Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 321 CMR - DIVISION OF FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE › Title 321 CMR 2.00 - Miscellaneous Regulations › Section 2.14 - Problem Animal Control

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Purpose
. The purpose of 321 CMR 2.14 is to control
			 problem animals. In accordance with M.G.L. c. 131, § 4, problem animal
			 control agents may harass, take, and destroy, or may release or liberate as
			 stipulated in 321 CMR 2.14(20), such problem animals as are set forth in 321
			 CMR 2.14(20). Problem animal control agents may also disturb, remove, or
			 destroy dens, lodges, burrows, or nests of such problem animals on property of
			 such persons as who have engaged the services of the problem animal control
			 agent. Nothing in 321 CMR 2.14 shall allow or be construed to allow the
			 propagation of wildlife contrary to
			 321
			 CMR 2.12 or the rehabilitation of wildlife
			 contrary to
			 321 CMR
			 2.13.
(2)
Definitions
. For
			 the purposes of 321 CMR 2.14 and unless the context requires otherwise, the
			 following words or phrases shall have the following meanings:
Box or Cage Type Trap
means a trap
				that confines the whole animal without grasping any part of the animal.
Conibear Type Trap
means "Conibear"
				model traps and similar body-gripping traps and devices, whether or not
				enclosed in or comprising part of a box, tube, or other enclosing
				device.
Control
means to harass, take, or
				destroy, or attempt to harass, take, or destroy; placing, setting, and tending
				of traps and similar capture devices; disturbing, removing, or destroying, or
				attempting to disturb, remove, or destroy dens, lodges, burrows, or nests; and
				to possess, transport, or liberate or attempt to possess, transport, or
				liberate problem animals.
Director
means the Director of the
				Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, or his or her agents.
Division
means the Massachusetts
				Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
Employees of a Municipal Entity
shall
				include permanent or provisional full-time or part-time paid employees whose
				principal duty is that of animal control, but shall not include consultant or
				contract employees or volunteers or employees whose principal duty is not that
				of animal control.
Environmental Police Officer
or
EPO
means 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. 21A, § 10C.
Fur-bearing Mammals
means all mammals
				in the Class Mammalia, as defined in M.G.L. c. 131, §1.
Gender
means, unless the context
				requires otherwise, that words of one gender may be construed to include the
				other gender and the neuter.
Municipal Entity
means towns and
				cities incorporated as political subdivisions of the Commonwealth of
				Massachusetts.
Person
means an individual,
				corporation, partnership, trust, association or other private entity or any
				officer, agent, department or instrumentality of the federal government or any
				state or its political subdivisions, including but not limited to any agency,
				department, board, commission or authority thereof.
Problem Animals
means non-domesticated
				reptiles, birds, and mammals the actions of which have or are endangering the
				life and health of humans or domestic animals; damaging the property of a
				person except grass or other natural vegetation growing without cultivation and
				which is not harvested or otherwise put to material use by the owner or tenant
				thereof; obstructing the reasonable and comfortable use of property by the
				owner or tenant thereof and which cannot be abated in another fashion; or
				otherwise producing such material annoyance, inconvenience, and discomfort that
				can reasonably be presumed to result in damage or hurt to persons or their
				property.
Problem Animal Control Agent
or
Permittee
means a person who has been issued a permit
				in accordance with the provisions of 321 CMR 2.14 for the control of problem
				animals and further including but not limited to those persons exempted from
				the permit requirement pursuant to 321 CMR 2.14(15).
Problem Animal Control Permit
means a
				permit which shall have been issued by the Division pursuant to 321 CMR
				2.14.
Site of Capture
means the parcel of
				land on which the problem animal was captured and which is owned or leased by
				the person who controlled the problem animal or who engaged a problem animal
				control agent to effect such control.
(3)
Scope of Permit
			 Requirement
. No person, except as otherwise authorized by state or
			 federal law or as exempted in 321 CMR 2.14(15) shall control problem animals
			 without obtaining a problem animal control permit and otherwise complying with
			 the additional provisions of 321 CMR 2.14.
(4)
Application
. A
			 person seeking a problem animal control permit shall complete a written
			 application on forms supplied by the Director.
(5)
Information and Requirements
			 for Application
. All initial permit applications shall contain the
			 following information.
(a) the applicant's
			 name, address, and telephone number where he 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 license number and class of the
			 applicant's trapping license, unless exempted pursuant to 321 CMR
			 2.14(15);
(e) the license number
			 and class of the applicant's hunting or sporting license, if taking animals by
			 shooting.
(f) the applicant's trap
			 registration number, unless exempted pursuant to 321 CMR 2.14(15);
(g) in instances where the permittee charges
			 a fee or otherwise receives consideration for his services, a signed affidavit
			 that the applicant has to the best of his knowledge paid all state taxes as
			 required by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue;
(h) the date the application was
			 executed;
(i) the applicant's
			 signature, executed under the pains and penalties of perjury;
(j) any letters of recommendation for the
			 intended activity.