15A NCAC 10H .1405      Captivity License Revocation and Enforcement

(a)  Representatives of the Commission shall be permitted to enter the premises of any license holder's facility upon request or during the facility's business hours for inspection or scientific purposes.

(b)  The Executive Director of the Commission or his or her designee may warn, cite, or revoke a license holder's captivity license, if the license holder violates any provision of G.S. 14, Article 47, or G.S. 113, Subchapter IV, or any rules promulgated by the Commission in this Chapter or any conditions of the license. The determination whether to warn, cite, or revoke a captivity license for rehabilitation or holding shall be based upon the seriousness of the violation, and may include:

(1)           Failing to provide required facilities for the housing of wild animals and wild birds as specified in Rule .1402(g) and Rule .1404 of this Section;

(2)           Providing false or inaccurate information on license applications or reports submitted to the Commission;

(3)           Possessing wild animals or wild birds not permitted by the captivity license for rehabilitation, or the captivity license for holding;

(4)           Using animals undergoing rehabilitation for education, exhibition, profit, or science involving contact with or proximity to the public;

(5)           Failing to comply with monitoring or record-keeping requirements as provided by the rules of this Section;

(6)           Taming, imprinting, or otherwise improperly handling animals held for rehabilitation;

(7)           Failing to treat conditions that warrant medical attention;

(8)           Failing to notify the appropriate agencies after a rabies exposure as described in this Section;

(9)           Allowing a wild animal held under a captivity license for holding to roam free unrestrained outside of its enclosure; or

(10)         The license holder of a facility holding captive cervid(s) failing to:

(A)          comply with tagging requirements as provided by rules of this Section; or

(B)          comply with requirements for maintaining the enclosure fence as provided by rules of this Section.

(c)  An individual holding a captivity license for rehabilitation with the apprentice designation shall notify the Commission within 10 business days if he or she no longer has a mentor. The apprentice shall obtain another mentor within 30 days and notify the Commission with that individual's information. If the apprentice fails to obtain another mentor within 60 days, the Commission shall revoke his or her license and he or she shall be required to reapply for an apprentice license.

(d)  If a wild animal or wild bird is unlawfully possessed or the Commission revokes a captivity license for rehabilitation or holding, then the Commission may seize and determine future treatment of the wild animal or wild bird, to include release, relocation, or euthanasia.

(e)  The Commission shall revoke a non-farmed cervid license, and the holder of that license shall forfeit the right to keep non-farmed cervids and be required to turn the animals over to a representative of the Commission upon request of the Commission, under any of the following circumstances or conditions:

(1)           The license holder fails to submit a cervid carcass to a NCDA approved laboratory for testing for Chronic Wasting Disease within 48 hours of knowledge of that cervid's death or close of the next business day, whichever is later, as provided by Rule .1403(m) in this Section;

(2)           A cervid has been transported without a permit; or

(3)           Chronic Wasting Disease has been confirmed in a cervid at that facility.

History Note:        Authority G.S. 106-549.97(b); 113-134; 113-272.5; 113-274;

Eff. January 1, 2020.