Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §7502, sub-§§2 and 4, as amended by PL 2001, c. 655, §15, are further amended to read:

2. Employment of agents. When a person wants to employ someone outside of that person's immediate family to take or kill wild animals or wild turkeys, that person shall contact a game warden, who shall consult with a biologist. If the warden is satisfied that substantial damage is occurring and the biologist agrees, the warden may arrange for a department agent to alleviate the damage or, when an agent is not available, may authorize a person who is knowledgeable and can perform the work in a reasonable, safe and proficient manner. Permission to take or kill wild animals or wild turkeys may not be granted to any person whose license to hunt has been revoked or suspended, who is an habitual violator as defined in section 7001, subsection 13-A or who has been convicted of night hunting within the past 5 years.

4. Warden's certificate. A game warden shall investigate an incident under this section as soon as possible and, if consult with a biologist.__If the game warden is satisfied that the wild animal or wild turkey was taken as provided in this section and the biologist agrees, the game warden shall give the person who killed the wild animal or wild turkey a certificate that entitles the cultivator, owner, mortgagee or keeper of the orchard or growing crop to own the carcass or carcasses, to be possessed and consumed only within the immediate family of the cultivator, owner, mortgagee or keeper of the orchard or growing crop, or, in accordance with the labeling requirements for possession of deer, bear, moose or wild turkey, to transfer possession of those wild animals or wild turkeys to another person. Any excess carcasses after the first 2 carcasses of deer, bear, moose or wild turkey killed or taken under subsection 1 or 2 must be distributed to recipients authorized through the Hunters for the Hungry Program established in section 7481 or as otherwise authorized by the game warden.

SUMMARY

This bill requires a game warden to seek the agreement of a biologist before the warden gives permission to a landowner to employ an agent to take or kill nuisance animals on the landowner's land or to issue a certificate allowing a landowner to own and consume a nuisance animal taken or killed on the landowner's land.