4VAC15-20-50. Definitions and Miscellaneous: In General. Definitions; "wild animal," "native animal," "naturalized animal," "nonnative (exotic) animal," and "domestic animal."
Summary
The recommendation is to update the date reference to the Department of Wildlife Resources’ list of native and naturalized fauna in Virginia to reflect current information about these species.
Proposed Language
Note: In the “Proposed Language” document, underlined text denotes proposed new language, while text with a strikethrough denotes language that is proposed to be deleted.
Rationale
In 1991, the Board adopted a list of species identified as native and naturalized in the Commonwealth. This list is used in regulations pertaining to collection, holding, etc., of wildlife. This regulation was updated in 2024 to reflect changes in nomenclature and updated knowledge of the wildlife species known to occur in Virginia. The Department maintains extensive databases regarding fish and wildlife species, and interacts daily with professional biologists, sportsmen, landowners, legislators and other government officials, and other wildlife enthusiasts on a wide variety of issues affecting wildlife. It is essential that wildlife species be unambiguously identified in these interactions, whether they be regulatory, recreational, or educational pursuits. As the knowledge of wildlife taxonomy and genetics increases, and as field and laboratory techniques improve, the genetic and taxonomic relationships among species are under constant revision. Thus, periodic updating of the taxonomic baseline and species lists for the Commonwealth is appropriate.