IMPORTATION OF ANIMALS INTO STATE

§19-9-20. Bringing animals into state; health certificate.

It shall be unlawful for any person or his agents or employees knowingly to drive, cause to be driven, bring or cause to be brought into this state any domestic animal infected with any communicable disease. Every domestic animal being brought into the state for any purpose, by any means of transportation, shall be subject to the restrictions imposed by section twenty-one of this article, unless such animal is accompanied by a certificate of good health issued by the state veterinarian or other accredited authority of the state from which such animal originates, or the certificate of a veterinary inspector of the bureau of animal industry of the United States Department of Agriculture, setting forth that such animal is free from all communicable diseases and does not originate from a district of quarantine or infection, and showing inspection to have been made within a period of thirty days prior to the arrival of such animal: Provided, however, That in the case of bovine animals the duration of such period of test shall be sixty days or such other period as shall conform to the regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture. Such certificate shall be made in triplicate, the original to be retained by the owner or person in charge of such animal, and by him attached to the bill of lading accompanying shipment of the animal, the duplicate to be forwarded to the commissioner, and the triplicate to be retained by the veterinarian making the inspection.