Section 29.885. Removal of wild animals.

 

(1)   Definitions. In this section:

(a) “Damage" means harm to forest products; streams; roads; dams; buildings; orchards; apiaries; livestock; and commercial agricultural crops, including Christmas trees and nursery stock.

(c) “Private property holder" means an owner, lessee or occupant of private property.

(d) “Removal activity" means removing or authorizing the removal of a wild animal that is causing damage or that is causing a nuisance or the removal of a structure of a wild animal that is causing damage or that is causing a nuisance.

(e) “Remove" means capture, shoot, set a trap for, relocate, or otherwise destroy or dispose of.

(f) Notwithstanding s. 29.001 (90) , “wild animal" means any undomesticated mammal or bird, but does not include farm-raised deer, farm-raised game birds, or wild animals that are subject to regulation under ch. 169 .

(2)   Department authority. The department may remove or authorize the removal of all of the following:

(a) A wild animal that is causing damage or that is causing a nuisance.

(b) A structure of a wild animal that is causing damage or that is causing a nuisance.

(3)   Damage complaints.

(a) Within 48 hours after receipt of a written complaint from a person who owns, leases or occupies property on which a wild animal or a structure of a wild animal is allegedly causing damage, the department shall both investigate the complaint and determine whether or not to authorize removal.

(b) The department may remove or authorize removal of the wild animal or the structure of the wild animal if it finds that the wild animal or the structure is causing damage on the property.

(c) A person who owns, leases or occupies property outside an incorporated municipality on which a wild animal or a structure of a wild animal is allegedly causing damage and who has made a complaint under par. (a) , may remove the wild animal or the structure at any time from one hour before sunrise until one hour after sunset if all of the following conditions apply:

1. The department has failed, within 48 hours after the receipt of the complaint, to investigate the complaint and to determine whether or not to authorize removal.

2. The department has not refused to investigate as permitted under sub. (5) (a) .

3. The wild animal is not of an endangered or threatened species under s. 29.604 and is not a migratory bird on the list in 50 CFR 10.13 that is promulgated under 16 USC 701 .

(d) A person who owns, leases or occupies property located within an incorporated municipality on which a wild animal or the structure of a wild animal is allegedly causing damage may capture and relocate the wild animal or may relocate its structure if the person has made a complaint under par. (a) and all the conditions under par. (c) 1. to 3. apply.

(4)   Nuisance complaints.

(a) Upon the receipt of a complaint from a person who owns, leases or occupies property on which a wild animal or a structure is allegedly causing a nuisance, the department may investigate the complaint.

(b) The department may remove or authorize the removal of the wild animal or the structure of a wild animal if it finds that the wild animal or the structure is causing a nuisance on the property.

(4m)   Hunting allowed. If the department removes or authorizes the removal of a wild animal or the structure of a wild animal under sub. (3) (b) , the person who owns, leases or occupies the property on which the damage occurred shall open the property to others for hunting and trapping for one year beginning on the date on which the removal activity started unless hunting is prohibited under this chapter or under any municipal ordinance.

(4r)   Land not required to be open to hunting. The requirements under sub. (4m) do not apply to a person to whom the department grants a shooting permit for deer causing damage that is issued as an abatement measure recommended under s. 29.889 if all of the following apply:

(a) The permit is the only abatement measure the person receives under s. 29.889 for damage caused by deer.

(b) The person waives any eligibility to receive a wildlife damage claim payment under s. 29.889 (7) for damage caused by deer.

(5)   Abatement.

(a) The department may refuse to investigate under sub. (3) (a) if the person making the complaint refuses to participate in any available wildlife damage abatement program administered under s. 29.889 or refuses to follow reasonable abatement measures recommended by the department or by the county in which the property is located if the county participates in a wildlife damage abatement program.

(b) Before taking action under sub. (3) (b) or (4) , the department may require the person making the complaint to participate in any available wildlife damage abatement program administered under s. 29.889 or to follow reasonable abatement measures recommended by the department.

(6)   Owner liability for beaver damage. A person who owns, leases or occupies property on which a beaver or a beaver structure is causing damage and who fails or refuses to give consent to the department to remove the beaver or the structure is liable for any damage caused by the beaver or the structure to public property or the property of others.

(7)   No duty; immunity from liability.

(a) Except as provided in par. (d) , no private property holder and no officer, employee or agent of a property holder owes any of the following duties to any person who enters the private property holder's property solely to engage in a removal activity:

1. A duty to keep the property safe for removal activities.

2. A duty to inspect the property.

3. A duty to give warning of an unsafe condition, use or activity on the property.

(b) Except as provided in par. (d) , no private property holder and no officer, employee or agent of a private property holder is liable for any of the following injuries that occur on the private property holder's property:

1. An injury to a person engaging in a removal activity.

2. An injury caused by a person engaging in a removal activity.

(c) Except as provided in par. (d) , nothing in this subsection, s. 101.11 or in the common law attractive nuisance doctrine creates any duty of care or ground of liability toward any person who uses private property holder's property for a removal activity.

(d) Paragraphs (a) to (c) do not apply if any of the following conditions exist:

1. An injury is caused by the malicious failure of the private property holder or an officer, employee or agent of the private property holder to warn against an unsafe condition on the property, of which the private property holder has knowledge.

2. An injury is caused by a malicious act of a private property holder or of an officer, employee or agent of a private property holder.

3. An injury is sustained by an employee of a private property holder acting within the scope of his or her duties.

1989 a. 31 ; 1991 a. 39 ; 1995 a. 79 ; 1997 a. 27 ; 1997 a. 248 ss. 637 to 641 ; Stats. 1997 s. 29.885; 1999 a. 32 ; 2001 a. 56 ; 2005 a. 82 . Cross-reference: See also ch. NR 12 and ss. NR 19.03 , and 19.75 , Wis. adm. code.