SB 371: Undomesticated burros.

Existing law authorizes an officer or employee of a local animal control agency to remove an undomesticated burro, as defined, that strays onto private land at the request of the landowner. Existing law authorizes an officer or employee of a local animal control agency to remove an undomesticated burro that strays onto a public roadway, as provided, and to provide medical care or treatment to an undomesticated burro that is seriously ill or injured, as provided.

This bill would also authorize a nonprofit organization, as defined, that contracts with a county to provide services to undomesticated burros to remove an undomesticated burro that strays onto private land, to remove an undomesticated burro that strays onto a public roadway, and to provide medical care or treatment to an undomesticated burro that is seriously ill or injured, as provided.

This bill would authorize the local animal control agency, or an authorized nonprofit organization that contracts with a county to provide services to undomesticated burros, to relocate an undomesticated burro that is unfit for release to an appropriate facility or private adopter as authorized by the local animal control agency. The bill would give a local animal control agency the sole discretion, for specified purposes, to deem an undomesticated burro unfit for release and to deem it fit for re-release. The bill would exclude from the definition of undomesticated burro an animal that is permanently relocated to an appropriate facility or private adopter, as provided. To be eligible to enter into a contract with a local animal control agency under these provisions, the bill would require a nonprofit organization to have submitted a euthanasia policy that is compliant with specified regulations for review and approval by the contracting local animal control agency and to retain a copy of this policy on file.