HB419 Summary

• Amends Section 3-8-1 of the Code of Alabama 1975 to prohibit owning, possessing, maintaining, selling, or trading nonhuman primates for which there is no USDA or FDA licensed rabies vaccine.

• Allows current owners of such animals to keep them for the animal's lifetime if the animal is spayed or neutered and registered with the Department of Agriculture and Industries.

• Exempts zoological parks, circuses, colleges and universities, approved animal refuges, county or municipal humane shelters, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and veterinary clinics from the prohibition.

• Authorizes seizure of any nonhuman primate found without the required rabies vaccine and proper registration, with disposition ordered by circuit court.

• Establishes violation of this section as a Class C misdemeanor; bill becomes effective on the first day of the third month following passage and approval.