GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2003
SESSION LAW 2003-96
SENATE BILL 245
AN ACT to authorize the hunting of coyotes in controlled hunting preserves and to make it unlawful to import live coyotes into this state.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. G.S. 113-273(g) reads as rewritten:
"(g) Controlled Hunting
Preserve Operator License. - The Wildlife Resources Commission is authorized by
rule to set standards for and to license the operation of controlled hunting
preserves operated by private persons. Controlled hunting preserves are of two
types: one is an area marked with appropriate signs along the outside
boundaries on which only domestically raised game birds other than wild turkeys
are taken; the other is an area enclosed with a dog-proof fence on which foxes and
coyotes may be hunted with dogs only. A controlled fox and coyote
hunting preserve operated for private use may be of any size; a controlled
hunting preserve operated for commercial purposes shall be an area of not less
than 500 acres or of such size as set by regulation of the Wildlife Resources
Commission, which shall take into account differences in terrain and
topography, as well as the welfare of the foxes. wildlife.
Operators of controlled fox hunting preserves may purchase
live foxes and coyotes from licensed trappers who live-trap foxes and
coyotes during any open season for trapping them and may, at any time, take
live foxes from their preserves for sale to other licensed operators. The
controlled hunting preserve operator license may be purchased for a fee of
fifty dollars ($50.00), and is an annual license issued beginning August 1
July each year running until the following July 1.30 June."
SECTION 2. G.S. 113-294 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(o) Any person who willfully transports or attempts to transport live coyotes (Cania latrans) into this State for any purpose, or who breeds coyotes for any purpose in this State, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, and upon conviction the Wildlife Resources Commission shall suspend any controlled hunting preserve operator license issued to that person for two years."
SECTION 3. Section 2 of this act becomes effective October 1, 2003, and applies to acts committed on or after that date. The remainder of this act becomes effective October 1, 2003.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 21st day of May, 2003.
s/ Beverly E. Perdue
President of the Senate
s/ Richard T. Morgan
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ Michael F. Easley
Governor
Approved 5:06 p.m. this 30th day of May, 2003