31.—Section 23 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) in subsection (5), by the insertion of “or resting place” after “breeding place” in paragraph (d),

(b) by the substitution of the following for subsection (6):

“(6) The Minister may grant a licence to a person—

(a) to take, capture or humanely kill or capture and humanely kill at any time a protected wild animal of a species specified in the licence for such educational, scientific or any other purpose as shall be specified in the licence, or

(b) to take or make photographic, video or other pictures of a protected wild animal of a species so specified on or near the breeding place of such an animal, or

(c) to have in possession, for a reasonable period of time—

(i) an injured or disabled protected wild animal, or

(ii) one or more than one dependant young of a protected wild animal which is orphaned,

with the intention of tending and later releasing such animal or young back into the wild when and only when such animal or young, as the case may be, is no longer injured, disabled or dependant, or

(d) to retain possession of a protected wild animal, that for reasons of disability or for other reasons deemed reasonable by the Minister, would, if released, be unlikely to survive unaided in the wild.”,

(c) in subsection (7)—

(i) by the substitution, in paragraph (a), of “, aquaculture, forestry or turbary,” for “or forestry, or in zoology or in any other scientific pursuit,”,

(ii) by the substitution, in paragraph (c), of “unintentionally to kill or injure such an animal or unintentionally to destroy or injure the breeding place or resting place” for “to kill or injure such an animal or to destroy or injure the breeding place”,

(iii) by the insertion, in paragraph (d), of “, or the orphaned and dependant young of such an animal,” after “protected wild animal” and of “when, but only when, the said animal or its dependant young, as the case may be, are no longer disabled or dependant” after “releasing it,”,

(iv) by the insertion, in paragraph (e), of “and where the animal is so injured or disabled that there is no reasonable chance of its recovering,” after “paragraph (c) of this subsection”, and

(v) by the substitution, in paragraph (iv), of “a licence or other permission granted or issued pursuant to the Wildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000, or which is duly done pursuant to any other statute” for “a statute (other than this Act)”,

and

(d) by the insertion of “, aquaculture, forestry or turbary” for “or forestry” and the deletion, in subsection (9), of “, or in zoology or in another scientific pursuit”,

and the said subsections (5) (other than paragraphs (a), (b) and (c)), (7) (other than paragraph (b) and subparagraphs (i) to (iii)) and (9), as so amended, are set out in the Table to this section.

TABLE

(5) Any person who—

(d) wilfully interferes with or destroys the breeding place or resting place of any protected wild animal,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(7) Notwithstanding subsection (5) of this section, it shall not be an offence for a person—

(a) while engaged in agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, forestry or turbary, unintentionally to injure or kill a protected wild animal, or

(c) while constructing a road or while carrying on any archaeological operation, building operation or work of engineering construction, or while constructing or carrying on such other operation or work as may be prescribed, unintentionally to kill or injure such an animal or unintentionally to destroy or injure the breeding place or resting place of such an animal, or

(d) to capture an injured or disabled protected wild animal, or the orphaned and dependant young of such an animal, for the purpose of killing it humanely or with the intention of tending it and later releasing it when, but only when, the said animal or its dependant young, as the case may be, are no longer disabled or dependant, or

(e) to kill humanely a protected wild animal which is either injured in the manner described in paragraph (a) of this subsection or captured in the manner described in paragraph (d) of this subsection or so to kill a protected wild animal injured in the circumstances described in paragraph (c) of this subsection and where the animal is so injured or disabled that there is no reasonable chance of its recovering,

(iv) anything which is duly done pursuant to a licence or other permission granted or issued pursuant to the Wildlife Acts, 1976 and 2000, or which is duly done pursuant to any other statute or statutory instrument, which is permitted to be done under such a statute or instrument or which is done pursuant to and in accordance with a licence or other permission granted or issued pursuant to such a statute or instrument or anything caused by or which results from, or is consequent upon or the effect of any other act or thing which is lawfully done.

(9) In any proceedings for an offence under this section it shall not be necessary for the prosecution to prove that any act constituting (whether in whole or in part) the alleged offence was done otherwise than while the defendant was engaged in agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, forestry or turbary.