P.R. Laws tit. 12, § 107b
A board is hereby created to advise the Secretary in the formulation of the public policy concerning the regulation of hunting as a sport, the designation of critical habitats and the acquisition of land for wildlife reserves and for the establishment of biological stations and shelters. This board shall be composed of a representative of an organization that supports hunting as a sport, a representative of an organization that promotes the conservation of wildlife, a biologist specialized in wildlife from the U.S. Fishing and Wildlife Service, a biologist specialized in wildlife who represents an academic entity and a biologist specialized in wildlife designated by the Secretary pursuant to the recommendations of each and every one of the entities constituting this board. The Department shall approve bylaws for the operations of this Advisory Board and the Technical Committee that is created below.
In addition, a Technical Committee is hereby created to advise and recommend to the Department on the importation and ownership of exotic species, the members of which shall be designated pursuant to the bylaws adopted under this section. The Committee shall be composed of a biologist specialized in wildlife designated by the U.S. Fishing and Wildlife Service, a biologist specialized in wildlife from a duly accredited academic institution, a biologist specialized in wildlife from the Department, a representative from an organization that promotes bird-watching, a representative from an organization that supports hunting as a sport, and a representative of the importers of exotic species.
The Committee shall assist the biologists of the Department specializing in wildlife in the creation of a list of exotic species that may only be imported and owned as pets. The importation and possession of those species not included in said list shall be prohibited. The Secretary shall have discretion to exempt from these provisions those specific cases that exhibit exceptional reasons whereby human health, whether physical or mental, is affected. Such reasons shall be well founded and this exemption shall only be made for individual specimens of a species, and never in cases that imply the sale or breeding of prohibited species.
The Secretary may only approve a permit of short duration for the import and exhibit of animals in a circus or carnival, provided it is determined that the animals to be exhibited shall be managed by a professional trainer. Furthermore, he/she may approve permits for the import of exotic species for scientific purposes, duly accredited academic entities, or accredited zoological gardens.
History —Aug. 15, 1999, No. 241, § 4; Aug. 1, 2004, No. 176, § 1; Sept. 15, 2004, No. 295, § 2.