51.—Section 45 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following for subsection (1) (inserted by the Regulations of 1985):

“(1) A person who is not a licensed wildlife dealer shall not sell, keep for sale, transport for the purpose of sale or exchange, offer for sale or exchange, purchase for resale or exchange, or engage in taxidermy in respect of—

(a) a protected wild bird or protected wild animal, at any stage of its life, whether alive or dead, or any parts, products or derivatives of such wild bird or wild animal,

(b) the eggs of a protected wild bird or the eggs or spawn of a protected wild animal, or any parts, products or derivatives thereof,

(c) fauna, at any stage of its life, whether alive or dead, set out in Part I or II of the First Schedule to the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997 (S.I. No. 94 of 1997), and being fauna within the meaning of this Act,

and shall not publish or cause to be published any advertisement, catalogue, circular or price list likely to be understood as conveying that such person buys or sells, or intends to buy or sell, or engages in taxidermy in respect of any protected wild bird or protected wild animal.”,

(b) in subsection (2)—

(i) by the substitution of “sections 22(5), 23(7)(d), 31 and 42 of this Act” for “sections 22(5), 23(7)(d) and 42 of this Act”, and

(ii) by the insertion, after “or the eggs of a protected wild bird”, of “or the eggs or spawn of a protected wild animal or any part, product or derivative thereof”,

(c) in subsection (3)—

(i) by the insertion, in paragraph (a), of “, who has obtained the prior permission of the Minister in writing so to do,” after “person”,

(ii) by the insertion, in paragraph (c), of “or captured” after “killed”,

(iii) by the insertion of the following after paragraph (c):

“(cc) the sale by a person of any live perching bird which is a close-ringed specimen within the meaning of section 31(4) of this Act, and to which that section applies,”,

and

(iv) by the insertion, in paragraph (d), of “or captured” after “killed”,

(d) in subsection (7) (inserted by the Regulations of 1985), by the deletion of “(11),”,

(e) in subsection (8), by the substitution of the following for paragraphs (a) and (b):

“(a)   the wild bird, wild animal or any other part, product or derivative of such wild bird or wild animal had been lawfully acquired by the defendant before the 1st day of June, 1977, or that it or they had been lawfully acquired from a person who had lawfully acquired it or them,

(b) in case the alleged offence relates to a protected wild bird or a protected wild animal or to any other part, product or derivative of such a wild bird or wild animal that it or they had lawfully been killed, captured or acquired by the defendant or had been lawfully acquired from a person who had lawfully killed, captured or acquired it or them.”,

(f) by the substitution of the following for subsection (9):

“(9) Subject to subsection (9A) of this section, nothing in this section shall make unlawful the possession consequent upon any other thing which is—

(a) done pursuant to and in accordance with a licence or permission granted under this Act, or

(b) permitted to be done by or under any statute other than this Act, or

(c) otherwise lawfully done,

of a protected wild bird or a protected wild animal or the eggs of a protected wild bird or any eggs or spawn of a protected wild animal.

(9A) Where possession of a protected wild bird or a protected wild animal results from the unintentional capture of the bird or animal and such possession is continuing, the person in apparent possession or control of the bird or animal shall, at the direction of the Minister, release or otherwise dispose of the bird or animal in such manner as the Minister thinks fit.”,

(g) by the insertion, in subsection (10), of “, or to any other part, product or derivative,” after “flesh”,

(h) by the deletion of subsection (11) (inserted by the Regulations of 1985), and

(i) by the addition of the following after subsection (13) (inserted by the Regulations of 1985):

“(14) The Minister may by regulations—

(a) in relation to wild birds—

(i) apply this section, either generally or by reference to one or more species, to wild birds, or

(ii) apply this section generally to species of wild birds subject to the exclusion of one or more such species,

and

(b) in relation to wild animals—

(i) apply this section, either generally or by reference to one or more species, to wild animals which are not protected wild animals, or

(ii) apply this section generally to species of wild animals which are not protected wild animals, subject to the exclusion of one or more such species.”,

and the said subsections (2), (3) (other than paragraphs (b) and (cc)), (7) and (10), as so amended, are set out in the Table to this section.

TABLE

(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (8) of this section and to sections 22(5), 23(7)(d), 31 and 42 of this Act, a person who is not a licensed wildlife dealer shall not have in his possession a protected wild bird or a protected wild animal, whether alive or dead, or the eggs of a protected wild bird or the eggs or spawn of a protected wild animal or any part, product or derivative thereof.

(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to—

(a) the sale by a person, who has obtained the prior permission of the Minister in writing so to do, of any live specimen of a protected wild bird or protected wild animal solely for the purposes of propagating, or of improving the quality of, such species,

(c) the sale to a licensed wildlife dealer by a person of any protected wild bird or protected wild animal lawfully killed or captured by him,

(d) the sale by any person, who has obtained the prior permission of the Minister so to do, of any lawfully killed or captured such wild bird or wild animal.

(7) A person who contravenes subsection (1), (2), (4), (12) or (13) of this section or who fails to comply with the requirements of subsection (5) of this section shall be guilty of an offence.

(10) References in this section to a protected wild bird or a protected wild animal shall, except in relation to taxidermy, be construed as including references to the flesh, or to any other part, product or derivative, of such a bird or animal, and in relation to taxidermy the said references in this section shall be construed as including references to the skin, plumage or any other part of such a bird or animal.