New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 8 - HEALTH › Chapter 23A - ANIMAL FACILITY OPERATION; ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER AND ANIMAL CRUELTY INVESTIGATOR CERTIFICATION; PILOT SPAYING AND NEUTERING CLINIC FEES; AND RABIES INOCULATION › Subchapter 1 - SANITARY OPERATION OF KENNELS, PET SHOPS, SHELTERS AND POUNDS › Section 8:23A-1.10 - Holding and receiving of animals

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) Facilities subject
				to the requirements of this subchapter shall undertake at least the following steps
				to protect the public from rabies infection, as applicable to the particular type of
				facility:
1. Impounded animals must be kept alive
				for seven days to give opportunity for rabies disease surveillance and opportunity
				for owners to reclaim.
2. Unowned or
				surrendered dogs, cats or ferrets which have bitten a human shall be either held for
				rabies observation for 10 days following the bite or euthanized for laboratory
				examination for rabies, provided that this shall not affect compliance with
				4:19-15.1 6.
3. Other biting animals should be euthanized for
				rabies examination; if unowned, they shall be euthanized upon recommendations of the
				State or local health department.
4. The
				specimen to be submitted for laboratory examination is the head of a small animal
				such as a dog or cat, the brain of a large animal such as a horse, cow or sheep, or
				an entire bat. The specimen shall be carefully packaged so as to maintain
				refrigeration temperatures during delivery and to prevent the leakage of any body
				fluids to the exterior of the package. The specimen should be delivered by messenger
				to the State Department of Health and Senior Services Laboratory.
5. Shelters and pounds shall not euthanize animals
				brought in for elective euthanasia unless the person in charge of the facility has
				determined the animal is not a stray, and that the person requesting the animal's
				euthanasia is the owner of the animal or a representative of the owner, and the
				animal has not bitten a human within 10 days or evidenced other aggressive
				tendencies compatible with symptoms suspicious of rabies.
i. The facility shall require the owner or owner's
				representative to present a valid form of identification including the following:
				driver's license, passport, voter registration, green card, school identification,
				county identification, State identification, or government-issued photo
				identification.
ii. The facility shall
				require an owner's representative to present a written authorization of the owner
				for the surrender and euthanization of the animal, which document the facility shall
				retain in accordance with the procedure, and for the period, established at
				8:23A-1.13.
iii. If a surrendered animal has bitten a human
				being within the 10 days preceding the surrender and the facility euthanizes the
				animal, the facility shall notify the local health agency and shall deliver the
				appropriate specimen to the laboratory.
iv. If a surrendered animal has bitten a human
				being within the 10 days preceding the surrender and the facility does not euthanize
				the animal, the facility shall notify the local health agency and shall confine the
				animal for rabies observation for 10 days from the date of the bite in accordance
				with (a)2 above.
v. Shelters and pounds
				are not required to accept animals for elective euthanasia.
6. The person in charge of the facility shall keep
				a record of evidence submitted in support of (a)6 above for a period of one
				year.