Bill Text: NJ A5232 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits possession of deer or elk originating from outside State.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-05-13 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee [A5232 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A5232-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ROBERT J. KARABINCHAK
District 18 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits possession of deer or elk originating from outside the State.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the possession of certain deer and elk and supplementing Title 23 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. No person shall possess any deer or elk, or part thereof, that originates from a location outside of the State.
b. The provisions of subsection a. do not apply to:
(1) any deer or elk, or part thereof, that is possessed prior to the effective date of this act;
(2) meat that is cut up and packaged, and not mixed with other deer during processing;
(3) meat that is boneless;
(4) hides or cape with no part of the head attached;
(5) clean skull cap with antlers attached;
(6) antlers with no other meat or tissue attached;
(7) finished taxidermy heads; and
(8) upper canine teeth with no tissue attached.
c. Any person who violates the provisions of subsection a. of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to $250 for the first offense, up to $400 for the second offense, and up to $500 for each subsequent offense, to be collected by the Commissioner of Environmental Protection in a civil action by summary proceeding under the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.). The Superior Court and the municipal court shall have jurisdiction over proceedings for the enforcement of the penalty established by this section.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit the possession of certain cervid carcasses, hides, or antlers from cervids that were harvested in another state.
The bill allows for the following to be possessed:
(1) any deer or elk, or part thereof, that is possessed prior to the effective date of this act;
(2) meat that is cut up and packaged, and not mixed with other deer during processing;
(3) meat that is boneless;
(4) hides or cape with no part of the head attached;
(5) clean skull cap with antlers attached;
(6) antlers with no other meat or tissue attached;
(7) finished taxidermy heads; and
(8) upper canine teeth with no tissue attached.
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a progressive and fatal neurologic disease affecting members of the cervid family such as
axis deer, black-tailed deer, elk, fallow deer, moose, mule deer, muntjac, red deer, reindeer, sika deer, and white-tailed deer. CWD may be caused by an infectious protein called a prion. CWD prions are shed from secretions of infected animals in saliva, blood, feces, and urine. Prions are shed before the animals appear sick and are known to remain infectious in the environment for decades where they bind to soil and plants. Prions can spread by animal-to-animal contact or by contact with a contaminated environment. CWD can be spread by the natural movement of infected animals or by humans moving live, infected, captive cervids or carcass parts of infected cervids.
In 2002, the Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish and Wildlife banned the importation of deer and elk into the State as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease into the State's wild and farmed herds of animals belonging to the deer family. Under current rules, a person wishing to import cervids into the State must comply with requirements set forth by both the Department of Agriculture and the DEP's Division of Fish and Wildlife. This bill further protects our State from chronic wasting disease by prohibiting the possession of cervid carcasses from other states, with certain exceptions.
