New Mexico § 17-2-7.2 - Landowner taking; conditions; department responsibilities

§ 17-2-7.2. Landowner taking; conditions; department responsibilities

A. A landowner or lessee, or employee of either, may take or kill an animal on private

land, in which they have an ownership or leasehold interest, including game animals

and other quadrupeds, game birds and fowl, that presents an immediate threat to human

life or an immediate threat of damage to property, including crops; provided, however,

that the taking or killing is reported to the department of game and fish within twenty-four

hours and before the removal of the carcass of the animal killed, in accordance with

regulations adopted by the commission. B. A landowner or lessee, or employee of either, may take or kill animals on private

land, in which they have an ownership or leasehold interest, including game animals

and other quadrupeds, game birds and fowl, that present a threat to human life or

damage to property, including crops, according to regulations adopted by the commission. The regulations shall: (1) provide a method for filing a complaint to the department by the landowner or

lessee, or employee of either of them, of the existence of a depredation problem; (2) provide for various departmental interventions, depending upon the type of animal

and depredation; (3) require the department to offer at least three different interventions, if practical; (4) require the department to respond to the initial and any subsequent complaints

within ten days with an intervention response to the complaint, and to carry out the

intervention, if agreed upon between the department and the landowner, within five

days of that agreement; (5) permit the landowner or lessee to reject for good cause the interventions offered

by the department; (6) require a landowner or lessee to demonstrate that the property depredation is

greater in value than the value of any wildlife-related income or fee collected by

the landowner or lessee for permission to take or kill an animal of the same species,

on the private property or portion of the private property identified in the complaint

as the location where the depredation occurred; and (7) permit the landowner, lessee or employee, when interventions by the department

have not been successful and after one year from the date of the filing of the initial

complaint, to kill or take an animal believed responsible for property depredation. C. For purposes of this section: (1) “commission” means the state game commission; (2) “department” means the department of game and fish; and (3) “intervention” means a solution proposed by the department to eliminate the depredation.