Section 147.726. Operation

(a) Approved methods and devices are as follows:

(1) Foot hold traps, body gripping traps, box traps, clover traps, cage traps, nets and snares.

(2) Agents who are certified pesticide applicators may take vertebrate species with pesticides in accordance with the regulations of the Department of Agriculture. See 7 Pa. Code Chapter 128 (relating to pesticides).

(3) Shooting with a firearm that will induce death as quickly and painlessly as possible.

(4) Dogs used to harass nuisance geese. The authorization to harass geese with dogs is prohibited at any time when goslings are present at the site and during the period from June 16 to July 20, when the majority of adult birds are flightless.

(5) Raptors may be utilized for nuisance wildlife abatement by a permitted nuisance wildlife control operator only when the permitted nuisance wildlife control operator possesses a valid Special Purpose—Abatement Using Raptors Permit issued by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Other regulations pertaining to nuisance wildlife control operators apply to persons using this approved method and device.

(b) The agent shall have the approval of the property owner or lessee and confine all activities to that property.

(c) The permit shall be carried at all times and presented upon the request of any officer whose duty it is to enforce this part.

(d) Except as otherwise provided, it is unlawful to sell, trade, barter or transfer to another person any live or dead animal or parts taken under authority of this permit. Furbearer pelts are excluded from this provision provided the particular species is taken during the hunting or trapping season by the holder of a valid hunting or furtaking license as required.

(e) Devices shall be tagged or labeled with the permit number, or trapper I.D. number.

(f) Devices shall be checked by the agent or property owner at least once each calendar day, but only the agent may remove an animal from a trap.

(g) Nuisance wildlife captured alive shall within 24 hours be dispatched in a humane manner or released in an area open to hunting or trapping. Nontarget animals may be released at the site of capture, with the following exceptions:

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), rabies vector species (RVS), as defined in § 147.301 (relating to definitions) shall be euthanized in a humane manner rather than released.

(2) An agent may not, without special written permission from the director, destroy or euthanize five or more bats at any one location.

(h) Carcasses shall be disposed of by incineration or in an approved landfill in a manner consistent with the solid waste laws of the Commonwealth. The taking of any white-tailed deer shall be reported within 24 hours and turned over to the district wildlife conservation officer, unless alternative arrangements are accepted by the district wildlife conservation officer.

The provisions of this § 147.726 amended December 19, 2008, effective December 20, 2008, 38 Pa.B. 6930; amended March 20, 2015, effective March 21, 2015, 45 Pa.B. 1366. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (364474) to (364475).

Notation

Authority

The provisions of this § 147.726 amended under the Game and Wildlife Code, 34 Pa.C.S. § 2901(b).