§ 17.31 - Prohibitions.

§ 17.31 Prohibitions.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 89 FR 23939, Apr. 5, 2024.

(a) Except as provided in §§ 17.4 through 17.8, or in a permit issued under this subpart, pursuant to § 17.32, the provisions of paragraph (b) of this section and all of the provisions of § 17.21 (for endangered species of wildlife), except § 17.21(c)(3) and (5), shall apply to threatened species of wildlife that were added to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in § 17.11(h) on or prior to September 26, 2019, unless the Secretary has promulgated species-specific provisions (see paragraph (c) of this section).

(b) In addition to any other provisions of this part,

(1) Notwithstanding § 17.21(c)(1), and unless otherwise specified, any employee or agent of the Service, any other Federal land management agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service, a State conservation agency, or a federally recognized Tribe, who is designated by their agency or Tribe for such purposes, may, when acting in the course of their official duties, take threatened wildlife without a permit if such action is necessary to:

(i) Aid a sick, injured, or orphaned specimen; or

(ii) Dispose of a dead specimen; or

(iii) Salvage a dead specimen that may be useful for scientific study; or

(iv) Remove specimens that constitute a demonstrable but nonimmediate threat to human safety, provided that the taking is done in a humane manner; the taking may involve killing or injuring only if it has not been reasonably possible to eliminate such threat by live-capturing and releasing the specimen unharmed, in an appropriate area.

(2) Any taking under paragraph (b)(1) of this section must be reported in writing to the Office of Law Enforcement, via contact methods listed at https://www.fws.gov, within 5 calendar days. The specimen may only be retained, disposed of, or salvaged under directions from the Office of Law Enforcement.

(3) Notwithstanding § 17.21(c)(1), and unless otherwise specified, any employee or agent of the Service, of the National Marine Fisheries Service, or of a State conservation agency that is operating a conservation program pursuant to the terms of

a

an approved cooperative agreement with the Service that covers the threatened species of wildlife in accordance with section 6(c) of the Act, who is designated by

that

their agency for such purposes, may, when acting in the course of their official duties, take those species.

(c) For threatened species of wildlife that

are covered by an approved cooperative agreement to carry out conservation programs.

(c) Whenever have a species-specific rule in §§ 17.40 through 17.48 applies to a threatened species, none of the provisions of paragraphs paragraph (a) and (b) of this section will apply. The and § 17.32 apply unless otherwise specified, and the species-specific rule will contain all of the applicable prohibitions and any additional exceptions that apply to that species.

[84 89 FR 4476023939, AugApr. 275, 20192024]