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Public Act 102-0524
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| SB1533 Enrolled | LRB102 11759 KMF 17094 b |
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AN ACT concerning wildlife.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Wildlife Code is amended by changing |
Sections 2.37, 3.1-2, 3.1-4, 3.1-7, and 3.3 and by adding |
Sections 1.2q-1 and 1.2q-2 as follows:
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(520 ILCS 5/1.2q-1 new) |
Sec. 1.2q-1. Trapping license. "Trapping license" means an |
electronic or physical license authorizing the person to take |
a certain type of animal during a specified period of time.
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(520 ILCS 5/1.2q-2 new) |
Sec. 1.2q-2. Nuisance Wildlife Control Permit. "Nuisance |
Wildlife Control Permit" means an electronic or physical |
license authorizing the person to take a certain type of |
animal as provided in Section 2.37.
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(520 ILCS 5/2.37) (from Ch. 61, par. 2.37)
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Sec. 2.37. Authority to kill wildlife responsible for |
damage. Subject to
federal regulations and Section 3 of the |
Illinois Endangered Species Act, the Department may authorize |
owners
and
tenants of lands or their agents to remove or |
destroy any wild bird
or wild mammal when the wild bird or
wild |
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mammal
is known to be destroying property or causing a risk to |
human health or
safety upon his or her land.
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Upon receipt by the Department of information from the |
owner, tenant,
or sharecropper that any one or more species of |
wildlife is damaging dams, levees, ditches, cattle pastures, |
or other
property on the land on which he resides or controls, |
together with a
statement regarding location of the property |
damages, the nature and
extent of the damage, and the |
particular species of wildlife committing
the damage, the |
Department shall make an investigation.
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If, after investigation, the Department finds
that damage |
does exist and
can be abated only by removing or destroying
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that wildlife, a permit shall be
issued by the Department to |
remove or destroy the species responsible for causing
the |
damage.
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A permit to control
the damage shall be for a period of up |
to 90 days,
shall specify the means and methods by which and |
the person or persons
by whom the wildlife may be removed or |
destroyed, and shall set forth the
disposition procedure to be |
made of all wildlife taken and other
restrictions the Director
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considers necessary and appropriate in the
circumstances of |
the particular case. Whenever possible, the specimens
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destroyed shall be given to a bona-fide public or State |
scientific,
educational, or zoological institution.
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The permittee shall advise the
Department in writing, |
within 10 days after the expiration date of
the permit, of the |
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number of individual species of wildlife
taken, disposition |
made of them, and any other information which
the Department |
may consider necessary.
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Subject to federal regulations and Section 3 of the |
Illinois Endangered
Species Act, the Department may grant to |
an individual,
corporation,
association or a governmental body |
the authority
to control species protected by this Code |
pursuant to the issuance of a Nuisance Wildlife Control |
Permit. The Department
shall set forth applicable regulations
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in an Administrative Order and may require periodic reports |
listing species
taken, numbers of each species taken, dates |
when taken, and other pertinent
information.
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Drainage Districts shall have the authority to control |
beaver provided
that they must notify the Department in |
writing that a problem exists and
of their intention to trap |
the animals at least 7 days before the trapping
begins. The |
District must identify traps used in beaver control outside
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the dates of the furbearer trapping season with metal tags |
with the district's
name legibly inscribed upon them. During |
the furtrapping season, traps
must be identified as prescribed |
by law. Conibear traps at least size 330
shall be used except |
during the statewide furbearer trapping season. During
that |
time trappers may use any device that is legal according to the |
Wildlife
Code. Except during the statewide furbearer trapping |
season, beaver traps
must be set in water at least 10 inches |
deep. Except during the statewide
furbearer trapping season, |
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traps must be set within 10 feet of an inhabited
bank burrow or |
house and within 10 feet of a dam maintained by a beaver.
No |
beaver or other furbearer taken outside of the dates for the |
furbearer
trapping season may be sold. All animals must be |
given to the nearest
conservation officer or other Department |
of Natural Resources representative
within 48 hours
after they |
are caught. Furbearers taken during the fur trapping season
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may be sold provided that they are taken by persons who have |
valid trapping
licenses in their possession and are lawfully |
taken. The District must
submit an annual report showing the |
species and numbers of animals caught.
The report must |
indicate all species which were taken.
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The location of traps or snares authorized under this |
Section, either by the Department or any other governmental |
body with the authority to control species protected by this |
Code, shall be exempt from the provisions of the Freedom of |
Information Act. |
(Source: P.A. 97-813, eff. 7-13-12; 97-959, eff. 8-15-12; |
98-1045, eff. 8-25-14.)
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(520 ILCS 5/3.1-2) (from Ch. 61, par. 3.1-2)
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Sec. 3.1-2.
Veterans who, according to the determination |
of the Veterans'
Administration as certified by the Department |
of Veterans' Affairs, are
at least 10% disabled with |
service-related disabilities or in receipt of
total disability |
pensions may hunt and trap any of the species protected by |
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Section
2.2, during such times, with such devices and by such |
methods as are permitted
by this Act, without procuring |
hunting and trapping licenses, on the condition that their
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respective disabilities do not prevent them from hunting and |
trapping in a manner which
is safe to themselves and others.
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(Source: P.A. 83-58.)
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(520 ILCS 5/3.1-4) |
Sec. 3.1-4. Military members returning from mobilization |
and service outside the United States. |
(a) After returning from service abroad or mobilization by |
the President of the United States as an active duty member of |
the United States Armed Forces, the Illinois National Guard, |
or the Reserves of the United States Armed Forces, an Illinois |
resident may hunt and trap any of the species protected by |
Section 2.2 of this Code without paying any fees required to |
obtain a hunting license or a trapping license for the time |
period prescribed by subsection (b) of this Section if the |
Illinois resident applies for a license within 2 years after |
returning from service abroad or mobilization. The applicant |
shall provide acceptable verification of service or |
mobilization to the Department either at the Department's |
office in Springfield or at a Regional Office of the |
Department. |
(b) For each year that an applicant is an active duty |
member pursuant to subsection (a) of this Section, the |
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applicant shall receive one free hunting license, one free |
trapping license, one free Deer Hunting Permit as provided in |
Section 2.26 of this Code and rules adopted pursuant to that |
Section, and one free State Habitat Stamp. For the purposes of |
this determination, if the period of active duty is a portion |
of a year (for example, one year and 3 months), the applicant |
will be credited with a full year for the portion of a year |
served. |
(c) (Blank).
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(c-5) An Illinois resident veteran may obtain an Illinois |
Hunter Education card if he or she completes the online study |
section of the Illinois Hunter Education program and provides |
the Department with acceptable verification of service or |
mobilization. |
(d) For the purposes of this Section, "acceptable |
verification of service or mobilization" means official |
documentation from the Department of Defense or the |
appropriate Major Command showing mobilization dates or |
service abroad dates, including: (i) a DD-214, (ii) a letter |
from the Illinois Department of Military Affairs for members |
of the Illinois National Guard, (iii) a letter from the |
Regional Reserve Command for members of the Armed Forces |
Reserve, (iv) a letter from the Major Command covering |
Illinois for active duty members, (v) personnel records for |
mobilized State employees, and (vi) any other documentation |
that the Department, by administrative rule, deems acceptable |
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to establish dates of mobilization or service abroad. |
(e) For the purposes of this Section, the term "service |
abroad" means active duty service outside of the 50 United |
States and the District of Columbia, and includes all active |
duty service in territories and possessions of the United |
States. |
(Source: P.A. 98-118, eff. 7-30-13.)
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(520 ILCS 5/3.1-7) |
Sec. 3.1-7. Terminally ill hunter or trapper licensing |
program. In order to facilitate hunting, trapping, and fishing |
opportunities for a terminally ill person, the Director may |
issue any license, tag, permit, or stamp and waive fees, |
including transaction and dealer fees. |
Youth may take game outside of an established season if |
that youth is deemed to be terminally ill and the hunt is |
pre-approved by the Director.
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(Source: P.A. 97-215, eff. 1-1-12.)
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(520 ILCS 5/3.3) (from Ch. 61, par. 3.3)
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Sec. 3.3. Trapping license required. Before any person |
shall trap any
of the mammals protected
by this Act, for which |
an open trapping season has been established, he shall
first |
procure a trapping license from the Department to do so. No |
traps
shall be placed in the field, set or unset, prior to the |
opening day of
the trapping season.
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Traps used in the taking of such mammals shall be marked or
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tagged with metal tags or inscribed in lettering giving the |
name and
address of the owner or the customer identification |
number issued by the Department, and absence of such mark or |
tag shall be prima
facie evidence that such trap or traps are |
illegally used and the trap
or traps shall be confiscated and |
disposed of as directed by the
Department.
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Before any person 18 years of age or older shall trap, |
attempt to
trap, or sell the green hides of any mammal of the |
species defined as
fur-bearing mammals by Section 2.2 for |
which an open season is established
under this Act, he shall |
first have procured a State Habitat Stamp.
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Beginning January 1, 2016, no trapping license shall be |
issued to any
person born on or after January 1, 1998 unless he |
or she presents to the authorized issuer of the license |
evidence that he or she has a
certificate of competency |
provided for in this Section.
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The Department of Natural Resources shall authorize
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personnel of the Department,
or volunteer instructors, found |
by the Department to be competent,
to provide instruction in |
courses on trapping techniques and ethical trapping
behavior |
as needed throughout the State, which courses shall be at |
least
8 hours in length. Persons so authorized shall provide |
instruction in such
courses to individuals at no charge, and |
shall issue to individuals
successfully completing such |
courses certificates of competency in basic
trapping |
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techniques. The Department shall cooperate in establishing |
such
courses with any reputable association or organization |
which has as one of
its objectives the promotion of the ethical |
use of legal fur harvesting
devices and techniques. The |
Department shall furnish information on the
requirements of |
the trapper education program to be distributed free of
charge |
to applicants for trapping licenses by the persons appointed |
and
authorized to issue licenses.
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The owners residing on, or bona fide tenants of farm |
lands, and their
children actually residing on such lands, |
shall have the right to trap
mammals protected by this Act, for |
which an open trapping season has been
established, upon such |
lands, without procuring licenses, provided that
such mammals |
are taken during the periods of time and with such devices as
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are permitted by this Act.
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Any person on active duty in the Armed Forces or any person |
with a disability who is a resident of Illinois, may trap any |
of the species protected by Section 2.2, during such times, |
with such devices and by such methods as are permitted by this |
Act, without procuring a trapping license. For the purposes of |
this Section, a person is considered a person with a |
disability if he or she has a Type 1 or Type 4, Class 2 |
disability as defined in Section 4A of the Illinois |
Identification Card Act. For purposes of this Section, an |
Illinois Person with a Disability Identification Card issued |
pursuant to the Illinois Identification Card Act indicating |