Chap. 439.——An ACT to revise, consolidate, amend and codify the laws of Vir-
ginia, relating to the appointment of a State veterinarian and assistant veter-
inarians, and the prevention, control and eradication of contagious and in-
fectious diseases ‘of livestock and poultry; to prescribe penalties for violations ;
and to that end, to repeal Sections 907 to 920, both inclusive, Section 920-a,
and Sections 1224, 1225 and 1227, of the Code of Virginia, as amended, all
of which relate to the subjects above mentioned, and to amend the Code
of Virginia by adding thereto fourteen new sections numbered Sections 907
to 920, both inclusive, relating to the same subjects. [S B 41]

Approved April 1, 1938

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions nine hundred and seven to nine hundred and twenty, both in-
clusive, section nine hundred and twenty-a, and sections twelve hundred
and twenty-four, twelve hundred and twenty-five, and twelve hundred
and twenty-seven, of the Code of Virginia, as amended, be, and the
same are hereby, repealed.

2. Be it further enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia,
That the Code of Virginia be amended by adding thereto, and inserting
therein, fourteen new sections numbered sections nine hundred and
seven to nine hundred and twenty, both inclusive, which new sections
shall read as follows:

Section 907. The State Board of Agriculture and Immigration
shall employ a qualified veterinarian who shall be known as the State
veterinarian, and it may employ assistant veterinarians whose duties
it shall be to carry out the laws of the State and the rules and regula-
tions of the board. The State veterinarian shall reside at such point
in the State as the board may, from time to time, designate as most
suited to the efficient dispatch of the business of his office. The board
may employ such clerical personnel as they may deem necessary. The
State veterinarian, and all other veterinarians, shall have power to carry
into effect all lawful orders given by the board.

‘ Whenever, in the opinion of the State veterinarian, the services
of an assistant veterinarian are urgently needed during the time the
board is not in session, the State veterinarian shall have authority to
employ one or more assistant veterinarians for temporary duty, and
he may deputize for duty licensed practicing veterinarians and veter-
inarians in the employment of the United States Bureau of Animal
Industry, and all such veterinarians shall have authority to perform
the duties of assistant veterinarians employed by the said board.

Section 908. The State Board of Agriculture and Immigration,
the State veterinarian, and all other veterinarians within the State, shall
have authority, and it shall be their duty, to use their best efforts to
protect domestic animals and poultry from disease. It shall also be
the duty of the said board and the State veterinarian to cooperate with
the livestock sanitary control officials of other States, and with the
Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, and the United States
Bureau of Animal Industry, in establishing such interstate quarantine
lines, rules and regulations as to best protect the livestock and poultry
of this State against all contagious and infectious diseases.

Section 909. The diseases known as tuberculosis, foot and mouth
disease, anthrax, Bang’s abortion disease, hemorrhagic septicemia,
Texas fever, hog cholera, cattle scab, sheep scab, pullorum disease and
all such other diseases of livestock and poultry, whether or not of
similar character, as may be found to be of a contagious and infectious
nature, shall be classed as contagious and infectious diseases of live-
stock and poultry, and such measures shall be taken by the board or
its authorized veterinarian as to them may seem necessary, to eradicate
and prevent the spread of the said diseases.

Section 910. It shall be the duty of the State veterinarian at any
time, upon receipt of reliable information of the existence among
domestic animals or poultry of the State, of any infectious or contagious
disease, to go at once, or order an assistant veterinarian to go, to the
place where such disease is alleged to exist for the purpose of making
a careful examination of the animals or poultry believed to be affected
with such disease, and ascertain, if possible, what, if any, disease exists,
and whether the same is contagious or infectious; and, if said disease
is found to be contagious or infectious, said State veterinarian, or an
assistant, may adopt and enforce such quarantine lines and regulations
and shall enforce such cleaning and disinfection of premises, cars
or vehicles, as may be deemed necessary to prevent the spread of such
disease, which quarantine lines, and regulations, when so adopted, shall
supersede any similar provisions made by the board of supervisors
of any county under the provisions of section twenty-seven hundred
and forty-three of the Code of Virginia. And no domestic animal or
poultry infected with disease or which has been exposed to such
disease, or is otherwise capable of communicating the disease, shall
be permitted to enter or leave the district, premises or grounds so quar-
antined, except by authority of the State veterinarian. ,

Any person who owns or who is in possession of livestock which
may be affected with any contagious or infectious disease, or with
insects which may produce disease, who shall refuse to allow said board,
or anyone acting under its orders, to examine such stock, or shall
hinder or obstruct the said board or appointee in any examination of,
or any attempt to examine, such stock, or who shall refuse to assist
the said board or appointee in any examination or attempt to examine
said stock, when called on so to do by said board appointee, shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of
not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.

Persons exposed to animal and poultry diseases which, in the
opinion of the State veterinarian, may be transmitted by such persons
to animals or poultry, may be quarantined when, in the opinion of the
State veterinarian, such quarantine will prevent the spread of such
diseases among livestock or poultry.

The board of the State veterinarian shall also, from time to time,
give and enforce such directions and prescribe such rules and regula-
tions as to separating, feeding and caring for diseased or exposed ani-
mals or poultry as shall be necessary to prevent the animals or poultry
so affected with such disease, or capable of communicating disease,
from coming in contact with other animals or poultry not so affected.
And the said veterinarians are authorized and empowered to enter upon
any grounds or premises to carry out the provisions of this section.
The State veterinarian, or an assistant veterinarian, may give such
notice as may be necessary to make the quarantine effective.

Section 911. When said board or State veterinarian shall have
good reason to believe of the existence of contagious and infectious
diseases of animals or poultry in localities in other States, territories
or countries, or that conditions exist therein which, in the judgment
of the board or of the State veterinarian, render the importation of
domestic animals or poultry from such localities a menace to the
health of the livestock or poultry of this State, the said board or the
State veterinarian shall, by proclamation, prohibit the importation of
any or all kinds of livestock, or poultry from any locality ot other
States, territories or countries, into this state, unless accompanied by
a certificate of health given by a properly authorized veterinarian, and
any or all such animals or poultry which may be allowed entry upon
the aforesaid certificate may be examined immediately by* the State
veterinarian, or by a veterinarian designated by him, and the cost
thereof may be charged to the owner or person in possession; and if,
in the opinion of the examining veterinarian, there is danger from
contagion or infection, any or all such animals or poultry may be
placed in close quarantine at the expense of the owner until all danger
of infection or contagion is passed; thereupon, the animals or poultry
shall be released by the order of the State veterinarian or other veter-
inarian in charge.

Section 912. Any person, firm or corporation who, either for him-
self or themselves, shall transport from outside the State into this State
any animal or poultry, knowing the same to be infected with a con-
tagious or infectious disease, or (an animal or poultry known by the
importer) to have been exposed to a contagious or infectious disease,
or known to bear upon its or their body fever ticks or other germs or
a carrier of disease, or who imports an animal or poultry in violation
of any legally adopted quarantine or other rule or regulation of the
board of agriculture and immigration, or of the State veterinarian, or
who violates a rule or regulation of said board or veterinarian requiring
railroad companies or corporations, navigation companies or corpora-
tions, firms or persons to cleanse and disinfect cars or vehicles used
by them for transporting livestock into or through the State, as may
be reasonably necessary to prevent the spread of contagious and in-
fectious diseases of animals within the State, shall be guilty of a mis-
demeanor and punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars
nor more than five hundred dollars; provided that in cases involving
poultry only, the minimum fine shall be ten dollars.

Section 913. Any person, firm or corporation who operates a stock-
yard, livestock auction sale, slaughterhouse pens, or poultry slaughter-
vards. or other places or premises where livestock or poultry are re-
peatedly assembled, and which may harbor diseases of livestock or
poultry, shall maintain such premises, vards, pens, saleyards or poultry
slaughteryards or other premises in a sanitary condition as directed
by the State veterinarian, shall obev all orders or regulations of the
board of agriculture and immigration or the State veterinarian as to
handling livestock or poultry that may be affected with disease, or
that have been exposed to disease, and shall clean and disinfect such
pens, yards, premises, or other establishments or vehicles used in con-
nection therewith, or any part thereof, when ordered to do so by the
State veterinarian. Any person, firm or corporation who shall fail or
refuse to obey or comply with any such order or regulation shall be
deemed guiltv of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of
not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.

Section 914. A report of all tests for tuberculosis and Bang’s
disease shall, within five days from the date of such tests, be made to
the State board of agriculture and immigration. All cattle found, upon
tests, to be affected with tuberculosis and all reacting positive to the
agglutination test for Bang’s disease in the laboratories of the Virginia
department of agriculture and immigration shall be immediately con-
demned and quarantined by the State veterinarian or other veterinarians
appointed or deputized.

All condemned cattle shall be appraised at their fair cash value by
three persons: one to be appointed by the State board or State veter-
inarian or other agent duly authorized by the board or its veterinarian,
one by the owner, and the third by the two thus selected; and their
appraisement shall be made in writing and shall be returned to the
State board.

Within ninety days after the tests are made, or within such other
period of time as the State veterinarian may require, the owner or
custodian of all diseased cattle shall sell or slaughter such cattle, or
cause such cattle to be slaughtered, under State or Federal supervision,
or under rules and regulations of the board, and the carcasses shall be
disposed of under rules and regulations prescribed by the State board
or State veterinarian and the proceeds retained by or paid to the
owner. Should the owner or custodian fail to slaughter any condemned
animal within the period provided above, the State veterinarian, or
anyone authorized by him, may forthwith seize such condemned animal
and slaughter the same.

Section 915. In every county where the State veterinarian knows
or suspects tuberculosis or Bang’s disease to exist, the owners or
custodians of cattle therein shall, upon demand of the State veterinarian,
be compelled to submit cattle to tests for tuberculosis or Bang’s disease,
on the premises where found, at such time as the State veterinarian
shall designate after five day’s notice of the day and time to the
owner, if a known resident of the county, and to the custodian of
such cattle as it 1s proposed to test.

Every person to whom the notice aforesaid shall have been given,
shall keep the cattle separate from all other cattle in the enclosure in
which they may then be when notice is received; shall assemble and
have the cattle which are to be tested in reasonably close confinement
on the premises on the day and at the hour appointed in said notice,
and shall assist the persons performing the tests; and anv person re-
moving said cattle, or allowing their removal or escape from such en-
closure, or allowing them to come in contact with other animals, or,
without good cause, failing or refusing to confine the cattle subject
to the proposed test, or to assist in the tests, shall be guilty of a misde-
meanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred
dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.

Section 916. In addition to the amount received for the carcasses
of animals slaughtered, further compensation will be paid to the owner
by the State board of agriculture and immigration out of funds appro-
priated for that purpose at a rate not exceeding twenty-five dollars
for a grade or unregistered animal and fifty dollars for a pure bred
registered animal, provided that the total amount received by the
owner shall not exceed the appraised value of such animal or animals;
nor shall the amount received by the owner of each animal slaughtered,
out of State appropriation, exceed one-third of the difference between
the appraised and salvage values; and provided, further, that no pay-
ment shall be made on account of the slaughter of any animal which
shall have been imported into the State, unless and until such animal
shall, while within the State of Virginia, have been subjected to and
passed at least one negative test for the disease for which it shall have
been slaughtered.

Whenever the owner selling an animal that has been condemned, to
another, is unable to obtain compensation out of State and Federal
appropriations because of the failure of the purchaser to furnish the
seller with such proof of slaughter as may be required, the purchaser
shall, in addition to the agreed purchase price, be liable to the seller
for the amounts he would otherwise receive out of State and Federal
appropriations.

Not more than ten per centum of any funds appropriated by the
State of Virginia for any fiscal year for the purposes herein set forth
shall be expended during such year for cattle so slaughtered in any one
county, unless the board of agriculture and immigration shall other-
wise determine.

Section 917. Any person who shall, otherwise than in accordance
with such rules and regulations as may be adopted by the State Board
of Agriculture and Immigration, alter, deface, change from one ani-
mal to another, mutilate, substitute, remove, misrepresent, or other-
wise interfere with any tag, brand, tattoo, mark, or other identifica-
tion adopted or used by any county in this State, by the board of agri-
culture and immigration of this State, by the United States Bureau
of Animal Industry, or by any other State, for the identification of any
animal or animals in this State or shipped into this State, affected with
tuberculosis or Bang’s disease, suspected of being so affected, or
undergoing tests to determine whether such animal or animals are so
affected, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be pun-
ished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than
five hundred dollars.

Section 918. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corpora-
tion to sell or dispense any product or biological preparation contain-
ing attenuated or unattenuated spores or germs of anthrax or atten-
uated or unattenuated Bang’s bacillus organisms prepared as a pre-
ventative or remedy for said diseases, anthrax or Bang’s disease, affect-
ing livestock, without permission in writing by the State veterinarian.
Any person, firm or corporation who shall violate the provisions of
this section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be
punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more
than five hundred dollars.

Section 919. The State Board of Agriculture and Immigration,
or State veterinarian, shall have power to call upon any sheriff or
deputy sheriff, or constable, to execute their orders, and such officers
shall obey the orders of the said board or veterinarian, and the officer
or officers performing these duties shall each be entitled to ten dollars
per day for himself and automobile, which payment shall be made
upon his sworn account, approved by the said board; but the expenses
under this section shall not exceed, in any event, one thousand dollars
per annum. The cost and expenses incurred in the administration of
this section and the thirteen preceding sections shall be paid out of
money appropriated for the protection of livestock from disease.

Section 920. Any person, firm or corporation knowingly disregard-
ing, violating or evading any provision of any of the thirteen preceding
sections, or any rule, regulation or order of said board, State veter-
inarian, or any other person lawfully deputized to enforce the law,
or any such rule, regulation or order, shall, in addition to the punish-
ment otherwise provided for, or any other remedy, be liable to the
owner thereof, for any damages to his livestock or poultry, occasioned
by such disregarding, violating or evading of any of such provisions,
rules, regulations or orders.

2. Be it further enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia as
follows:

(a) All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are
hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency.

(b) If any provision of this act shall be declared unconstitutional
or for any other reason invalid the provisions of the former law tor
which such provision of this act is substituted, shall not be construed
as repealed.