50-23-103. Quarantine -- destruction -- testing. (1) Whenever a person unlawfully possesses a wild animal, the department of public health and human services or the department of livestock may impound the animal and take any other action considered reasonable to protect public health.

(2) If a wild animal, whether unlawfully or lawfully in the possession of a person, has bitten or otherwise exposed a person to the possibility of contracting rabies, the animal may be impounded by the department of public health and human services, the department of livestock, or a local health officer and either quarantined or destroyed and the animal's brain may be tested for rabies.

(3) A lawfully possessed wild animal that is quarantined pursuant to subsection (2) and found not to be rabid must be returned to its owner.