Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 321 CMR - DIVISION OF FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE › Title 321 CMR 2.00 - Miscellaneous Regulations › Section 2.13 - Wildlife Rehabilitation

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Purpose
. The purpose of 321 CMR 2.13 is to provide for
			 the care of sick, injured, debilitated, and orphaned wildlife by trained
			 wildlife rehabilitators and to provide criteria for the issuance of permits to
			 such wildlife rehabilitators. In accordance with M.G.L. c. 131, § 4,
			 wildlife rehabilitators issued permits pursuant to 321 CMR 2.13(11) or
			 2.13(14), or persons exempted from the permit requirement pursuant to 321 CMR
			 2.13(15), may acquire sick, injured, debilitated, or orphaned wildlife and
			 provide necessary care and treatment so that the animal may be returned to live
			 in the wild independent of human aid and sustenance. Nothing in 321 CMR 2.13
			 shall authorize or be construed to authorize a wildlife rehabilitator permitted
			 under 321 CMR 2.13(11) or (14) to practice veterinary medicine contrary to
			 M.G.L. c. 112.
(2)
Definitions
. For the purposes of 321 CMR 2.13 and
			 unless the context requires otherwise, the following words or phrases shall
			 have the following meanings:
At or Near the Point of Capture
means
				a location within five miles of the point of capture, or within the same county
				in which the permittee maintains facilities inspected and approved pursuant to
				321 CMR 2.13(16), provided that in the case of a permittee whose inspected and
				approved facilities are located in Suffolk County "at or near the point of
				capture" shall further include any county which borders on Suffolk
				County.
Contact
: shall include, but not be
				limited to, physical contact between the public and wildlife, including the
				unauthorized provision of food and liquids, and also visual, auditory, or
				olfactory contact between the public and wildlife which may cause or result in
				subjecting the wildlife to stress, behavioral anomalies including taming or
				imprinting, or in any diminishment of the capacity of such wildlife to
				subsequently survive in the wild independent of human aid and
				sustenance.
Director
: the Director of the Division
				of Fisheries and Wildlife, or his or her agents.
Division
: the Massachusetts Division
				of Fisheries and Wildlife.
Emergency Basis
means the
				rehabilitation of six or less animals per calendar year.
Environmental Police Officer
: the
				Director of the Office of Law Enforcement, deputy directors of enforcement,
				chiefs of enforcement, deputy chiefs of enforcement, environmental police
				officers, and such other enforcement officers of the Office of Law Enforcement
				as may be appointed pursuant to M.G.L. c. 21, § 6.
Person
: any individual, partnership,
				profit or non-profit corporation, firm, business or other commercial or
				non-commercial entity, club, organization, or association.
Promptly Released
means for birds a
				period not to exceed 90 days from the time of acquisition, and for mammals, a
				period not to exceed one year (365 days) from the time of acquisition.
Public
includes, but is not limited
				to, all persons other than wildlife rehabilitators permitted under 321 CMR
				2.13(11) and 2.13(14), members of their immediate family, providers of
				temporary care authorized under 321 CMR 2.13(17), veterinarians licensed under
				M.G.L. c. 112, Environmental Police Officers, and employees of the
				Division.
Rehabilitate
means the provision of
				care and treatment to sick, injured, debilitated, or orphaned wildlife for the
				purpose of returning such animals to the wild in a condition which enables them
				to survive independent of human aid and sustenance.
Wildlife
: non-domesticated amphibians,
				reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Wildlife Rehabilitator
or
Permittee
: a person who has been issued a permit, or
				who has been exempted from the permit requirement in accordance with the
				provisions of 321 CMR 2.13 for the purpose of providing care, aid, and
				treatment to sick, injured, debilitated, or orphaned wildlife with the goal of
				returning such wildlife to the wild independent of human aid or
				sustenance.
Wildlife Rehabilitation Permit
: a
				permit issued pursuant to 321 CMR 2.13, including a provisional wildlife
				rehabilitation permit and such equivalent permit as may have been issued by the
				Division prior to the publication of 321 CMR 2.13 in the Massachusetts
				Register.
(3)
Scope of Permit Requirement
. No person, except as
			 otherwise authorized under provisions of M.G.L. c. 131, or as exempted in
			 321
			 CMR 2.12(11)  and 321 CMR
			 2.13(15), shall rehabilitate wildlife without complying with the provisions of
			 321 CMR 2.13.
(4)
Application
. A person seeking a wildlife
			 rehabilitation permit shall complete a written application on forms supplied by
			 the Director. Completed applications shall be addressed to the Permit Section
			 of the Division.
(5)
Information
. All initial permit applications shall
			 contain the following information. Renewal applications, including applications
			 for a provisional permit, shall include, but not necessarily be limited to,
			 those items in 321 CMR 2.13(5)(a), (c), (h), and (i):
(a) the applicant's name, address, and
			 telephone number where he or she can be reached between the hours of 9:00 A.M.
			 to 5:00 P.M.;
(b) the applicant's
			 date of birth;
(c) in the event the
			 applicant is a corporation, partnership, firm, business or other commercial
			 entity, club, organization, or association, either public or private, the name,
			 address, telephone number and date of birth of the president, director, head,
			 or principal officer;
(d) the
			 location or locations where the activity to be permitted under 321 CMR 2.13(11)
			 or 2.13(14) will be conducted;
(e)
			 the species or categories (such as "small mammals", "songbirds", "waterfowl",
			 "reptiles and amphibians") of wildlife which the applicant is prepared to
			 rehabilitate;
(f) a description of
			 the cages and other facilities which the applicant has available for
			 rehabilitation purposes;
(g) the
			 name, address, and telephone number of a veterinarian registered and licensed
			 under provisions of M.G.L. c. 112 to practice veterinary medicine in
			 Massachusetts who is available for consultation with and advice to the
			 applicant;
(h) the date the
			 application was executed; and
(i)
			 the applicant's signature, executed under the pains and penalties of
			 perjury.