Sponsored by:
Senator STEVEN V. OROHO
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
Senator BOB ANDRZEJCZAK
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator Van Drew
SYNOPSIS
Authorizes issuance of multi-species depredation permit for wildlife control on farmland.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning wildlife control on cultivated land, amending R.S.23:4-42, and supplementing Title 23 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.23:4-42 is amended to read as follows:
23:4-42. a. Except as provided in subsection b. of this section, no person shall hunt for, pursue, shoot at, take, kill, wound or attempt to take, kill or wound a deer of any description prohibited by the provisions of the State Fish and Game Code, or hunt for, pursue, shoot at, take, kill, wound or attempt to take, kill or wound any wild deer at any time except during the period permitted by the State Fish and Game Code, or kill in any one year more than the number of deer permitted by the State Fish and Game Code.
b. The owner or lessee of any land, a portion of which is land under cultivation, or the authorized agents of the owner or lessee having on their person a written permit issued by the division and countersigned by the owner or lessee may kill any deer that may be found on that land during the period covered by the permit. If requested by the owner or lessee of the land, the period covered by the permit issued to the owner or lessee, or authorized agent thereof, shall also include the entire months of February and March. The carcass of a deer killed under such permit shall become the property of the division and may be removed and disposed of in the manner it directs, unless the carcass cannot be located after a good faith effort, as defined by the State Fish and Game Code. For the purpose of this section, "land under cultivation" shall mean (1) pasture fields that are seeded with cultivated grass or that have been so seeded within the prior 12 months, or (2) land on which planted crops are growing or were growing within the prior 12 months. The division may require the owner or lessee of the land to provide evidence of deer damage within the prior 12 months as a condition of issuing a permit pursuant to this subsection.
(cf: P.L.1999, c.327, s.1)
2. (New section) The owner or lessee of any land, a portion of which is land under cultivation, or the authorized agents of the owner or lessee, having on their person a written permit, to be known as a multi-species depredation permit, issued by the division and countersigned by the owner or lessee, may kill any animal of a species identified in the permit which is on the land and known to cause crop damage. A multi-species depredation permit shall list all species to which the permit applies, as determined by the division, but in every case shall include deer, and shall not include the requirement to retrieve the carcass of any animal killed under the authority of the permit. For the purpose of this section, "land under cultivation" means (1) pasture fields that are seeded with cultivated grass or that have been so seeded within the prior 12 months, or (2) land on which planted crops are growing or were growing within the prior 12 months.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the establishment of a multi-species depredation permit which would allow an owner or lessee of any land, a portion of which is land under cultivation, or the authorized agents of the owner or lessee, to kill any animal of a species listed in the permit which is on the land and known to cause crop damage. Current law and regulations allow for such permits to be issued with respect to deer.
This bill also removes the statutory responsibility to locate an animal carcass killed pursuant to a valid depredation permit when the carcass cannot be located after a good faith effort. Current law places conditions on a permit holder with respect to the retrieval of a deer’s carcass, which can be onerous or, in some cases, impossible.