(a) Every person who holds a permit issued pursuant to Section 2150 shall immediately report by telephone the intentional or unintentional escape or release of the wild animal, to the department and the nearest enforcing officer of the city or county in which the wild animal was released or escaped. The permitholder shall be liable for all expenses associated with efforts to recapture the wild animal. For the purposes of this subdivision, the exhibition of a wild animal on a movie set, film set, television set, still photography set, or any other professional activity allowable under a permit issued pursuant to Section 2150, does not constitute an intentional or unintentional escape or release of the wild animal unless the person exhibiting the wild animal has lost control of the wild animal.
(b) The commission shall promulgate regulations establishing the criteria for permitholders to notify the department prior to taking possession of or transferring an animal and upon the death of an animal.
(c) These regulations shall be developed and adopted by the commission on or before January 1, 2007.
(Added by Stats. 2005, Ch. 698, Sec. 12. Effective January 1, 2006.)