88. Indemnity. The following provisions shall govern the payment of indemnity to owners of animals killed pursuant to the provisions of this article:
1. In the case of a bovine animal so killed to prevent the spread of tuberculosis, the owner shall be entitled to receive the net proceeds of the sale of the animal, and in addition thereto shall be paid indemnity in a sum sufficient to secure to the owner the full appraised value of the animal, but not exceeding the sum of six hundred dollars for a registered pure bred animal or for a pure bred animal less than three years of age, not registered but eligible for registry, for which a reasonable time shall be granted for the presentation of registration papers to the department, and not exceeding the sum of five hundred dollars for any other bovine animal. In the case of a pure bred animal three years of age or over not registered at the time of appraisal, such animals shall be appraised at grade value, and in computing indemnity to be paid for such animal any other appraised value shall be excluded. The total amount receivable by the owner from the net proceeds of the sale of the animal and indemnity from the federal government and indemnity from the state shall, in every case except as otherwise specifically limited by this subdivision, equal but not exceed the full appraised value of the animal.
If a bovine animal for which indemnity has not been paid is slaughtered at an establishment under state or federal meat inspection and the carcass thereof is found upon post mortem examination and laboratory analysis to contain tubercular lesions and such carcass is condemned and destroyed pursuant to state or federal regulations, the owner thereof shall be entitled to receive as indemnity four hundred dollars for carcasses weighing four hundred pounds or less, and six hundred dollars for carcasses weighing more than four hundred pounds.
2. No indemnity shall be paid to any person who shall have made any false representation, oral or written, in applying to the commissioner for an examination of his or her animals, or who shall have violated any agreement with the state regarding such animals, entered into pursuant to a provision of this chapter, or who shall have failed to comply with any instructions or directions given by the commissioner in respect to the control or eradication of any infectious or communicable diseases among animals, or who shall have failed to comply with any provision of this article or rule or regulation promulgated pursuant to such article, relating to the prevention, control, suppression or eradication of such disease; provided that indemnity may be allowed when payment is deemed by the commissioner to further the public interest in preventing, controlling, suppressing, or eradicating the disease with respect to which indemnity is sought.
3. If upon post-mortem examination of an equine animal evidence of glanders be found, and such animal shall not have exhibited physical symptoms of such disease, indemnity equal to ninety per centum of the appraisal value, or so much thereof as shall not exceed the sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars, shall be paid. If the animal shall have exhibited such physical symptoms of glanders, indemnity equal to twenty-five per centum of the appraised value, or so much thereof as shall not exceed the sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars, shall be paid.
4. No indemnity shall be paid unless the animal, if an equine, shall at the time ordered destroyed, have been within the state of New York for at least twelve months; and if a bovine shall at the time ordered destroyed have been within the state for at least three months, except that in the discretion of the commissioner, indemnity may be paid for a bovine which has not been within the state three months, provided that the animal at the time of entry into the state was accompanied by a tuberculin test chart, authenticated by the chief livestock sanitary official by whatever name known of the state or province from which the animal was brought, showing that the animal had originated in a herd under official supervision, and that such herd, including the animal in question, had been subjected to a tuberculin test under the regulations of the accredited herd plan and had passed such test negatively within one year preceding the order of destruction.
5. If animals are slaughtered or property destroyed by order of the commissioner to control, suppress or eradicate the disease known as aphthous fever, or foot and mouth disease, compensation shall be made to the owners of the animals slaughtered or the property destroyed, but not more than two hundred dollars shall be paid on account of any bovine animal.
6. In the case of any poultry, or all or part of any flock which has been exposed to salmonella enteritidis and which the commissioner has ordered to be slaughtered pursuant to section eighty-five of this chapter, the owner shall be entitled to receive, within the amount appropriated for such purpose, indemnity for each poultry, in a sum equal to the full appraised value of the poultry, or to not more than three dollars per poultry, whichever is less.
Final payment of state monies due to the owner of poultry slaughtered as set forth in this subdivision shall be made within sixty calendar days after the order is signed by the commissioner. In the event payment is not made within such period, interest thereafter at the rate of eight per centum per annum on the amount of the said monies owed shall be paid to the owner in a single lump sum calculated from the end of the sixty day period until the final payment is made.
7. In the case of any farmed deer, or all or part of any herd which has been exposed to tuberculosis and which the commissioner has ordered to be slaughtered pursuant to sections eighty-one and eighty-five of this article, the owner shall be entitled to receive the net proceeds of the sale of the animal, and in addition shall be paid indemnity in the sum sufficient to secure to the owner the full appraised value of the animal, but not exceeding the sum of two hundred fifty dollars. The total amount receivable by the owner from the net proceeds of the sale of the animal and indemnity from the federal government and indemnity from the state shall, in every case except as otherwise specifically limited by this subdivision, equal but not exceed the full appraised value of the animal.
Indemnity payments shall be subject to the provisions set forth in section eighty-seven of this article. The amount of indemnity payments made by the state for testing and owner indemnification related to tuberculosis in animals by the department shall be limited to the amount of funds appropriated for such purposes by the legislature, and, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, shall represent fulfillment of the state's obligation for this program.
For purposes of this subdivision, the term "farmed deer" shall mean members of family cervidae which are raised and bred in confinement.
Last modified: February 3, 2019