2017 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 33 - Parks and Wildlife
Wildlife
Article 6 - Law Enforcement and Penalties - Wildlife
Part 2 - Traps, Poisons, and Snares
§ 33-6-207. Exemption - landowners' protection of crops and livestock - definitions - authority of division and of department of agriculture

(1) Section 33-6-203 shall not apply to the owner or lessee of a parcel of private property, nor to the employees of such owner or lessee, so long as all of the following conditions are met:

(a) The property is primarily used for commercial livestock or crop production;

(b) The use of the methods otherwise prohibited by section 33-6-203 occurs only on the property;

(c) Such use does not exceed one thirty-day period per year for each parcel of private property; and

(d) The owner or lessee can present on-site evidence to the division that ongoing damage to livestock or crops has not been alleviated by the use of methods other than those prohibited by section 33-6-203.

(2) As used in this section and in section 33-6-208:

(a) "Crops" includes all plants raised for profit.

(b) "Employee" means a person hired or retained by, or under a written or oral contract or cooperative agreement with, an owner or lessee to perform services of any kind.

(c) "Lessee" means a person, other than the owner, who has a present possessory interest in real property. If the possessory interest is held by a corporation, partnership, association, or other entity, "lessee" includes the individual shareholders, principals, partners, or members of such entity. If the possessory interest is held in trust, "lessee" includes a beneficiary of such trust.

(d) "Livestock" includes all animals raised for profit.

(e) "Ongoing damage" means measurable physical harm to livestock or crops that has resulted or will result in economic loss to an owner or lessee and appears likely to continue or recur in the near future.

(f) (I) "On-site evidence" means physical evidence or documented observations gathered from the property on which trapping, snaring, or poisoning activity is proposed under subsection (1) of this section. Such evidence includes, but is not limited to:

(A) Carcasses or parts thereof;

(B) Physical injuries to livestock;

(C) Identifying tracks, tooth marks, fur, or other evidence of the presence and harmful activity of a depredating species;

(D) Photographs;

(E) Record entries.

(II) Where direct evidence has not been preserved, current or recent losses may be considered as "on-site evidence" so long as such losses are documented.

(g) "Owner" means the holder of record title to real property. If the title to real property is held by a corporation, partnership, association, or other entity, "owner" includes the individual shareholders, principals, partners, or members of such entity. If the title to real property is held in trust, "owner" includes a beneficiary of such trust.

(h) "Parcel of private property" means either of the following, at the option of the owner or lessee thereof:

(I) A parcel of private property that has been individually recorded in the office of the county clerk in the county in which the parcel is located; or

(II) A single, contiguous parcel of private property under one ownership or lease.

(i) "Primarily used for commercial livestock or crop production" means used to produce agricultural products that originate from the land's productivity for the primary purpose of obtaining a monetary profit.

(j) "Private property" means real property whose record title is not held, wholly or in part, by any state, local, or federal government or agency thereof.

(3) The division and, in the case of depredating animals as defined in section 35-40-100.2 (4), C.R.S., the department of agriculture shall have the authority to adopt and enforce reasonable rules governing trapping, snaring, and poisoning activity under subsection (1) of this section. Such rules may include, without limitation, reasonable restrictions on the devices and, to the extent permissible under section 33-6-209, the poisons to be used and the manner of their use, including a requirement for serial numbering or other identification of devices if such is deemed necessary or desirable. The general assembly specifically endorses the implementation of a coordinated trade-in or pooling program to encourage the phasing out of older, less humane devices and the use, in their place, of newer, more humane ones.