of
				Agriculture is proof of immunization.
H.
Decapitate
: To remove the
				head of an animal using methods recommended by the Department of
				Agriculture.
I.
Domesticated
				Animal
: Any of various animals that have been tamed and made fit for a
				human environment, including but not limited to dogs, cats, ferrets, or
				livestock.
J.
Domesticated
				Ferret
:
Mustela putorius tura
, member of the weasel
				family. Bred by private and commercial breeders and has been domesticated since
				600 AD. Domesticated ferret does not include the black-footed ferret.
K.
Exposure
: Refers to the
				threat of rabies transmission when the virus is introduced into bite wounds,
				open cuts in skin, or onto mucous membranes from saliva or other potentially
				infectious material such as neural tissue.
L.
Isolation
: Term used to
				describe the period of time (6 months) during which an unvaccinated animal that
				has been exposed to a rabid or suspect rabid animal should be strictly isolated
				when the owner is unwilling to have it euthanized. Isolation in this context
				refers to confinement in an enclosure that precludes direct contact with people
				or other animals. Note that the term "6 month quarantine" is commonly used to
				describe this activity.
M.
Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory (HETL)
: The public
				health laboratory that is part of the Maine Center for Disease Control and
				Prevention (Maine CDC), Department of Health and Human Services.
N.
Livestock
: Horses, cows,
				sheep, camelids, goats, swine, domesticated deer or any other agricultural
				mammal.
O.
Non-exposure
: Indirect contact by itself, such as being in the
				vicinity of an animal, petting or handling an animal, or coming into contact
				with the blood, urine, or feces of an animal, does not constitute exposure, and
				therefore does not require post-exposure vaccination.
P.
Observation
: Term used to
				describe the period of time (45 days) that a vaccinated, domesticated animal is
				to be observed for signs of rabies after having been exposed to a rabid or
				suspect rabid animal.
Q.
Owned
				Animal
: Domesticated animals, as well as animals in petting zoos and
				circuses, that have a known owner.
R.
Rabies Management Guidelines
:
				A manual written by the Maine Rabies Work Group to provide information on
				rabies as a disease, to outline prevention and management of rabies exposure in
				humans, domesticated animals, and wildlife, and to help municipalities and
				animal care facilities develop rabies response plans. Pursuant to
				 5 M.R.S.A.
				§8056(1)(8), the Third
				Edition of the Maine Rabies Management Guidelines, 2012 is hereby incorporated
				by reference into these rules. Copies of the Rabies Management Guidelines are
				available at cost from the APA Office.
S.
Stray Animal
: Domesticated
				animals that have no known owner.
T.
Suspect Rabid Animal
: Any mammal, domesticated or undomesticated,
				which is demonstrating signs consistent with rabies or which has exposed either
				a human or domesticated animal to rabies.
U.
Undomesticated Animal
: A
				mammal considered to be wild by nature by the Department of Inland Fisheries
				& Wildlife.
V.
Unvaccinated Animal
: An animal with no previous rabies
				vaccination; an animal whose first rabies vaccination was given less than 28
				days prior to rabies exposure being evaluated; an animal who is not up to date
				on its rabies vaccination (the time interval from last vaccination to exposure
				incident has exceeded the amount of time indicated to be effective by the
				vaccine manufacturer); an animal for which no record of approved vaccination
				exists; or an animal for which no approved rabies vaccine exists.
W.
Wild Animal Hybrid
: A mammal
				that is the offspring of a wild animal crossbred to a domesticated animal. This
				includes a mammal that is represented by its owner to be a wolf hybrid, coyote
				hybrid, coy dog, or any other kind of wild canid hybrid. Wild animal hybrids
				are considered wild animals by the National Association of State and Public
				Health Veterinarians and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists,
				and should not be kept as pets.