SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico lawmakers may scrap and rewrite regulations that currently mandate the euthanizing of bears and other wild animals that attack a human so that animals can be tested for rabies. A bill has been pre-filed as the Legislature convenes Tuesday that would give health and wildlife officials the ability to consider the current risk of rabies and also whether the animal acted in self-defense. Los Alamos resident Karen Williams says she helped develop the legislation after being attacked in northern New Mexico by a mother bear that she believes was acting in defense of her two young cubs. The bear was captured and destroyed, and the cubs were eventually re-released in the wild. The proposed legislation follows rabies assessments from the federal Centers for Disease Prevention and Control.
New Mexico legislation would spare some bears that attack
Twitter LinkedIn Email