CHAPTER 725
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 3, DELAWARE CODE, ADDING A NEW CHAPTER 74 THERETO, RELATING TO CONTROL AND ERADICATION OF EQUINES INFECTED WITH EQUINE INFECTIOUS ANEMIA.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:
Section 1. Title 3, Delaware Code, is hereby amended by adding a new chapter thereto to be designated as Chapter 74, to read as follows:
CHAPTER 74. EQUINE INFECTIOUS ANEMIA
§ 7401. Definitions
For the purpose of this Chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
"Department" means the Department of Agriculture.
"Person" includes veterinary practitioner, racetrack official, racing commission official, private horse owner, trainer, jockey or private person.
"Equine" includes all horses of every type and description.
§ 7402. Equine suspected; notification
Any person who knows or suspects that a case of Equine Infectious Anemia may exist in an equine shall immediately notify the Department and shall supply the Department with (1) the name of the equine, if known, (2) its present location and (3) the name of the owner, if known.
§ 7403. Rules and regulations; quarantine orders
(a) For the proper enforcement of the provisions of this chapter, the Department may make and enforce orders, rules and regulations for the control and eradication of Equine Infectious Anemia.
(b) Any equine suspected of having Equine Infectious Anemia shall be, by order of the Department, removed from the barns or other facilities used by healthy equines and quarantined in such place on the premises on which it is being kept so as to insure its isolation and it shall remain under quarantine in isolation for such period as the Department deems appropriate to insure that it is free of Equine Infectious Anemia.
§ 7404. Diagnosis and testing; expense
The testing, diagnosis and cure of any equine suspected of having Equine Infectious Anemia shall be by the standard "pony inoculation procedure" or by such other procedures as prescribed by the Department, and the cost thereof borne by the Department.
§ 7405. Destruction of condemned equines
Any equine determined incurable and condemned for Equine Infectious Anemia shall be destroyed upon the direction of the Department or its duly appointed agent.
§ 7406. Payment for equines condemned
The Department may pay out of the funds appropriated by the Legislature of the State of Delaware a sum up to the sum of $1,000 for any equine, whose owner is a resident of the State of Delaware, ordered destroyed, provided that the owner has submitted a claim for indemnity on forms prescribed by the Department and has complied with all quarantine regulations. The Department shall make the final determination as to the amount to be paid under this section.
§ 7407. Violations and penalties
Whoever fails to report an equine, knowing or suspecting the same to be infected with Equine Infectious Anemia, or who knowingly moves a suspected or positively diagnosed equine from one premise to another, or who fails to keep such equine under quarantine in accordance with Section 7403, shall be penalized as the Delaware Harness Racing Commission or Delaware Racing Commission sees fit.
Section 2. The sum of $25,000 is hereby appropriated to the Department of Agriculture for the purpose of indemnifying owners of horses destroyed pursuant to Section 7405 since July 1, 1969. A further appropriation of $10,000 is hereby appropriated to the Department of Agriculture for fiscal 1971 for the purposes of implementing the provisions of this Act.
Approved July 19, 1970.