# Title 23 — Health and Safety

## Chapter 23-36 — Rabies Control

### § 23-36-01. Definitions.

As used in this chapter:
1. "Bite" means any penetration of the skin by an animal's teeth.
2. "Clinical signs of rabies" means physical signs or animal behavior that would lead a
reasonably prudent veterinarian to suspect an infection of rabies and the pursuit of a
rabies diagnosis is indicated.
3. "Confinement" means separation of an animal from humans, other than the owner,
caretaker, a member of the owner's family, or the caretaker's employees, and from
other animals, by means of a building, cage, fence, pen, or other secure enclosure that
restricts the animal's movement within definite boundaries and prevents the animal
from exiting the enclosure.
4. "Department" means the department of health and human services.
5. "Domestic animal" means any dog [canis familiaris], cat [felis domestica], horse, mule,
bovine animal, sheep, goat, bison, llama, alpaca, swine, or captive-bred ferret.
6. "Emergency" means a situation in which an immediate search and seizure of an
animal is necessary and authorized by section 8 of article I of the Constitution of North
Dakota and the fourth amendment to the Constitution of the United States because of
a risk of death or serious bodily injury to a human or another animal.
7. "Euthanasia" means the use of humane techniques to induce the most rapid, painless,
and distress-free death possible in an animal.
8. "Exposure to rabies" means any bite or scratch, and includes any nonbite contact with
an animal, animal tissue, or fluids which is defined as an exposure to rabies by the
federal advisory committee on immunization practices referred to in Public Law
No. 103-66 [107 Stat. 636, 642; 42 U.S.C. 1396s(e)].
9. "Impound" means quarantining an animal at a public pound or an animal facility of a
licensed veterinarian.
10. "Law enforcement officer" has the meaning of that term as set forth in section
12.1-01-04.
11. "Quarantine" means confinement in a fixed area that keeps an exposed animal secure
and segregated from all other animals and individuals so there is no reasonable
possibility of rabies being mechanically transmitted from the confined area.
12. "Vaccinated animal" means an animal that has been vaccinated in compliance with the
2016 compendium of animal rabies control issued by the national association of state
public health veterinarians.
13. "Suspect rabies exposure" means an animal bitten or otherwise exposed to a wild
carnivore, skunk, bat, or an animal, as determined by a veterinarian, which may have
been exhibiting signs of rabies, and a rabies exposure could not be ruled out through
laboratory testing.
14. "Wild animal" means any animal of the class mammalia which is not a domestic animal
and includes any hybrid of a domestic animal and a wild animal regardless of whether
the animal is:
a. Wildlife as defined in section 20.1-01-02; or
b. Held in private ownership.
### § 23-36-02. Policy - Local authority.

1. The department shall establish a rabies control program that must place primary
emphasis on human exposure to rabies.
2. The department shall consider national peer-reviewed recommendations for the
control of rabies during the development of the department's rabies control program.
3. This chapter may not be construed to limit the authority of any local agency to control
or prevent rabies, and, upon request, the department may assist any local agency in
rabies control and prevention activities, but the fact that possible rabies exposure is

subject to a local ordinance does not limit the department's authority under this
chapter.
4. This chapter may not be construed to limit a law enforcement officer's ability to
immediately seize, humanely kill, and request the testing of an animal for rabies if
emergency circumstances exist that endanger human health or safety.
### § 23-36-03. Enforcement authority.

1. The department, or an agency acting on the department's behalf, may seize and
euthanize, impound at the owner's expense, or quarantine any animal if the state
health officer, or the state health officer's designee, has probable cause to believe the
animal presents clinical signs of rabies.
2. The department, or an agency acting on the department's behalf, may promptly seize
and euthanize, impound at the owner's expense, or quarantine any wild animal if the
state health officer, or the state health officer's designee, determines the animal is a
threat to human life or safety due to the possible exposure of another animal or an
individual to rabies.
3. For domestic animals, the department may seize and quarantine or confine and
observe an animal if the animal has bitten or otherwise exposed an individual or has
been bitten or otherwise exposed to rabies or suspect rabies and the owner is
unwilling or unable to comply with the department's recommendations. The
department may seize and euthanize an animal if the animal has bitten or otherwise
exposed an individual and is exhibiting signs of rabies, as diagnosed by a veterinarian.
The department may seize, euthanize, or quarantine an animal if the animal was
exposed to rabies or suspect rabies and never has been vaccinated against rabies
and the owner is unwilling or unable to comply with the department's
recommendations.
4. If an animal had died or is killed and there is a possible exposure of another animal or
an individual to rabies, then at the request of the state health officer, or the state health
officer's designee, the animal's brain must be tested for rabies by the department or by
the North Dakota veterinary diagnostic laboratory. The department may seek a
diagnosis of rabies for farm animals, domestic animals, and wildlife that are suspected
of having rabies and report findings as appropriate.
5. If an animal that has bitten or otherwise exposed an individual or another animal is not
seized for testing, a law enforcement officer with jurisdiction over the place where the
animal is located may determine whether to impound or quarantine the animal under
subsection 2 and which method of confinement to use.
6. A licensed veterinarian shall examine, at the owner's expense, a confined animal, at
the request of the department, a local public health unit, or a law enforcement officer
with jurisdiction over the place where the animal is located.
### § 23-36-04. Administrative search warrant.

Except in the case of an emergency, the department, or another state or local agency acting
on the department's behalf, may seize an animal located on private property only as authorized
by an administrative search warrant issued under chapter 29-29.1. A warrant to seize an animal
under this section must include a request to quarantine, impound, or humanely kill and test the
animal.
### § 23-36-05. Assistance of state and local agencies.

If a warrant is issued under section 23-36-04 and upon written request of the department,
the game and fish department, the state veterinarian, or the wildlife services program of the
United States department of agriculture animal and plant health inspection service shall provide
assistance to the department in any action to seize, impound, quarantine, or test an animal
suspected of having rabies or that has possibly exposed an individual to rabies or possibly has
been exposed to rabies, and shall carry out any other preventive measures the department
requests. For purposes of this section, a request from the department means only a request for

assistance as to a particular and singular suspicion of exposure to rabies and does not
constitute a continuous request for assistance.
The duty of the game and fish department to cooperate and provide assistance under this
section is limited to cases involving a wild animal and is applicable only if no other agency is
available for law enforcement or animal control services.
### § 23-36-06. Payment for postexposure treatment.

The department may provide, at no cost, rabies postexposure biologics to an individual
possibly exposed to rabies if the department determines the individual is financially unable to
pay for the postexposure biologics treatment.
### § 23-36-07. Penalty for violation of order or interference.

A person is guilty of an infraction if the person:
1. Conceals, releases, or removes an animal from the place where the animal is located
with intent to impair that animal's availability for seizure under that warrant or order
while the person is under the belief that a search warrant or judicial order is pending or
is about to be issued for the seizure of an animal;
2. Fails to impound or quarantine an animal for the period and at the place specified after
having been ordered to impound or quarantine the animal; or
3. Recklessly hinders any state or local official in any pending or prospective action to
seize, impound, quarantine, or test an animal under this chapter.
### § 23-36-08. Limitation on liability.

Subject to any other requirements of section 32-12.2-02, the owner of an animal may bring
a claim for money damages, and may recover an amount up to the replacement value of the
animal, if the owner establishes that before the animal was seized and tested for rabies under
this chapter, the department, knew or recklessly failed to determine that the animal, at the time
of the exposure, was lawfully owned and licensed and that:
1. The animal had not bitten, scratched, or otherwise possibly exposed another animal or
an individual to rabies; or
2. The animal was a domestic animal and there was not probable cause to believe the
animal was rabid.
### § 23-36-09. Owner's responsibility.

1. The owner of an animal is liable for the cost of quarantine and veterinary services, and
for the cost of any postexposure treatment received by an individual who is possibly
exposed to rabies by the owner's animal, if the animal is not:
a. Licensed or registered as required by any state or local law or rule applicable to
that species; or
b. Confined or vaccinated as required by any state or local law or rule applicable to
that species.
2. This section may not be construed to limit any other liability of an animal owner for
injury or damage caused by the owner's animal.
