Title 69, Agriculture, Horticulture, and Animals

(1) The Mississippi Board of Animal Health is to be composed of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, the Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and the heads of the Animal and Dairy Science and Poultry Science Departments at Mississippi State University of Agricultur…

(1) The Animal Disease Response Fund is created as a special fund in the State Treasury. The response fund shall consist of any funds appropriated or otherwise made available by the Legislature for animal disease outbreaks, any income from investment of the funds in the response …

The Department of Finance and Administration shall provide office space at the seat of the government, as it deems necessary and requisite for the Board of Animal Health. The board shall adopt rules and regulations as it deems proper to carry out its statutory powers and duties. …

The members of the Board of Animal Health who are not full-time public officers or public employees shall be entitled to a per diem as is provided by Section 25-3-69, Mississippi Code of 1972, not to exceed twenty (20) days in any fiscal year. All members shall be entitled to mil…

The State Veterinarian is authorized and empowered to employ the necessary professional, technical and clerical personnel as he deems necessary to carry out the powers and duties of the board, and to fix their compensation. The board shall appoint from a written list of not less …

(1) (a) The Board of Animal Health shall have plenary power to deal with all contagious and infectious diseases of animals as in the opinion of the board may be prevented, controlled or eradicated, and with full power to make, promulgate and enforce such rules and regulations as …

It is the purpose of Sections 69-15-51 through 69-15-69 to establish an administrative hearing procedure under the Board of Animal Health to enforce the rules and regulations of the Board of Animal Health and the statutes and laws of the State of Mississippi pertaining to the con…

(1) When any allegation or charge has been made against a person for violating the rules and regulations of the Board of Animal Health or the law relating to the prevention and eradication of diseases in animals and livestock, the Board of Animal Health shall direct the State Vet…

(1) The Board of Animal Health, upon notice from the reviewing officer that a hearing is requested, shall appoint a three-member hearing committee which shall consist of one (1) attorney from the Attorney General’s office, and two (2) representatives from the Department of Agricu…

The reviewing officer and/or the hearing committee shall certify findings and recommendations to the Board of Animal Health within five (5) days of the conclusion of the proceedings. The Board of Animal Health shall, at its next regular meeting, review such findings and recommend…

Failure of the accused to request a hearing or respond to the complaint within thirty (30) days shall constitute a waiver of the right to a hearing and any penalties assessed by the board shall be due and payable as provided in Section 69-15-67.

The Board of Animal Health shall have jurisdiction over all persons and property necessary to administer and enforce the provisions of Sections 69-15-51 through 69-15-69, the rules and regulations of the board, and all other laws relating to the prevention and eradication of dise…

(1) Any individual aggrieved by a final decision of the Board of Animal Health after its review of the hearing officer’s recommendation shall be entitled to judicial review. (2) An appeal from the board’s decision shall be filed in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District…

(1) Each violation of the rules and regulations of the Board of Animal Health or violations of any other of the laws governing the eradication of contagious diseases in animals and livestock shall be subject to the imposition of a civil penalty up to One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.…

(1) Any penalty assessed by the Board of Animal Health shall be due and payable within forty-five (45) days of the notification of the board’s decision. (2) In the event that the judgment is not paid within the forty-five (45) days, or within such additional time as the board may…

No person shall be subject to criminal prosecution or to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter or issue concerning which he may be required to testify to or produce evidence, or provide documentation, before the board or at any of its hearings or …

(1) The boards of supervisors of any county, or one or more counties, are hereby authorized and empowered, in their discretion, to establish areas composed of one or more counties for the purpose of cooperating with the Board of Animal Health and the United States Bureau of Anima…

(1) All pens, stalls, barns, or other places where livestock are placed or held for exhibits or shows at all fairs within the state shall be sprayed with an approved insecticide before any animals are placed therein, and immediately after removal of such animals, all such pens, s…

(1) The boards of supervisors in the various counties are hereby authorized and empowered, in their discretion, to put into effect the provisions of this section by order of said respective boards spread upon the minutes of such board when petitioned by a majority of livestock ow…

(1) In addition to other authority vested in the Board of Animal Health, it shall have the following powers and duties:(a) To quarantine all herds of cattle where reactors are disclosed or found by private tests, auction barn sale tests, market cattle testing of slaughter cattle …

(1) The Governor of the State of Mississippi, when advised by the Board of Animal Health that an emergency exists due to the presence of foot and mouth disease, rinderpest, contagious pleuropneumonia, or other contagious or infectious diseases of animals, or European fowl pest an…

It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, firm or corporation to drive, convey, transport or allow to drift from any state or territory, into this state any livestock except under the supervision and in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Board of Animal Health…

Owners of livestock infected with any contagious or infectious disease, whose animals are destroyed by authority of the board of animal health shall receive compensation from the state in accordance with the following provisions: Before authorizing the destruction of such disease…

Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of Article 5 of this chapter, or any of the rules and regulations of the Board of Animal Health, relative to the control and eradication of tuberculosis, anthrax, hog cholera, Texas and splenic fever and the fever-ca…

(1) All equidae located on any premises within the state where the public participates in equine activities for any purpose, including, but not limited to, training, breeding, performing or exhibition shall be accompanied by the original copy of a negative current equine infectio…

The State Veterinarian, with the approval and consent of the Board of Animal Health is directed to employ one or more qualified veterinarians to be paid from the funds at the disposal of said board, who shall cooperate with the veterinarians of the U.S. Department of Agriculture,…

The State Veterinarian is directed to detail a veterinarian to assist such counties as desire to undertake the control and eradication of tuberculosis among cattle and such assistance shall be given to the counties in the order in which request is made and to the extent that the …

The board of supervisors of any county in the State of Mississippi may, by order entered on the minutes of said board, express their intention to engage in the eradication of tuberculosis, in livestock under the area plan in co-operation with the board of animal health, and the U…

In counties doing tuberculosis eradication work under the provisions of this article, owners of cattle are required to submit all their cattle to be tuberculin tested at such time and place as designated by the board of animal health, and provide such help as may be needed by the…

Cattle which react to the tuberculin test or show marked diagnostic symptoms of tuberculosis shall be condemned and branded with the letter “T” on the left jaw, and be disposed of as directed by the board of animal health.

The county boards of supervisors of counties engaged in eradicating tuberculosis in livestock under the area plan in co-operation with the board of animal health and the United States Bureau of Animal Industry may pay out of the general funds of the county money for necessary exp…

The boards of supervisors of the various counties of the State of Mississippi which are not engaged in the eradication of bovine tuberculosis on the area plan, may in their discretion, pay indemnity on cattle which react to a co-operative tuberculin test authorized by the Mississ…

(1) The work of tick eradication shall be prosecuted by the Board of Animal Health under the following provisions: The State Veterinarian, with the approval and consent of the board, shall hire an assistant executive officer for tick eradication who shall receive a salary of not …

The State Veterinarian shall appoint the necessary number of local state inspectors and range riders to assist the counties in systematic tick eradication, who shall be commissioned by the Board of Animal Health as livestock inspectors. The salaries of said inspectors and range r…

The board of supervisors in the various counties of the state are authorized and empowered to appropriate money out of the general fund of the county to be used for the purpose of co-operating with the Mississippi Board of Animal Health and the United States Department of Agricul…

If it shall be determined by the State Veterinarian, or his authorized agent, that any county or counties shall be partially or completely infested with the cattle tick (Margaropus annulatus), the board of supervisors of said counties which are partially or completely infested wi…

Systematic dipping of all cattle, horses, jacks, jennets and mules infested with or exposed to the cattle tick (Margaropus annulatus), shall be taken up as soon as practical in all counties or portions of counties that shall at any time be found partially or completely infested w…

The boards of supervisors, after being notified by the State Veterinarian that the cattle tick (Margaropus annulatus) is known to exist in their respective counties, shall provide such number of dipping vats as may be fixed by the State Veterinarian or his authorized representati…

If the board of supervisors shall fail, refuse or neglect to comply with the provisions of this article, the state veterinarian or an authorized agent of the State Veterinarian, shall apply to any court of competent jurisdiction for a writ of mandamus or shall institute such othe…

Any person, or persons, firms or corporations, owning or having in charge any cattle, horses, jacks, jennets or mules in any county where tick eradication shall be taken up, or is in progress under existing laws, shall, on notification by any livestock inspector to do so, have su…

Quarantines and dipping notices for cattle, horses, jacks, jennets and mules, the owner or owners of which cannot be found, shall be served by posting copy of such notice in not less than three public places within the county in community where stock were found, one of which shal…

Cattle, horses, jacks, jennets or mules infested with or exposed to the cattle tick (margaropus annulatus), in any county known to be partly or wholly infested with such tick, the owner or owners of which, after five days written notice from a livestock inspector, or such animals…

Any expense incurred in the enforcement of Section 69-15-321 or for feed, care and handling of such animals while undergoing the process of tick eradication, and any expense incurred in handling, dipping, confining, feeding or pasturing of any animals while in the custody of the …

Any person or persons, firm or corporation, driving, conveying, transporting or allowing to drift from any state or territory, into or through this state, or within this state from a quarantined county or area into a free county or area or into a county or area in which systemati…

It shall be the duty of the sheriff in any county in which the work of tick eradication is in progress, to render all livestock inspectors any assistance in the enforcement of this article and the regulations of the board of animal health. If the sheriff of any county shall negle…

Any person or persons who shall wilfully damage or destroy by any means, any vat erected, or in the process of being erected, as herein provided for tick eradication purposes, shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction shall be imprisoned not less than six months, or more t…