Title 44, Animals and Animal Husbandry

It is unlawful to sell, or offer to sell, to buy, or offer to buy, livestock within two thousand feet (2,000′) of a licensed livestock market property.

(a) The state veterinarian shall administer this chapter. (b) The state veterinarian is authorized to employ a chief inspector and shall have one (1) inspector assigned to work in each grand division of the state. In addition, the state veterinarian may employ part-time inspector…

The license fees collected under this chapter shall be devoted exclusively to its administration and shall be kept in a separate account by the state treasurer, and no part of the fees collected under this chapter shall at any time become a part of the general fund of the state.

The department may make reasonable rules and regulations for carrying out this chapter.

For the purpose of carrying out this chapter and making inspections under this chapter, the commissioner or the commissioner's duly authorized representative has the right to enter the establishment or premises where any community sale is held and to inspect its records at all ti…

This chapter shall not apply to the business of buying or assembling livestock for the purpose of prompt shipment to or slaughter in any livestock market or packing house where veterinary inspection is regularly maintained under the animal disease eradication branch of the agricu…

Any livestock operator, or any person who engages in business as a livestock market without a license, as herein required, or who violates any of the provisions of this chapter, or any rules and regulations lawfully issued hereunder, commits a Class A misdemeanor.

Whenever it appears to the commissioner that any person has engaged or is about to engage in any act or practice constituting a violation of any provision of this chapter or any rule hereunder, the commissioner may, in the commissioner's discretion, bring an action in the chancer…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Sheep Producers' Indemnity Law.”

(a) As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Association” means any association or corporation organized under this chapter;(2) “Member” includes bona fide sheep producers who meet the requirements of associations organized under this chapter; and(3) “P…

Five (5) or more persons, a majority of whom are residents of this state, engaged in the production of sheep, may form a nonprofit cooperative protective association, without capital stock under this chapter.

(1) Indemnity Limited. Each association organized hereunder has the following powers and limitations:(1) Indemnity Limited. The indemnity allowed shall in no instance exceed the value of the animal;(2) Losses Prior to Membership. The association shall not protect the member from …

(a) Under the terms and conditions prescribed in the bylaws adopted by it, the association may admit as members only persons engaged in the production of sheep, including the lessees and tenants of land used for the production of sheep, and any lessors and landlords who receive a…

(a) Each association formed under this chapter must prepare and file articles of incorporation setting forth:(1) The name of the association;(2) The purpose for which it is formed;(3) The place where its principal business will be transacted;(4) The term for which it is to exist,…

The articles of incorporation may be altered or amended at any regular meeting or any special meeting called for that purpose. An amendment must first be approved by two thirds (⅔) of the directors and then be adopted by a vote representing a majority of all the members of the as…

(a) Each association incorporated under this chapter must, within thirty (30) days after its incorporation, adopt for its government and management, a code of bylaws not inconsistent with the powers granted under this chapter. A majority vote of the members, or their written asse…

(a) In its bylaws, each association shall provide for one (1) or more regular meetings each year. (b) The board of directors shall have the right to call a special meeting at any time; and ten percent (10%) of the members may file a petition stating the specific business to be br…

(a) The affairs of the association shall be managed by a board of not less than five (5) directors elected by the members from their own number. The bylaws may provide that one (1) or more additional directors may be appointed by any public official or commission or by the other …

The directors shall elect from their number a president and one (1) or more vice presidents. They shall also elect a secretary and a treasurer, who need not be directors or members of the association; and they may combine the two (2) latter offices and designate the combined offi…

Every officer, employee and agent handling funds or negotiable instruments or property of or for any association created under this chapter shall be required to execute and deliver a bond for the faithful performance of that person's duties and obligations.

(a) When a member of an association has paid the membership fee in full, and has also paid the prescribed protective fees, the member shall receive a certificate of membership. The promissory notes of the members may be accepted by the association as full or partial payment of fe…

Any member may bring charges against an officer or director by filing them in writing with the secretary of the association, together with a petition signed by five percent (5%) of the members, requesting the removal of the officer or director in question. The removal shall be vo…

(1) Each association formed under this chapter shall prepare and make out an annual report on forms to be furnished by the commissioner of commerce and insurance, containing:(1) The name of the association;(2) Its principal place of business;(3) A general statement of its busines…

Any provisions of law that are in conflict with this chapter shall be construed as not applying to the associations provided for in this chapter.

(a) The general corporation laws of this state, and the powers and rights under those laws, shall apply to the associations organized under this chapter, except where those provisions are in conflict with or inconsistent with the express provisions of this chapter. (b) None of th…

For filing articles of incorporation an association organized under this chapter shall pay five dollars ($5.00); and for filing an amendment to the articles, two dollars ($2.00).

(a) This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Tennessee Apiary Act of 1995.” (b) Honeybees are kept in beehives by beekeepers throughout the state, and many colonies of feral honeybees have established nests in hollow trees and in walls of buildings. These honeybees pe…

(1) As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Abandoned apiaries” means an apiary that has not been subjected to at least the minimal beekeeping practices necessary to maintain the bees in a healthy, productive, and safe condition so that the honeybees a…

(a) (1) The commissioner shall appoint a state apiarist, subject to any applicable rules or qualifications established by the department of human resources. The state apiarist is responsible for the apiary work of the department of agriculture and, with the necessary assistants, …

The commissioner is authorized to enter into cooperative agreements and/or grants with any person, municipality, county and other departments of this state, and boards, officials and authorities of other states and the United States for inspection with reference to infectious and…

(a) Every beekeeper owning one (1) or more colonies of bees shall register each apiary location by January 1, 1996, and every three (3) years thereafter. Upon establishment of a new apiary location, it is the duty of the owners or operators of the apiary to register the new locat…

Each beekeeper is required to provide moveable frames in all hives used by that beekeeper to contain bees, so that any such frame can be removed from the hive and inspected for any regulated diseases and pests. Any beekeeper having a colony of bees living in any beehive or other …

The state apiarist, assisted by the apiary inspectors identified in this chapter, has the authority and responsibility to establish and implement a program for inspection of apiaries throughout the state for the purpose of detecting regulated bee diseases and pests and for implem…

(a) No bees may be sold, offered for sale, moved, or transported, shipped or delivered within the state, unless they have been inspected by an appropriate official of the state and certified to be apparently free of infectious or contagious regulated bee diseases and pests in acc…

(a) If a beekeeper knows that a colony of bees has a regulated bee disease or pest, the beekeeper shall immediately report to a state apiary inspector all facts known about the bee's disease or bee's pests. (b) If any apiary inspector has substantial reason to believe that a fera…

(a) The state apiarist and the duly authorized apiary inspectors have the power and authority to declare a quarantine on any apiary found to be infected/infested with any regulated bee diseases or pests. Immediately after the apiary is declared to be infected/infested, a quaranti…

(a) The department may authorize establishment of a certification program whereby beekeepers who successfully complete the requirements of the program will be certified to have demonstrated the knowledge and skills needed to effectively detect, identify, and control regulated bee…

No person shall sell or give to any other person any used beekeeping equipment until the equipment has been sanitized by a method approved by the state apiarist. This requirement will not apply to equipment that is occupied by live bees.

(a) Any person wanting to move live bees in beehives or empty brood combs (combs that have been used for rearing bee brood) into the state must apply to the department for an entry permit. The application shall be accompanied by a certificate of health from the originating state'…

Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter or the rules and regulations made under this chapter, or of any order or notice given pursuant thereto, or who shall forge, counterfeit, destroy, or wrongfully or fraudulently use, any certificate, permit, notice or other…

All fees, fines, and proceeds resulting from the sale of seized properties collected under this chapter shall be paid into the general fund and the same are appropriated exclusively to the department to be used in carrying out this chapter.

The state apiarist is empowered to establish or to authorize establishment of apiaries for experimental purposes associated with research on or evaluation of conditions related to any bee disease or pest.

All bees and beehives confiscated by the state apiarist as allowed by this chapter shall be destroyed by burning if the state apiarist determines that the confiscated property is infested with a regulated disease or pest to such an extent that it presents a significant and unacce…

After inspection of infected/infested bees or fixtures, or handling diseased bees, the state apiarist or assistants, before leaving the premises on which disease is found, or proceeding to any other apiary, shall take such measures as to prevent the spread of the disease or pests…

It is unlawful for any person to knowingly give false or misleading information in any matter pertaining to the enforcement of this chapter, or to resist, impede, or hinder the state apiarist or any duly authorized apiary inspector in the discharge of duties as described in this …

(a) Honey can be contaminated with certain organisms that can cause disease in honeybees. Therefore, honey containers and beekeeping equipment that are wet with honey shall be stored, transported, and handled in such a way that free-flying honeybees will not be able to gain acces…