New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 25 - DIVISION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE RULES › Subchapter 4 - ENDANGERED, NONGAME AND EXOTIC WILDLIFE › Section 7:25-4.2 - Permit required

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) Except as hereinafter provided, no person shall possess any nongame species or exotic species of any mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian unless such person has first received both the appropriate permit from the Department as listed in 7:25-4.6(a)  as well as any other state, municipal, or Federal permits or licenses which may be required to possess such species. Any permit issued to an applicant by the Department for the possession of any animal shall not exempt that applicant from compliance with any other law of the State of New Jersey or any municipal or Federal law. An application to the Department for a permit shall be made using the form prescribed by the Department. Any false representation by the applicant or a permittee who knows or reasonably should know that the representation is false, and who has submitted the representation to induce the Department to issue a permit or take any other action, shall subject the applicant or permittee to all penalties available under State law, including revocation of any permit obtained based upon false information. All permits issued by the Department under this chapter are valid only when used by the permittee in accordance with the terms and conditions of the permit and the regulations governing that permit. The Department shall, upon written notice to the permittee, revoke any permit listed in 7:25-4.6(a)  issued to any person who ceases to consistently meet the eligibility criteria for that particular permit and may, in its discretion, seek an order from the Director or a court of competent jurisdiction allowing immediate removal of any animal possessed under that permit. Written notices of violation against a permittee shall set forth the terms of the permit or the regulation which the Department alleges the permittee has violated and the penalty sought. Notices of violation shall be brought and if not settled, contested, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, 52:14-1 et seq., or the rules of the court with jurisdiction over the claim of violation. The Department may settle all claims for penalties pursuant to 23:2A-10. Revocation of all Department-issued permits for repeated violations shall occur as set forth in (c) below.
(b) No person shall liberate within this State any nongame species or exotic mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian unless such person has first received a permit from the Department which explicitly allows the release of nongame species or exotic mammals, birds, reptiles or amphibians.
(c) Upon written notice to the permittee, the Department may suspend any type of exotic or nongame species permit described in (a) above as listed in 7:25-4.6 for six months based upon final agency action establishing that a violation of a permit condition has occurred or that a violation of any regulation appearing in this subchapter has occurred as a result of a plea of guilt, court conviction or final agency action establishing guilt. A notice of suspension may be mailed to the permittee together with any administrative notice of violation on which it is based, but the suspension shall not take effect until the deadline to request a hearing concerning the notice of violation has elapsed. In the event of a timely request to the Department for a hearing on an administrative notice of violation, no proposed suspension shall take effect until final agency action on the notice of violation and, if appealed, until all appeals of the final agency action have been concluded and the violation has been affirmed. In the event of municipal or Superior Court conviction of a violation of any regulation in this subchapter, no proposed suspension mailed to the permittee shall take effect until all appeals from the conviction have been concluded and conviction of the violation has been affirmed. If the permit expires during the period of its suspension, no application for any other permit to reacquire possession of any animal possessed pursuant to the suspended permit may be made until the six month suspension period has elapsed. During the suspension period, all animals possessed pursuant to any suspended permit must be removed from the custody and control of the permittee and placed in the custody of an individual licensed by the Division or, as permitted by Federal law, with a person residing outside of New Jersey in accordance with that state's laws, at the sole expense of the permittee.
(d) Upon written notice to the permittee, the Department may revoke all Division-issued permits described in (a) above as listed in 7:25-4.6 upon a finding that in any five year period, two or more violations of any permit condition or any regulations appearing in this subchapter have occurred. Except by order of the Division Director as provided below, no permit whatsoever shall be issued by the Division to the violator of permit conditions or regulations within two years from the date of the final agency action affirming a violation or within two years of a conviction or guilty plea in municipal or Superior Court, whichever constitutes the second violation or within three years from the date of the final agency action affirming a violation or within three years of a conviction or guilty plea in municipal or superior court, whichever constitutes the third or subsequent violation. The two and three year period of disqualification above shall be computed beginning from the date of any court order or final agency action affirming the violation which is not appealed, or, if appealed, from the filing date of the order as entered by the last court of competent jurisdiction to which any party has appealed which affirms the conviction or final agency action. In the event of the imposition of a two or three year period of disqualification, a permittee whose violations do not arise from possession of animals authorized pursuant to a hobby permit previously issued to the now-disqualified permittee may petition the Division Director to retain the hobby permit and the animal specifically authorized for possession pursuant to that permit which was in the physical possession of the permittee prior to the date of the Notice of Revocation if the Director determines, in his or her sole discretion and based upon the evidence submitted by the permittee, that there is a high probability that the animal's well-being will be jeopardized or its life endangered if the animal is separated from daily contact with the permittee during the course of the disqualification period. In the event the Director denies this petition, the former permittee may petition the Director for permission to reapply for a hobby permit to regain possession of the animal if the Division Director determines that there is physical evidence verified by an affidavit from a licensed veterinarian submitted by the former permittee that the animal's life is plainly in danger or its well-being is jeopardized solely as a result of its separation from the former permittee. The permittee may not possess any animals under a hobby permit issued or extended at the discretion of the Director other than those animals authorized by the Director and originally possessed by the permittee and the offspring from interbreeding between those individual animals. No animal may be possessed pursuant to a hobby permit extended by discretion of the Director if possession of the animal violates any Federal, state or local law.
1. The violator may request a hearing to contest an administrative notice of violation, proposed suspension or revocation, as the case may be, in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, 52:14B-1 et seq., and the Uniform Administrative Procedure Rules of Practice, N.J.A.C. 1:1. No administrative hearing shall be afforded a violator in order to contest a notice of proposed suspension or revocation based upon repeated violations as set forth in (c) above when the objection to the proposed suspension or revocation constitutes a challenge to the facts underlying a violation for which an opportunity for a hearing and appeal has already been afforded the permittee.
2. The request for an administrative hearing must be received in writing by the Department within 20 days from the date of mailing of the Division's notice of violation or intent to suspend or revoke the permit. If a timely request for a hearing concerning any notice of proposed agency action is not received by the Department, any alleged violation contained in the notice shall be deemed admitted by the permittee and any suspension or revocation proposed in that notice, or in any separately-mailed notice, shall become effective without further action by the agency on the date stipulated in the notice of suspension or revocation.