New Zealand Legislation: Acts

12 Keeping of specified wild animals in captivity

• (1) Subject to section 12A of this Act, no person shall, except pursuant to and in accordance with and for the purposes and under the conditions stated in a permit or licence that is effective for the purposes of this subsection, capture or convey or keep in captivity—

  • (a) Any wild animal for the purpose of farming, or for the purpose of sale or breeding for such farming; or

  • (b) Any wild animal for the purposes of any zoo within the meaning of the Zoological Gardens Regulations 1977; or

  • (c) Any wild animal for the purposes of operating a safari park.

  (2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this section, any person may muster, herd, drive, capture, or convey any wild goat without a permit where the purpose of the mustering, herding, driving, capturing, or conveying of the animal is the immediate slaughter thereof, or the branding thereof as provided for pursuant to section 3 of the Animal Identification Act 1993.

  (3) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, the following permits and licences shall be effective in relation to any specified wild animal:

  • (a) Every permit or licence that authorises the capture or conveyance of the animal, or the keeping of the animal in captivity, being a permit or licence that is issued by the Director-General:

  • (b) Every permit or licence that authorises the keeping of the animal for farming purposes, and is issued by the Director-General of Agriculture and Fisheries, with the concurrence of the Director-General, under regulations made under section 107 of the Animals Act 1967:

  • (c) Every permit or licence that authorises the keeping of the animal in any such zoo, and is issued by the Director-General of Agriculture and Fisheries, with the concurrence of the Director-General, under regulations made under section 25 of the Animals Act 1967.

  (4) The Director-General must not—

  • (a) Issue any permit or licence to hold wild animals for farming purposes or in a safari park; or

  • (b) Concur under subsection (3)(b) to the farming of any specified wild animal—

  unless satisfied, after consulting the relevant regional council, as to the matters specified in subsection (4A).

  (4A) Those matters are that the land on which the wild animals will be farmed or held—

  • (a) Is within the feral range of the species; and

  • (b) Is not unsuitable for farming or holding the wild animals because of its susceptibility to erosion; and

  • (c) Will be adequately equipped with effective fences.

  (5) Except as authorised by a permit or licence that is effective for the purposes of subsection (1), no person may, without a permit issued by the Director-General,—

  • (a) Capture or convey or keep in captivity any thar, chamois, possum, or wallaby; or

  • (b) Except for the purposes of farming or operating a safari park, capture or convey or keep in captivity any deer.

  (5A) The Director-General must not issue, under subsection (5), any permit to keep an animal in captivity unless the Director-General is satisfied that—

  • (a) The enclosure or land on which, or the conveyance in which, the animal will be kept or conveyed is suitable to contain the animal in a manner that will prevent its escape; or

  • (b) The animal will be secured with some suitable restraining device to prevent its escape.

  (6) The Director-General shall not issue, or concur in issuing, any permit or licence in respect of the keeping of any species of wild animal in captivity in any part of any National Park or, forest sanctuary, nature reserve, scientific reserve, or scenic reserve.

  (7) The Director-General may refuse to issue, or to concur in issuing, any permit or licence to which any of the foregoing provisions of this section apply, or may issue or concur in issuing any such permit or licence for such period and subject to such conditions as he thinks fit.

  (8) Any permit or licence to which any of the foregoing provisions of this section apply may relate to a specified animal, or to all animals of a specified species or class or of specified species or classes or to a specified number or specified numbers of any of them.

  (9) Any such permit or licence that is issued by the Director-General may at any time be revoked by him if the permit or licence holder fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder, whether the permit or licence was issued before or after the commencement of this Act:

  Provided that the revocation of any such permit or licence shall not release the holder of the permit or licence from liability for any antecedent breach of the conditions of the permit or licence or for any offence committed against this Act.

  (10) Any warranted officer shall have power, on production of his warrant of appointment if so required, to enter at all reasonable times on the land or premises of the holder of any permit or licence to which any of the foregoing provisions of this section applies, or any other land or premises where he has reasonable cause to suspect that any animal is being kept in breach of this section, and inspect any part of the land or premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether the conditions of the permit or licence are being complied with or, as the case may be, whether any animal is being kept in contravention of this section:

  Provided that a warranted officer shall not enter any dwellinghouse or the enclosed garden or curtilage of any dwellinghouse, unless he is authorised by a warrant under the hand of a District Court Judge, who shall not grant such a warrant unless he is satisfied that the warranted officer has reasonable grounds for requiring entry into the dwellinghouse, garden, or curtilage.

  (11) Any District Court Judge or Justice of the Peace or Community Magistrate who is satisfied on oath that there is probable cause to suspect that any breach of this section has been or is being committed may, by warrant under his hand, empower a warranted officer to enter any dwellinghouse, garden, or curtilage for the purpose of detecting that offence at such time or times of the day as are mentioned in the warrant, but no such warrant shall continue in force for more than 14 days from the date thereof.

  (11A) [Repealed]

  (12) Where any wild animal lawfully held under a permit issued under this Act escapes from its enclosure and strays from the property of the lawful owner, it shall be deemed to be an wild animal and may be hunted or killed as provided for in section 8 of this Act.

  Compare: 1956 No 6 s 8A; 1967 No 143 s 3

  Subsection (1) was amended, as from 14 December 1979, by section 4(1) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 146) by substituting the words “Subject to section 12A of this Act, no person shall” for the words “No person shall”.

  Subsection (1)(b) was substituted, and subsection (1)(c) was inserted, as from 1 October 1997, by section 6(1) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 80). See section 16 of that Act for transitional provision in relation to safari parks.

  Subsection (2) was amended, as from 25 November 1994, by section 4(1) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 114) by substituting the words “pursuant to section 3 of the Animal Identification Act 1993” for the words “in Part 5 of the Animals Act 1967”.

  The original subsection (4) was amended, as from 14 December 1979, by section 4(2)(a) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 146) by substituting the words “has consulted the local catchment authority, and” for the words “has called for and received a report from the National Water and Soil Conservation Authority, and”.

  The provisos to the original subsection (4) were repealed, as from 14 December 1979, by section 4(2)(b) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 146).

  Subsection (4) was substituted, and subsection (4A) was inserted, as from 1 October 1997, by section 6(2) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 80). See section 16 of that Act for transitional provision in relation to safari parks.

  Subsection (5) was amended, as from 14 December 1979, by section 4(4)(a) and (b) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 146) by omitting the words “deer, wapiti,”, and by inserting the words “, or unless for the purposes ... any deer”.

  Subsection (5) was further amended, as from 1 October 1997, by section 6(3) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 80) by substituting the word “possum” for the word “opossum”, and by inserting the words “or operating a safari park”. See section 16 of that Act for transitional provision in relation to safari parks.

  Subsection (5) was substituted and subsection (5A) was inserted, as from 1 January 2000, by section 194 Animal Welfare Act 1999 (1999 No 142).

  Subsection (6) was amended, as from 14 December 1979, by section 4(5) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 146) by substituting the words “, forest sanctuary, nature reserve, scientific reserve, or scenic reserve” for the words “Maritime Park or reserve, or of any sanctuary set aside for the preservation of native flora or native fauna”.

  Subsection (11) was amended, as from 14 December 1979, by section 6 Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 146) by inserting the words “or Justice of the Peace”.

  Subsection (11) was further amended, as from 25 November 1994, by section 4(2)(a) and (b) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 114) by omitting the words “within any dwellinghouse, garden, or curtilage”, and by substituting the words “any dwellinghouse, garden, or curtilage” for the word “therein”.

  Subsection (11) was further amended, as from 30 June 1998, by section 7 District Courts Amendment Act 1998 (1998 No 76), by inserting the words “or Community Magistrate”.

  Subsection (11A) was inserted, as from 12 October 1982, by section 3(3) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1982 (1982 No 26).

  Subsection (11A) was repealed, as from 25 November 1994, by section 4(3) Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 114).

  The words “Director-General” and “warranted officer” were substituted, as from 1 April 1987, for the words “Director-General of Forests” and “Forest Officer” respectively, pursuant to section 65(1) Conservation Act 1987 (1987 No 65). See also section 2(2) Forests Act 1949 (1949 No 19) as to an earlier amendment of these terms.

  The words “District Court Judge” were substituted, as from 1 April 1980, for the word “Magistrate” pursuant to section 18(2) District Courts Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 125).