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Utah Code § 4-39-401

This is the official text of Utah Code § 4-39-401, part of Utah’s Code — part of the compiled statutory law of Utah, published by the state as "Code." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§ 4-39-401. Escape of domesticated elk -- Liability.

Official statutory text

(1) The owner shall try to capture domesticated elk that escape. (2) The escape of a domesticated elk shall be reported immediately to the domestic elk program manager, who shall notify the Division of Wildlife Resources. (3) If the domesticated elk is not recovered within 72 hours of the escape, the department, in conjunction with the Division of Wildlife Resources, shall take whatever action is necessary to resolve the problem. (4) The owner shall reimburse the state or a state agency for any reasonable recapture costs incurred in the recapture or destruction of an escaped domesticated elk. (5) An escaped domesticated elk taken by a licensed hunter in a manner that complies with the provisions of Title 23A, Wildlife Resources Act, and the rules of the Wildlife Board shall be considered a legal taking and neither the licensed hunter, the state, nor a state agency shall be liable to the owner for the killing. (6) The owner shall be responsible for containing the domesticated elk to ensure that there is no spread of disease from domesticated elk to wild elk and that the genetic purity of wild elk is protected.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.