NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1977 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 600

HOUSE BILL 542

 

 

AN ACT TO REGULATE THE SETTING OF STEEL TRAPS IN BLADEN AND COLUMBUS COUNTIES.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1. It shall be unlawful in Bladen and Columbus Counties for any person, firm or corporation to set or possess any steel traps of any type or to take any animal caught in any steel trap on any lands, except as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 2. It shall be lawful for any person, firm or corporation to set or possess steel traps and take animals therefrom, provided not otherwise prohibited by law, on his or its own land. It shall be lawful for any person, firm or corporation to set or possess steel traps and take animals therefrom on other lands in Bladen and Columbus Counties provided:

(a)       The person, acting individually or an agent for a firm or corporation, has written and dated permission from the landowner on his person and further provided that the permission shall be valid only for one year from the date granted.

(b)       Any person not specifically named in said written permission as the grantee of the right to trap shall not be deemed to have authority to trap.

Sec. 3. It is the intent and purpose of this act to prohibit any person, firm or corporation from setting or using steel traps of any type on lands in Bladen and Columbus Counties except as hereinabove provided.

Sec. 4. Violation of this act shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200.00), or by imprisonment of not more than 30 days, or by both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 5. Provided that nothing in this act shall prohibit the use of steel or metal jaw traps by county or State Public Health Officials or their designated agents in order to control the spread of disease when the use of such steel or metal jaw traps has been declared necessary by the Department of Human Resources.

Sec. 6. This act shall become effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 17th day of June, 1977.