(A) For purposes of this section:

(1) "Animal shelter" means:

(a) a veterinary hospital or clinic operated by a veterinarian or veterinarians which operates for the purpose of impounding, care, adoption or harboring seized, stray, homeless, abandoned, or unwanted dogs, cats, and other animals; or

(b) a facility operated, owned, or maintained by an incorporated humane society, animal welfare society, or other nonprofit organization for the purpose of providing for and promoting the welfare, protection, and humane treatment of animals but for the purpose of impounding, care, adoption or harboring seized, stray, homeless, abandoned, or unwanted dogs, cats, and other animals.

(2) "Veterinary services" means the examination, diagnosis, and treatment of animal patients, administration of vaccines, diagnostic, imaging, surgery, laboratory, pharmacology, and provision of hospitalization and emergency treatment.

(B) Notwithstanding another provision of law, all animal shelters operating in this State that provide veterinary services are subject to the regulation of the South Carolina Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.

(C) A veterinarian providing veterinary services in an animal shelter, and each animal shelter itself, shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, a written or electronic record concerning the animals in their respective care. An animal shelter shall maintain records for a minimum of three years after the last entry. A copy of a record relating to an animal whose ownership is being transferred must be provided to the owner at the time of adoption or fostering.

(D) An animal shelter shall prepare and maintain records documenting the number of animals admitted to the facility and the method by which those animals exit the facility, whether by adoption, fostering, natural death, euthanasia, transfer to another state, or other means of discharge. The report also must contain the mailing address and street address of the current place of business, and working telephone number of the animal shelter. The shelter shall compile this data in a report and submit the report to the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation before January thirty-first of each year. The department shall make these reports available on its Internet website.

(E) An animal shelter operated by the State or a county, municipal corporation, or other political subdivision of the State is exempt from the provisions of this section and is regulated pursuant to Sections 47-3-10, et al. However, the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation is authorized to enter public animal shelters for purposes of regulating the practice of veterinarian medicine or investigating suspicion of unauthorized practice of veterinarian medicine.

(F) The Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation shall place on its website a list of all emergency veterinarian clinics in each county within six months of the renewal license period after the enactment of this section.

(G) All shelters and emergency veterinarian clinics that provide veterinary services must register with the South Carolina Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.

HISTORY: 2016 Act No. 274 (S.980), Section 1, eff June 15, 2016.