CHAPTER
246
ANIMAL CONTAGIOUS DISEASES |
ARRANGEMENT OF
SECTIONS |
PART I
PRELIMINARY |
SECTION |
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PART II
OFFICERS AND THEIR DUTIES |
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Inspector's power of entry. |
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Apprehension of offenders. |
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PART III
DISEASED ANIMALS AND INFECTED PLACES |
Notice of disease to be given. |
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Slaughtering diseased animals. |
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Minister may prohibit importation. |
Notice to owners of infected places. |
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Area of infected locality may be extended or
curtailed. |
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Declaring a place free from disease. |
Order of Minister to supersede that of local
authority. |
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Removal from infected places. |
Vessels, etc., to be cleansed. |
The Minister may cause cleansing to be done. |
Premises to be in sanitary condition. |
Refusal to comply with orders of the Minister. |
PART IV
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES |
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Penalty for unlawful importation of animals,
etc. |
Liability of officers of companies. |
Conviction within certain period. |
PART V
MISCELLANEOUS |
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CHAPTER 246 |
ANIMAL CONTAGIOUS
DISEASES |
An Act
for the prevention and control of contagious and infectious diseases in
animals. | 43 of 1962
G.N. 7(39)/1964
E.L.A.O., 1974 |
[Assent 23rd May,
1962]
[Commencement 19th January, 1963] |
PART I
PRELIMINARY |
1. This Act may be cited as the Animal Contagious
Diseases Act. | Short title. |
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires- | Interpretation. |
"contagious"
means communicable by close contact or inoculation; |
"foreign
animals" means animals not already introduced into The Bahamas, outside of
quarantine stations; |
"infectious"
means communicable in any manner; |
"infectious
or contagious disease" includes in addition to other diseases generally so
designated glanders, farcy, maladie du coit, pleuro-pneumonia contagiosa,
foot and mouth disease, rinderpest, anthrax, Texas fever, hog cholera, swine
plague, mange, scab, rabies, tuberculosis, actinomycosis and various ovina; |
"infected
place" means a place declared to be infected under the provisions of
section 14 or 15 of this Act; |
"inspector"
means an inspector appointed under section 3 of this Act; |
"Minister"
means the Minister responsible for Animal Diseases; |
"other
officer" means an officer appointed under the provisions of section 3 of
this Act; |
"regulations"
means the regulations made under the authority of section 33 of this Act; |
"vehicle"
means a means of conveyance provided with wheels, tracks or runners used for
the carriage of persons, animals or goods on land; |
"vessel"
means ship, boat, barge, lighter and water craft of every kind however
propelled. |
PART II
OFFICERS AND THEIR DUTIES |
3. The Governor-General, acting in accordance with the
advice of the Public Service Commission, may appoint such inspectors and other
officers as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. | Appointment of officers. |
4. An inspector, other officer or peace officer may, at
any time, for the purpose of carrying into effect any of the provisions of this
Act or the regulations, enter any vessel, aircraft, vehicle or thing used for
the carrying of animals, but shall if required, state in writing the grounds on
which he has so entered. | Inspector's power of entry. |
5. Where an animal infected or labouring under any
infectious or contagious disease, or suspected of being so affected is in any
place, or in any vessel, aircraft, vehicle or thing used for the carriage of
animals, any inspector, other officer or peace officer may seize the animal and
report the seizure to the Minister or to any magistrate having jurisdiction in
the island or district in which the place is situated or in which the vessel,
aircraft, vehicle or thing is at the time of the seizure. | Seizure of animals. |
6. (1) Where a person is seen or found committing or is
reasonably suspected of being engaged in or committing an offence against this
Act, an inspector or a peace officer may, without warrant, stop and detain him;
and if the name and address are not known to the inspector or peace officer and
such person fails to give them to the inspector or peace officer, the inspector
or peace officer may, without warrant, apprehend him; and the inspector or
peace officer may, whether so stopping or detaining or apprehending the person
or not, stop, detain and examine any animal, vessel, aircraft, vehicle or thing
to which the offence or suspected offence relates, and require the same to be
forthwith taken back to any place wherefrom it was unlawfully removed, and
execute and enforce that requisition. | Apprehension of offenders. |
(2) If any person
obstructs or impedes or assists to obstruct or impede an inspector or peace
officer in the execution of this Act or of any Order or of any regulation, the
inspector or peace officer may without warrant apprehend the offender. |
(3) A person
apprehended under this section shall be taken with all practicable speed before
a magistrate and shall not be detained without a warrant longer than is
necessary for that purpose. |
(4) An inspector
shall forthwith make a report in writing to the Minister and a peace officer
shall forthwith make a report in writing to his superior officer of every case
in which he stops or detains any person, animal, vessel; aircraft, vehicle or
thing under this section and of any proceedings consequent thereon. |
(5) Nothing in
this section shall take away or abridge any power or authority that a peace
officer would have had if this section had not been enacted. |
7. Any inspector or peace officer may require that any
animal or thing removed out of an infected place in violation of the provisions
of this Act be forthwith taken back within the limits of that place, and may
enforce and execute such requisition at the expense of the owner of such animal
or thing. | Wrongful removal. |
PART III
DISEASED ANIMALS AND INFECTED PLACES |
8. (1) Every owner of animals and every breeder of or
dealer in animals, and every one bringing animals into The Bahamas shall, on
perceiving the appearance of infectious or contagious disease among the animals
owned by him or under his special care, give immediate notice to the Minister
and to the nearest veterinary inspector of the Department of Agriculture of the
facts discovered by him as aforesaid. | Notice of disease to be given. |
(2) Any veterinary
surgeon practising in The Bahamas shall, immediately on ascertaining that an
animal is labouring under an infectious or contagious disease, give similar
notice to the Minister and to the nearest veterinary inspector. | Notice to be given by veterinary surgeon. |
9. Every owner of animals who neglects to comply with
section 8 of this Act shall forfeit his claim to compensation for any animals
slaughtered in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and no such compensation
shall be granted to him. | Penalty for neglect. |
10. The Minister may, from time to time, cause to be
slaughtered animals suffering from infectious or contagious diseases or
suspected of being so affected, and animals that are or have been in contact
with or in close proximity to a diseased animal, or an animal suspected of
being affected by infectious or contagious disease. | Slaughtering diseased animals. |
11. (1) Subject to the provisions of this section the
Minister may in his discretion order compensation to be paid to the owners of
animals slaughtered under the provisions of this Act. | Compensation to owners. |
(2) The
compensation payable under this section for an animal slaughtered under the
provisions of this Act shall not exceed the market value that animal, in the
opinion of the Minister or some person appointed by the Minister, would have
had immediately before slaughter if it had not been subject to slaughter under
the provisions of this Act except that such compensation shall not exceed- |
(a) in
the case of horses, one thousand dollars for purebred animals and three hundred
dollars for other animals; and |
(b) in
the case of cattle, three hundred dollars for purebred animals and twenty-five
dollars for other animals, and if the sale of the carcass is unlawful an
additional amount for purebred and other animals equal to the value the carcass
would have if the sale were lawful, such value to be determined by the Minister
or by some person appointed by the Minister for that purpose. |
(3) Compensation
shall not be paid under this section whenever the owner or the person having
charge of the animal has been convicted of an offence under this Act in
relation to such animal, or whenever the animal being a foreign one was in the
judgment of the Minister diseased at the time of entering The Bahamas. |
(4) Whenever the
Minister in his discretion has ordered the payment of compensation under the
provisions of subsection (1) of this section, such compensation may be withheld
in whole or in part if as a result of information received by him he is of the
opinion that the owner of the animal or the person having charge of the animal
has been guilty of negligence in the care of the animal and the disease can be
directly attributed to the poor care of the animal. |
12. Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the Minister
may- | Experimental treatment. |
(a) reserve for
experimental treatment any animal ordered to be slaughtered under this Act; and |
(b) authorise
any of his officers or servants to make post mortem examinations of
animals that have died, or are supposed to have died, from infectious or
contagious disease; and to dig up carcasses of such animals for the purpose of
investigation. |
13. The Minister may, from time to time by Order,
prohibit the importation or the introduction into The Bahamas, or any part
thereof, or into any particular ports thereof, of animals, or of flesh, hides,
hoofs, horns, or other parts of animals or of animals' semen or of hay, straw,
fodder or other articles, either generally or from any place named in the
Order, for such period as he deems to be necessary. | Minister may prohibit importation. |
14. Whenever an inspector finds or suspects infectious
or contagious disease of animals to exist, he shall forthwith make a
declaration thereof under his hand, and shall deliver a copy of such
declaration to the occupier of the place where the disease is found; and
thereupon the same, with all lands and buildings contiguous thereto in the same
occupation, shall be deemed to be an infected place until otherwise determined
by the Minister. | Notice to owners of infected places. |
15. (1) Whenever an inspector makes such a declaration
of the existence or suspected existence of infectious or contagious disease of
animals, he shall, with all practicable speed, send a copy thereof to the
Minister. | Report to Minister. |
(2) If it appears
that infectious or contagious disease exists, the Minister may so determine and
declare, and may by Order prescribe the limits of the infected place. |
(3) If it appears
that such disease did not exist, the Minister may so determine and declare, and
thereupon the place, comprised in the inspector's declaration, or affected
thereby, shall cease to be deemed an infected place. | Where no infectious disease. |
16. Whenever, under this Act, an inspector makes a
declaration that constitutes a place an infected place, he may also, if the
circumstances of the case appear to him so to require, deliver a notice under
his hand of such declaration to the occupiers of all lands and buildings
adjoining thereto, or any part thereof respectively which lies within one mile
of the boundaries of the infected place in any direction; and thereupon the
provisions of this Act with respect to infected places shall apply to and shall
have effect in respect of such lands and buildings as if the same were actually
within the limits of the infected place. | Notice to occupant. |
17. The Minister may, from time to time, by Order,
extend or curtail the limits of an infected place beyond the boundaries of the
place where infectious or contagious disease is declared or found to exist. | Area of infected locality may be extended or
curtailed. |
18. The area of an infected place may, in any case, be
described by reference to a map or plan deposited at some specified place, or
by reference to townships, settlements, farms or otherwise. | How area described. |
19. The Minister may, at any time, upon the report of
an inspector, by Order, declare any place to be free from infectious or contagious
disease; and thereupon, and from the time specified in that behalf in the
Order, the place shall cease to be deemed an infected place. | Declaring a place free from disease. |
20. An Order of the Minister relative to an infected
place shall supersede any order of a local authority inconsistent with it. | Order of Minister to supersede that of local
authority. |
21. Unless such movement is prohibited by the
Minister, the provisions of this Act with respect to infected places, shall not
restrict the moving of any person, animal or thing on highways through an
infected place, if such person, animal or thing is not detained within the
infected place. | Transit. |
22. Whenever, under this Act, a place has been
constituted an infected place, no live animal, nor the flesh, head, hide, skin,
hair, wool or offal of any animal or any part thereof, nor the carcass nor any
remains of any animal, nor any dung of animals nor any hay, straw, litter or other
thing commonly used for and about animals, shall be removed out of the infected
place without a licence signed by an inspector, until the said place has been
released by Order of the Minister. | Removal from infected places. |
23. (1) Every person carrying animals for hire or
reward to or in The Bahamas shall thoroughly cleanse and disinfect in such
manner as the Minister, from time to time, directs all vessels, aircraft,
vehicles, or things used by such persons for the carrying of animals. | Vessels, etc., to be cleansed. |
(2) The Minister
may cause any such vessel, aircraft, vehicle or thing to be detained in such
place as seems meet until it is so cleansed and disinfected. |
24. When the person using a vessel, aircraft, vehicle
or thing for the carrying of animals, fails to cause the same to be so cleansed
and disinfected within such time after being notified so to do as the Minister
directs, the Minister may cause the same to be cleansed and disinfected at the
expense of such person. | The Minister may cause cleansing to be done. |
25. All yards, stables, sheds or other premises used
by any person for the accommodation of animals shall be maintained in a clean,
comfortable and sanitary condition, and shall be subject at all times to
inspection by inspectors acting under the authority of the Minister, and the
Minister may, when he deems such action necessary, order the cleansing and
disinfection in a satisfactory manner of the said yards, stables, sheds or
other premises. | Premises to be in sanitary condition. |
26. In the event of any person refusing or neglecting
to carry out the orders of the Minister given through an inspector in regard to
such cleansing or disinfection, or in the event of such person neglecting to
maintain his yards, stables, sheds or other premises for the use of animals, in
a clean, comfortable and sanitary condition, an inspector may condemn the said
premises as unfit for use; whereupon the said premises shall not be used for
the accommodation of animals until such time as the orders of the Minister in
regard thereto have been satisfactorily carried out. | Refusal to comply with orders of the Minister. |
PART IV
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES |
27. Every person who- | Neglect to give notice. |
(a) neglects to
give notice as required by this Act of any facts discovered or perceived by him
indicating the appearance or the existence of infectious or contagious disease
among animals owned by him or under his special care, or who conceals the
existence of infectious or contagious disease among animals; |
(b) turns out,
keeps, or grazes in any place any animal, knowing it to be infected with or
labouring under any infectious or contagious disease or to have been exposed to
infection or contagion; | Keeping diseased animals. |
(c) brings or
attempts to bring into any place, any animal known by him to be infected with
or labouring under any infectious or contagious disease; |
(d) sells or
disposes of, or puts off, or offers or exposes for sale, or attempts to dispose
of or put off any animal infected with or labouring under any infectious or
contagious disease, or the meat, skin, hide, horns, hoofs or other parts of an
animal infected with or labouring under any infectious or contagious disease at
the time of its death whether such person is the owner of the animal, or of
such meat, skin, hide, horns, hoofs or other parts of such animal or not; | Selling or putting off such animals. |
(e) throws or
places, or causes or suffers to be thrown or placed on land, in any stream,
canal, navigable or other waters, or in the territorial waters of The Bahamas,
the carcass of an animal that has died of disease or has been slaughtered as
diseased, or as suspected of disease; | Throwing carcasses onto places on land, into the sea
or other waters. |
(f) without
lawful authority, or excuse, digs up or causes or allows to be dug up the
buried carcass of an animal that has died or is suspected of having died from
infectious or contagious disease, or that has been slaughtered as diseased or
as suspected of disease; | Digging up any such carcasses when buried. |
(g) moves, or
causes or allows to be moved any animal, hide, skins, hair, wool, horn, hoof,
offal, carcass, meat, dung, hay, straw, litter or other thing in violation of
the provisions of this Act with respect of infected places; | Unlawful removal of any animal. |
(h) fails to
comply with the requirements of any order made under the authority of this Act
or the regulations in respect of the cleansing and disinfecting of vessels,
aircraft, vehicles or things used by such person for the carrying of animals, |
shall be
guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on summary conviction
to a penalty not exceeding one hundred dollars. |
28. (1) Every person who refuses to admit any
inspector, other officer or a peace officer into any place, or any vessel,
aircraft, vehicle or thing used for the carriage of animals or who obstructs or
impedes the execution of any Order made under the provisions of this Act or the
regulations, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable
on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding one hundred
dollars. | Offences. |
(2) An inspector
or peace officer may, without a warrant, apprehend any person who offends
against subsection (1) of this section and take him forthwith before a magistrate
to be dealt with according to law. | Apprehension of offender. |
(3) A person
apprehended under this section shall be taken with all practicable speed before
a magistrate and shall not be detained without a warrant longer than is
necessary for that purpose. |
29. Any person who fails to comply with the provisions
of this Act or the regulations for which failure no specific penalty is
provided shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding one
hundred dollars. | Penalty. |
30. (1) Where an animal, animals' semen, hay, straw,
fodder or other articles are imported or introduced into The Bahamas contrary
to the provisions of any Order or regulation made in pursuance of this Act,
such animal, animals' semen, hay, straw, fodder or other article shall be
forfeited to the Minister and may be forthwith destroyed or disposed of as the
Minister or any person authorised by him in that behalf directs. | Penalty for unlawful importation of animals, etc. |
(2) Every person
who imports or introduces, or attempts to import or introduce, any animal,
animals semen, hay, straw, fodder or other articles into The Bahamas, contrary
to the provisions of any such Order or regulation, shall be liable on summary
conviction to a penalty not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars for every
animal so imported or introduced, or attempted to be imported or introduced by
him, and a penalty not exceeding one hundred dollars for any other offence
under this subsection. |
31. (1) Where a person convicted of an offence under
this Act is a company or other body (whether corporate or incorporate) the
president, chairman, and every director and every officer concerned in the
management of the company or other body shall be guilty of the like offence
unless he proves that the act constituting the offence took place without his
knowledge or consent. | Liability of officers of companies. |
(2) Every offence
against this Act, the regulations or against any Order and every cause of
complaint under this Act, may be prosecuted and tried either by a magistrate
having jurisdiction in the place in which such offence or cause of complaint
was committed or arose, or by a magistrate having jurisdiction in the place in
which the person charged or complained of happens to be. | Place of trial. |
32. A person shall not be convicted of any offence
under this Act unless the offence was wholly or partly committed within one
year before the charge or information was laid. | Conviction within certain period. |
PART V
MISCELLANEOUS |
33. The Minister may, from time to time, make
regulations for any of the following purposes, that is to say- | Regulations. |
(a) for
subjecting animals to quarantine, or for causing the same to be destroyed upon
their arrival in The Bahamas or for destroying any hay, straw, fodder, animals'
semen or other articles whereby it appears to him that infection or contagion
may be conveyed, and generally for regulating the importation or introduction
into The Bahamas of animals in such manner as to prevent the introduction of
any infectious or contagious disease into The Bahamas; | Quarantine. |
(b) for the
keeping separate, treatment and disposal of, and dealing generally with animals
affected with infectious or contagious diseases, or suspected of being so
affected or that have been in contact with animals so affected, or suspected of
being so affected, and for the prevention of the spread of infectious or
contagious diseases; | Separation. |
(c) for
segregating and confining animals within certain limits, for establishing
districts of inspection or of quarantine and for prohibiting or regulating the
removal to or from such parts or places in The Bahamas as may be designated in
such regulations, of animals or of meats, skins, hides, horns, hoofs or other
parts of any animals, or of hay, straw, fodder, animals' semen or other
articles likely to propagate infection; | District of quarantine. |
(d) for
purifying any place, vessel, aircraft, vehicle or thing and for directing how
any animals dying in a diseased state, or any animals, parts of animals, or
other things seized under the provisions of this Act, are to be destroyed or
otherwise disposed of; | Purification. |
(e) for causing
notice to be given of the appearance of any disease among animals; | Notice of disease. |
(f) for
requiring notice of the appearance of any such disease among animals; | Requiring notice. |
(g) for
prohibiting or regulating the holding of markets, fairs, exhibitions or sales
of animals; | Prohibiting markets. |
(h) for
declaring any place, vessel, aircraft, vehicle or thing in which animals are
exposed for sale or are placed for the purpose of transit, to be infected, and
for declaring the same to be no longer infected; | Declaring market etc., infected. |
(i) for the
slaughtering of animals as provided for by this Act; | Slaughtering animals. |
(j) for
requiring proof of the fact that animals imported into or passing through The
Bahamas have not, at the time of their embarkation, been brought from any place
or locality where any contagious or infectious disease is, at the said time, in
existence; | Proof as to animals imported. |
(k) for
exempting certain contagious and infectious diseases from the operation of
certain specified sections of this Act, and for dealing with the said diseases
as may seem necessary and advisable; | Certain exceptions. |
(l) for the
purpose of defining the limits of any port or place within The Bahamas at which
animals may be landed; |
(m) for
preventing the removal, without a licence signed by an inspector or other
officer appointed pursuant to section 3 of live animals, or the hide, skin,
hair, offal of any animals or any Part thereof, the semen of any animal, the
carcass or any remains of any animal, any dung of animals, and any hay, straw,
litter or other thing commonly used for or about animals, out of an infected
place; | Preventing removal of animals. |
(n) generally
for carrying out the objects of this Act. |
34. All expenses approved by the Minister and incurred
in administering this Act shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund by warrant
in the usual manner. | Expenses. |