Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 4153 – Sale prohibited
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1. Animal with disease, illness or condition. Notwithstanding section 4152, a seller may not sell an animal that has any obvious clinical sign of infectious, contagious, parasitic or communicable disease or abnormality or has any disease, illness or condition that requires hospitalization or nonelective surgical procedures.
[PL 2019, c. 544, §7 (NEW).]
Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 4153
- Animal: means a dog, wholly of the species canis familiaris, or a cat, wholly or in part of the species felis domesticus. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 4151
- Animal rescue entity: means a nonprofit organization having tax-exempt status under the United States Internal Revenue Code, Section 501(c)(3) whose mission and practice is, in whole or in significant part, the rescue and placement into permanent homes of animals and that does not breed animals. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 4151
- Domestic partner: means one of 2 unmarried adults who are domiciled together under long-term arrangements that evidence a commitment to remain responsible indefinitely for each other's welfare. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
- Offer for sale: means to sell, offer to transfer, offer for adoption, advertise for sale, barter, auction, give away or otherwise dispose of an animal. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 4151
- Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, association or any other legal entity. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 3907
- Pet: means a dog, cat or other domesticated animal commonly kept as a companion, but does not include tamed animals that are ordinarily considered wild animals or livestock. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 3907
- Pet shop: means a place or vehicle in or on which any dogs, cats, rodents, reptiles, fish, pet birds, exotic birds or exotic animals not born and raised on those premises are kept for the purpose of sale to the public. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 3907
- Seller: includes animal dealers required to be licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 4151
- Wolf hybrid: includes a mammal that is represented by its owner to be a wolf hybrid, coyote hybrid, coydog or any other kind of wild canid hybrid. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 3907
- Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
2. Wolf hybrid. A seller may not sell a wolf hybrid.
[PL 2019, c. 544, §7 (NEW).]
3. Pet shop. Except as provided in this subsection, a pet shop as defined in section 3907, subsection 23 may not offer an animal for sale.
A. A pet shop may provide space to an animal rescue entity to offer to the public animals for adoption for an adoption fee, as long as the pet shop does not have any ownership interest in the animals offered for adoption and does not receive any fee for providing space or for the adoption of any of the animals. [PL 2019, c. 544, §7 (NEW).]
B. A pet shop that lawfully offered animals for sale on the effective date of this paragraph may continue to offer animals for sale as long as the pet shop:
(1) Maintains a valid license under section 3933;
(2) Remains in the same ownership as existed on May 1, 2019; and
(3) Keeps for sale or offers for sale in any calendar year no greater a number of animals than were kept for sale or offered for sale by the pet shop in calendar year 2018.
In order to qualify for the exception allowed under this paragraph, a pet shop must provide to the department, in a form and manner prescribed by the department, documentation of the ownership of the pet shop on May 1, 2019 as well as the number of animals offered for sale in 2018 and annually thereafter. For purposes of this paragraph, “remains in the same ownership” means a static state of ownership in which no ownership interest changes after May 1, 2019, except, in the case of a pet shop that on May 1, 2019 was owned by a family, a transfer of an ownership interest to the spouse, domestic partner or one or more children of the oldest member of the family holding an ownership interest on May 1, 2019. For purposes of this paragraph, “family” means one person or a group of people whose relationship to the oldest person in the group is either spouse, domestic partner or child. In order to maintain a valid license, the pet shop must provide to the department, in a form and manner prescribed by the department, documentation of any transfer of ownership under this paragraph. If there is ambiguity as to whether a pet shop remains in the same ownership, the pet shop does not satisfy the requirements of subparagraph (2). [PL 2019, c. 544, §7 (NEW).]
[PL 2019, c. 544, §7 (NEW).]
4. Penalties. A person who violates subsection 3 commits a civil violation for which a fine of $500 may be adjudged and is subject to the suspension or revocation of the person’s pet shop license pursuant to section 4162, subsection 2. Each offer for sale of an animal in violation of subsection 3 constitutes a separate violation.
[PL 2019, c. 544, §7 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 1995, c. 589, §1 (NEW). PL 2007, c. 702, §24 (AMD). PL 2011, c. 100, §15 (AMD). PL 2019, c. 544, §7 (RPR).