Elk exempted from live Cervidae importation prohibition.

A bill for an act

relating to agriculture; exempting elk from live Cervidae importation prohibition;

amending Minnesota Statutes 2025 Supplement, section 35.155, subdivision 12.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2025 Supplement, section 35.155, subdivision 12, is amended

to read:

Subd. 12.

Importation.

(a) A person must not import live Cervidae
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, except elk,
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into the

state from a state or province where chronic wasting disease has been detected in the farmed

or wild cervid population in the last five years unless the animal has tested not detected for

chronic wasting disease with a validated live-animal test.

(b) Live Cervidae or Cervidae semen must originate from a herd that has been subject

to a state-, federal-, or provincial-approved chronic wasting disease herd certification program

and that has reached a status equivalent to the highest certification.

(c) Cervidae imported in violation of this section may be seized and destroyed by the

commissioner of natural resources.

(d) This subdivision does not apply to the interstate transfer of animals between two

facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

(e) Notwithstanding this subdivision, the commissioner of natural resources may issue

a permit allowing the importation of orphaned wild cervid species that are not susceptible

to chronic wasting disease from another state to an Association of Zoos and Aquariums

accredited institution in Minnesota following a joint risk-based assessment conducted by

the commissioner and the institution.

(f) Notwithstanding this subdivision, the state veterinarian may issue a permit to a zoo

that is a United States Department of Agriculture licensed exhibitor of regulated animals

to import live reindeer from another state if the reindeer are part of a herd that is:

(1) in the United States Department of Agriculture Herd Certification Program; or

(2) subject to similar equivalent disease surveillance at the discretion of the state

veterinarian.