HERBERT R. O'CONOR, GOVERNOR. 1175

as Section 33 (the old Section 33 having been repealed by
Chapter 530 of the Acts of 1929) to prohibit the importation,
breeding sale or distribution within the State of Maryland
of birds of the psittacine family.

WHEREAS, the disease known as psittacosis has been preva-
lent throughout the country and outbreaks have occurred in
the City of Baltimore, in certain counties of Maryland and
also in the District of Columbia, and

WHEREAS, since that time it has been the policy of the State
Board of Health in cooperation with other agencies both with-
in and without the State to make every effort to curb this
disease and control the spread of this infection by isolation
of diseased birds and interstate certification and inspection,
and

WHEREAS, careful laboratory studies reveal that there is no
practical method of insuring the shipment of uninfected birds
by any system of inspection because healthy birds may be
carriers of the virus; and the State of New York has pro-
hibited these birds within its jurisdiction, which may have
resulted in making Baltimore City a major port of entry for
their importation; and to obviate this possibility the City of
Baltimore recently passed an ordinance banning these birds
within the city; therefore

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That a new section be and it is hereby added to Article
43 of the Annotated Code of Maryland title "Health", sub-
title "Miscellaneous Provisions", said new section to be known
as Section 33 and to read as follows:

33. No person shall bring into the State of Maryland or
offer for sale, sell, give away or breed within the limits of this
State, parrots, parrakeets, love birds, macaws, cockatoos,
lories, lorikeets and other birds of the psittacine family; pro-
vided that under such rules and regulations as the State Board
of Health may duly pass, zoological gardens operated under
public authority or laboratories, in which scientific research
is being carried out, and any persons who breed psittacine birds
for non-commercial purposes, may receive or import birds of the
psittacine family. All birds having psittacosis or which are
suspected of being carriers of psittacosis virus, and all birds of
a psittacine family exposed to a bird having psittacosis or
found or harbored on the same premises where infection with
psittacosis virus is discovered or suspected, shall be immedi-
ately destroyed, under such rules and regulations as the
State Board of Health may pass to carry out the purposes of
this section; provided that, insofar as this Act prohibits the