NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1981 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 203

SENATE BILL 80

 

 

AN ACT TO VEST AUTHORITY IN THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY FOR EXAMINATION OF REPTILES.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1. G.S. 14-419 as it now appears in the 1969 Replacement Volume 1B of the General Statutes is rewritten to read:

"In any case in which any law enforcement officer or animal control officer has reasonable grounds to believe that any of the provisions of this Article have been or are about to be violated, it shall be the duty of such officer and he is hereby authorized, empowered, and directed to immediately investigate such violation or impending violation and to forthwith seize the reptile or reptiles involved, and all such officers are hereby authorized and directed to deliver such reptiles to the Museum of Natural History or to its designated •representative for examination and test for the purpose of ascertaining whether said reptiles contain venom and are poisonous. If the Museum of Natural History or its designated representative finds that said reptiles are dangerously poisonous, the Museum of Natural History or its designated representative shall be empowered to dispose of said reptiles in a manner consistent with the safety of the public; but if said Museum or its designated representative find that the reptiles are not dangerously poisonous, and are not and cannot be harmful to human life, safety, health or welfare, then it shall be the duty of such officers to return the said reptiles to the person from whom they were seized within five days."

Sec. 2. G.S. 14-420 as it now appears in the 1969 Replacement Volume 1B of the General Statutes is amended by deleting the words "county health or other qualified authorities" in line 2 and substituting therefor the words "Museum of Natural History or its designated representative".

Sec. 3. This act shall become effective July 1, 1981.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 13th day of April, 1981.