SENATE BILL 158

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

INTRODUCED BY

Pat Woods

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO LIVESTOCK; AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978 TO EXCLUDE WILD HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS FROM THE DEFINITION OF "LIVESTOCK"; PROVIDING PROCEDURES TO BE FOLLOWED WHEN WILD HORSES ARE CAPTURED ON PUBLIC OR PRIVATE LAND; MAKING CONFORMING TECHNICAL CHANGES.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 30-18-1.2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1999, Chapter 107, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

     "30-18-1.2. DISPOSITION OF SEIZED ANIMALS.--

          A. If the court finds that a seized animal is not being cruelly treated and that the animal's owner is able to provide for the animal adequately, the court shall return the animal to its owner.

          B. If the court finds that a seized animal is being cruelly treated or that the animal's owner is unable to provide for the animal adequately, the court shall hold a hearing to determine the disposition of the animal.

          C. An agent of the New Mexico livestock board, an animal control agency operated by the state, a county or a municipality or an animal shelter or other animal welfare organization designated by an animal control agency or an animal shelter, in the custody of which an animal that has been cruelly treated has been placed may petition the court to request that the animal's owner may be ordered to post security with the court to indemnify the costs incurred to care and provide for the seized animal pending the disposition of any criminal charges of committing cruelty to animals pending against the animal's owner.

          D. The court shall determine the amount of security while taking into consideration all of the circumstances of the case, including the owner's ability to pay, and may conduct periodic reviews of its order. If the posting of security is ordered, the animal control agency, animal shelter or animal welfare organization may, with permission of the court, draw from the security to indemnify the costs incurred to care and provide for the seized animal pending disposition of the criminal charges.

          E. If the owner of the animal does not post security within fifteen days after the issuance of the order, or if, after reasonable and diligent attempts the owner cannot be located, the animal may be deemed abandoned and relinquished to the animal control agency, animal shelter or animal welfare organization for adoption or humane destruction; provided that if the animal is livestock other than poultry associated with cockfighting, the animal may be sold pursuant to the procedures set forth in Section 77-18-2 NMSA 1978.

          F. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an owner from voluntarily relinquishing an animal to an animal control agency or shelter in lieu of posting security. A voluntary relinquishment shall not preclude further prosecution of any criminal charges alleging that the owner has committed felony cruelty to animals.

          G. Upon conviction, the court shall place the animal with an animal shelter or animal welfare organization for placement or for humane destruction.

          H. As used in this section, "livestock" means [all] domestic or domesticated animals that are used or raised on a farm or ranch, [and exotic animals in captivity] including the carcasses thereof, and:

                (1) includes horses, asses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, bison, poultry, ostriches, emus, rheas, camelids, [and] farmed cervidae [but does not include canine or feline] and exotic animals in captivity; but

                (2) does not include:

                     (a) wild horses as defined in Section 77-18-5 NMSA 1978;

                     (b) horses or asses subject to the jurisdiction of the federal government pursuant to the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act;

                     (c) canine or feline animals;

                     (d) feral hogs; or

                     (e) game mammals as defined in Section 17-2-3 NMSA 1978, except farmed cervidae."

     SECTION 2. Section 77-2-1.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 248, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:

     "77-2-1.1. DEFINITIONS.--As used in The Livestock Code:

          A. "animals" or "livestock" means [all] domestic or domesticated animals that are used or raised on a farm or ranch, including the carcasses thereof, and [exotic animals in captivity and]:

                (1) includes horses, asses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, bison, poultry, ostriches, emus, rheas, camelids, [and] farmed cervidae [upon any land in New Mexico. "Animals" or "livestock"] and exotic animals in captivity; but

                (2) does not include [canine or feline animals]:

                     (a) wild horses as defined in Section 77-18-5 NMSA 1978;

                     (b) horses or asses subject to the jurisdiction of the federal government pursuant to the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act;

                     (c) canine or feline animals;

                     (d) feral hogs; or

                     (e) game mammals as defined in Section 17-2-3 NMSA 1978, except farmed cervidae;

          B. "bill of sale" means an instrument in substantially the form specified in The Livestock Code by which the owner or the owner's authorized agent transfers to the buyer the title to animals described in the bill of sale;

          C. "bison" or "buffalo" means a bovine animal of the species bison;

          D. "board" means the New Mexico livestock board;

          E. "bond" means cash or an insurance agreement from a New Mexico licensed surety or insurance corporation pledging surety for financial loss caused to another, including certificate of deposit, letter of credit or other surety as may be approved by the grain inspection, packers and stockyards administration of the United States department of agriculture or the board;

          F. "brand" means a symbol or device in a form approved by and recorded with the board as may be sufficient to readily distinguish livestock should they become intermixed with other livestock;

          G. "brand inspector" means an inspector who is not certified as a peace officer;

          H. "carcasses" means dead or dressed bodies of livestock or parts thereof;

          I. "cattle" means animals of the genus bos, including dairy cattle, and does not include any other kind of livestock;

          J. "dairy cattle" means animals of the genus bos raised not for consumption but for dairy products and distinguished from meat breed cattle;

          K. "director" means the executive director of the board;

          L. "disease" means a communicable, infectious or contagious disease;

          M. "district" means a livestock inspection district;

          N. "estray" means livestock found running at large upon public or private lands, either fenced or unfenced:

                (1) whose owner is unknown but that exhibits evidence of private ownership; or

                (2) that is branded with a brand that is not on record in the office of the board or is a freshly branded or marked offspring not with its branded or marked mother, unless other proof of ownership is produced;

          O. "inspector" means a livestock or brand inspector;

          P. "livestock inspector" means a certified inspector who is granted full law enforcement powers for enforcement of The Livestock Code and other criminal laws relating to livestock;

          Q. "mark" means an ear tag or ownership mark that is not a brand;

          R. "meat" means the edible flesh of poultry, birds or animals sold for human consumption and includes livestock, poultry and livestock and poultry products;

          S. "mule" means a hybrid resulting from the cross of a horse and an ass; and

          T. "person" means an individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation or similar legal entity."

     SECTION 3. Section 77-18-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2007, Chapter 216, Section 1) is amended to read:

     "77-18-5. WILD HORSES--CONFORMATION, HISTORY AND DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID TESTING--SPANISH COLONIAL HORSES--BIRTH CONTROL--DISPOSITION PROCEDURES.--

          A. As used in this section:

                (1) "adoption" means adoption by qualified individuals as provided for under the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act;

                [(1)] (2) "public land" [does not include federal land controlled by the bureau of land management, the forest service or] means land controlled or supervised by an agency of the state government or its political subdivisions but does not mean state trust land controlled by the state land office;

                [(2)] (3) "range" means the amount of land necessary to sustain a herd of wild horses, which range does not exceed its known territorial limits;

                [(3)] (4) "Spanish colonial horse" means a wild horse that is descended from horses of the Spanish colonial period; and

                [(4)] (5) "wild horse" means [an] a horse that is unclaimed [horse on public land that is not an estray] and without obvious brands or without other evidence of private ownership, but "wild horse" does not include horses that are subject to the jurisdiction of the federal government pursuant to the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

          B. A wild horse that is captured on public land shall have its conformation, history and deoxyribonucleic acid tested to determine if it is a Spanish colonial horse. If it is a Spanish colonial horse, the wild horse shall be relocated to a state or private wild horse preserve created and maintained for the purpose of protecting Spanish colonial horses. If it is not a Spanish colonial horse, it shall be returned to the public land, relocated to a public or private wild horse preserve or put up for adoption by the agency on whose land the wild horse was captured.

          C. [If the mammal division of the museum of southwestern biology at the university of New Mexico determines that a wild horse herd exceeds the number of horses that is necessary for preserving the genetic stock of the herd and for preserving and maintaining the range, it may cause control of the wild horse population through the use of birth control and may cause excess horses to be] At the discretion of the board, a wild horse that is captured on private land shall be:

                (1) humanely captured and relocated to public land or to a public or private wild horse preserve;

                (2) adopted by a qualified person for private maintenance, upon payment of an adoption fee that shall not exceed the cost of caring for the wild horse while it was under the control of the board; or

                (3) humanely euthanized by a licensed veterinarian; provided that this option shall only be available as a last resort when a wild horse:

                     (a) is determined by a licensed veterinarian to be crippled or otherwise unhealthy; or

                     (b) cannot be relocated to a public or private wild horse preserve or adopted.

          D. If the board captures a horse on public or private land and the board determines that the horse is subject to the jurisdiction of the federal government pursuant to the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the board shall transfer the horse to the federal bureau of land management or the United States forest service, as appropriate.

          E. Upon request of the board to determine the viability of a specific New Mexico wild horse herd on the range it occupies, the range improvement task force of New Mexico state university shall evaluate the range conditions to determine the number of wild horses in the herd that the range can support while maintaining the ecological health of the range. The range improvement task force shall report the results of that evaluation to the board. If required, the board may cause the wild horse herd population to be controlled through the use of birth control and may cause excess horses to be:

                (1) humanely captured and relocated to other public land or to a public or private wild horse preserve;

                (2) adopted by a qualified person for private maintenance or a horse rescue or retirement facility; or

                (3) humanely euthanized; provided that this option applies only to wild horses that are determined by a licensed veterinarian to be crippled or otherwise unhealthy.

          F. The range improvement task force shall submit an annual report to the legislature on the results of evaluations made in that year and other appropriate comments on the status of the overall New Mexico range."

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