Title 70, Wildlife Resources

(a) No pollution, including, but not limited to, dye waste, petroleum products, brine waste, refuse from a mine, sawmill or construction activity, industrial or domestic sewage, or any deleterious or poisonous substance or activity, shall be thrown or be caused, or allowed to run…

(a) It is unlawful for any person to deface, obliterate, tear down or destroy, in whole or in part, or attempt to deface, obliterate, tear down, or destroy any notice, proclamation or sign posted by the fish and wildlife commission or the wildlife resources agency. (b) A violatio…

(a) It is unlawful for any person to import, possess, or cause to be imported into this state any type of live skunk, or to sell, barter, exchange or otherwise transfer any live skunk, except that the prohibitions of this section shall not apply to bona fide zoological parks and …

(a) (1) It is unlawful to buy or sell green hides, raw furs or pelts of a red fox, except as provided in subsection (b) or in counties open to the lawful taking of red fox.(2) A violation of this subsection (a) is a Class C misdemeanor. (1) It is unlawful to buy or sell green hid…

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, it is lawful for any person to buy, sell, store, or ship for sale, at any time the hides of deer and the pelts and tails of grey squirrels and fox squirrels taken during the open season.

(a) It is unlawful for any person, while fishing, to use any nets, seines, snag lines, drag lines, grab hooks, or baskets, or any other form of fishing equipment, or other obstruction of any character to the free passage of fish within one hundred (100) yards of the mouth of any …

(a) Notwithstanding another law to the contrary, it is an offense to feed a black bear within the confines of an area the commission has proclaimed that feeding black bears is prohibited. (b) Knowingly feeding a black bear in violation of subsection (a) is a Class B misdemeanor, …

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Drone” means a drone as defined in § 39-13-609;(2) “Taking” means the capture or killing of a wild animal and includes travel, camping, and other acts preparatory to taking that occur on lands or waters upon whi…

(a) Any person who performs any of the following commits a Class C misdemeanor:(1) Interferes with the lawful taking of a wild animal by another with intent to prevent the taking;(2) Disturbs or engages in an activity that will tend to disturb wild animals, with intent to prevent…

(a) Any court may enjoin conduct that would be in violation of § 70-4-302 upon petition by a person affected or who reasonably may be affected by such conduct, upon a showing that such conduct is threatened or that it has occurred on a particular premises in the past and that it …

(a) It is unlawful for any person to possess, transport, import, export, buy, sell, barter, propagate or transfer any wildlife, whether indigenous to this state or not, except as provided by this part and rules and regulations promulgated by the Tennessee fish and wildlife commis…

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Agency” means the Tennessee wildlife resources agency;(2) “Cage” means the primary enclosure in which an animal is held;(3) “Circus” means a public entertainment consisting typically of a variety of performances…

(1) Live wildlife, kept and maintained for any purpose, shall be classified in the following five (5) classes:(1) Class I — This class includes all species inherently dangerous to humans. These species may only be possessed by zoos, circuses and commercial propagators, except as …

(a) The agency shall issue permits for possessing live wildlife as defined in this part. (b) (1) The commission shall adopt reasonable rules for issuing permits to possess live wildlife and establishing the conditions of possessing wildlife. The conditions shall be directed towar…

(a) Wildlife housed in dangerously unsafe conditions constituting a threat to human safety shall, at the direction of agency personnel, be placed in agency approved facilities at the owner's expense. (b) Any condition that results in wildlife escaping from its enclosure, cage, le…

(a) Any person who keeps Class I wildlife is liable for any costs incurred by any person, city, county or state agency resulting from the escape from captivity of the animal or animals. (b) Neither the state of Tennessee nor any agency, employee or agent of the state of Tennessee…

(a) Prior to the transfer of any Class I wildlife to a new owner, the prospective owner must provide the seller with proper documentation of an approved holding facility for that species. Proper documentation consists of a copy of a current permit for that species or a letter fro…

Owners of unpermitted wildlife who do not qualify for a permit to possess such wildlife shall dispose of such wildlife to an approved recipient within thirty (30) days of notification by the agency. Each day of possession of unpermitted wildlife after such thirty-day period const…

(a) Any person possessing live wildlife in Class I or Class II shall, during normal business hours and at all reasonable times, and without the necessity of a search warrant, allow the executive director or any officer or employee of the agency to inspect all animals, facilities …

(a) Before any person may engage in the business of propagating or otherwise obtaining Class I or Class II wildlife for sale, barter or trade, whether indigenous to this state or not, such person must obtain and possess a permit for each propagating location. A personal possessio…

(a) All persons wishing to possess Classes I and II live wildlife obtained outside this state shall have in their possession the importation permit required by this part. The permit and all bills of lading and shipping papers relating to any wildlife that such person may have in …

It is unlawful to release any class of wildlife in Tennessee except in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the commission.

(a) It is unlawful for any person to operate a private wildlife preserve for the purpose of propagating or hunting, or both, any class of wildlife reared in captivity unless that person obtains the appropriate permit and operates such private wildlife preserve in accordance with …

(a) Before any person may take, transport or possess raptors for the purpose of falconry, such person shall first obtain a falconry permit in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the commission. This permit is supplemental to all other permits and licenses req…

(a) Any officer of the agency, upon finding a violation of this part, of the terms of the permit or rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this part, may, as appropriate:(1) Exercise such officer's arrest authority or, in lieu of exercising the arrest authority, issue a fi…

Permittees shall immediately notify the agency or local law enforcement officials of any escape of Class I wildlife. Any personal injury inflicted by any species of captive wildlife requiring medical treatment shall be reported to the agency within forty-eight (48) hours of the i…

The cost of administration of this part as it relates to wildlife not indigenous to this state shall be borne by the general fund and revenues collected pursuant to this part.

(a) Any person who obtains a Class I carnivore on or after July 1, 2015, shall, within six (6) months of obtaining the animal, have a microchip permanently implanted in the animal. The microchip shall have an identification number that is unique to the microchip. In addition, the…

“Computer-assisted remote hunting” means the use of a computer or any other device, equipment or software, to control remotely the aiming and discharge of a rifle, shotgun, handgun, bow and arrow, cross-bow or any other implement to hunt wildlife.

A person may not engage in computer-assisted remote hunting or provide or operate facilities for computer-assisted remote hunting if the wildlife being hunted is located in this state.

(1) It is an exception to the application of this part that a person provides only:(1) General purpose equipment, including a computer, camera, and building materials;(2) General purpose computer software, including an operating system and communication programs; or(3) General te…

Any person violating this part commits a Class A misdemeanor.

(a) The wildlife resources agency has the power and authority to establish, with the consent of the property owner, public hunting areas, refuges, or wildlife management areas, wherever it deems necessary or feasible for the protection, propagation and management of wildlife, or …

(a) The wildlife resources agency is authorized and empowered to acquire by purchase, gift, lease or otherwise, and to hold title to, in the name of the state of Tennessee, lands and waters to be known as the state wildlife preserves, and also is authorized to execute on behalf o…

The agency or its authorized representatives are empowered and authorized to examine delinquent tax lists in the hands of the trustees of the various counties of the state, as well as the commissioner of revenue, and shall cooperate with the county trustees, the commissioner of r…

(a) In acquiring lands and waters for wildlife preserves and in executing contracts for the purchase, sale, or lease of such state wildlife preserves, as provided for in §§ 70-1-302(a) and (b), 70-5-102 and 70-5-103, the agency is authorized to acquire and pay for such lands and …

The governor is authorized and empowered to designate and set apart suitable lands and waters that have or may hereafter revert to and become the property of the state on account of delinquent taxes, or any lands or waters held or that may be given to the state by donation or oth…

(a) The fish and wildlife commission has the power and authority, in its discretion, to set aside waters within the jurisdiction of the state as fish preserves in which it is unlawful to take, catch or kill fish, or to attempt to do so, except as provided in this section. (b) Upo…

(a) (1) The supervision and control over all, or any part, of the lands belonging to the state and vested in this chapter in the executive director, with the exception of such lands as may have been or may hereafter be acquired by the use of federal aid funds, may, at any time he…

(a) The executive director is authorized and empowered to acquire by gift, devise, lease, purchase or otherwise the exclusive game and fish rights on any privately owned lands or waters in this state, which game and fish rights shall include the right to manage, administer, prote…

Before any rules and regulations proclaimed by the fish and wildlife commission relative to such game and fish rights become effective, there shall be posted printed notices in prominent places and at adequate intervals around the boundary line of the area on which such game and …

The executive director, or the executive director's successor, is empowered to release or sublet the rights secured from private individuals to any other public agency of the state or federal government for management purposes.

(a) (1) For the purpose of more effectively cooperating with the United States, the governor and the executive director concurring, in the acquisition, development and maintenance of refuges for migratory waterfowl and other wildlife, consent is granted to the United States, to a…

(a) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Entity of state or local government” means each department, commission, board, agency, council, utility district, drainage district, levee district, or other governmental unit or body created constitutionally…

(a) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Free” means the flow of water not under control, able to move in any direction, and not held or confined by an artificial gate or structure;(2) “Lake” means a standing body of open water that occurs in a natu…

(a) The executive director or the officers of the wildlife resources agency, or officers of any other state or of the federal government who are full-time wildlife enforcement personnel designated by the executive director, shall enforce all laws now enacted or that may hereafter…