§ 17.31 Prohibitions.
(a) Except as provided in §§ 17.4 through 17.8, or in a permit issued pursuant to § 17.32, the provisions of paragraph (b) of this section and all of the provisions of § 17.21 (for endangered species of wildlife), except § 17.21(c)(3) and (5), apply to threatened species of wildlife that were added to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife at § 17.11(h) on or prior to August 20, 2026, unless the Secretary has promulgated species-specific provisions (see paragraph (c) of this section).
(b)(1) Notwithstanding § 17.21(c)(1), and unless otherwise specified, any employee or agent of the Service, any other Federal land management agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service, a State conservation agency, or a federally recognized Tribe, who is designated by their agency or Tribe for such purposes, may, when acting in the course of their official duties, take threatened wildlife without a permit if such action is necessary to:
(i) Aid a sick, injured, or orphaned specimen; or
(ii) Dispose of a dead specimen; or
(iii) Salvage a dead specimen that may be useful for scientific study; or
(iv) Remove specimens that constitute a demonstrable but nonimmediate threat to human safety, provided that the taking is done in a humane manner; the taking may involve killing or injuring only if it has not been reasonably possible to eliminate such threat by live-capturing and releasing the specimen unharmed, in an appropriate area.
(2) Any taking under paragraph (b)(1) of this section must be reported in writing to the Office of Law Enforcement, via contact methods listed at www.fws.gov, within 5 calendar days. The specimen may only be retained, disposed of, or salvaged under directions from the Office of Law Enforcement.
www.fws.gov(3) Notwithstanding § 17.21(c)(1), and unless otherwise specified, any employee or agent of the Service, of the National Marine Fisheries Service, or of a State conservation agency that is operating a conservation program pursuant to the terms of an approved cooperative agreement with the Service that covers the threatened species of wildlife in accordance with section 6(c) of the Act, who is designated by their agency for such purposes, may, when acting in the course of their official duties, take those species.
(c) For threatened species of wildlife that have a species-specific rule in §§ 17.40 through 17.48, the provisions of paragraph (b) of this section and § 17.32 apply unless otherwise specified, and the species-specific rule will contain all of the prohibitions and any additional exceptions that apply to that species.
(d) Each species-specific rule proposed after August 20, 2026 will include a necessary and advisable determination (including consideration of conservation and economic impacts consistent with the findings and declaration of purposes and policy of the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1531, based on the best scientific and commercial data available) and will seek public comment on that determination.
[89 FR 23939, Apr. 5, 2024, as amended at 91 FR 45736, July 21, 2026]