ENROLLED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2790

(By Delegates Kelley, Boggs, Yeager, Williams and Willis)
[Passed March 13, 1999; in effect ninety days from passage.]

AN ACT to amend and reenact section nine-a, article twenty, chapter nineteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring confinement and vaccination or revaccination of any domestic animal bitten by a rabid animal; and providing penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section nine-a, article twenty, chapter nineteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 20. DOGS AND CATS.

§19-20-9a. Dogs, cats, etc.; rabies observation.

(a) Any person who owns or harbors any dog, cat or other domesticated animal, whether licensed or unlicensed, which bites any person, shall forthwith confine and quarantine the animal for a period of ten days for rabies observation.
(b) If any unvaccinated domesticated animal is bitten by a rabid animal, the owner shall confine the bitten animal for a period of six months. The animal shall be vaccinated or revaccinated after five months.
(c) If the animal is not confined and quarantined as directed in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, the humane officer, dog warden or sheriff may cause the animal to be placed in the custody and care of a licensed veterinarian for that purpose at the owner's expense. The penalty for any violation of this section is a fine of fifty dollars or confinement in the county or regional jail for a period of no less than two nor more than three days.