Delaware Code Title 3. Agriculture § 8202. Definitions

(a) “Animal” means any species of mammal, not including humans.

(b) “Animal exposed to rabies” means a domestic animal that has been bitten or scratched so that the skin has been broken by a rabid animal or a suspected rabid animal, or that has had contamination of an open scratch or wound, eye or mucous membrane with saliva or other potentially infectious material such as neural tissue.  The Department shall be the primary agency to manage such exposures.

(c) “Animal welfare officer” means a person employed by the Department of Health and Social Services or Department of Agriculture or a municipality as an enforcement officer.

(d) “Bite” means any penetration of the skin by the teeth.

(e) “Cat” means Felis catus.

(f) “Compendium” means the most current version of The Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control prepared by the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians.

(g) “Control and observation” and “controlled and observed” means that the animal is under the owner's control and is being observed for clinical signs of infection with rabies virus.

(h) “Department” means the Department of Agriculture, or officially designated agent thereof.

(i) “Division” means the Division of Public Health, or officially designated agent thereof.

(j) “Dog” means Canis familiaris.

(k) “Exotic” means not native to or generally found in Delaware.  An exotic animal is ecologically foreign to Delaware.

(l) “Human exposed to rabies” means a human that has been bitten or scratched by a rabid animal or suspected rabid animal, or that has had contamination of an open scratch or wound, eye, or mucous membrane with saliva or other potentially infectious material such as neural tissue.  The Division is the primary agency to manage such exposures.

(m) “Kennel” means any place wherein dogs are kept for the purposes of breeding, training, sale, or show.

(n) “Owner” means any person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation keeping, harboring, or with legal responsibility for a cat, dog, or other animal.

(o) “Person” means any individual, business, partnership, firm, joint stock company, corporation, association, trust, estate, or other legal entity.

(p) “Rabid animal” means any animal confirmed rabid through laboratory testing.

(q) “Rabies” means, in human and animal, an acute viral disease of the central nervous system, caused by a rhabdovirus, also known as hydrophobia or Lyssa, usually transmitted to humans through the injection of saliva by an animal bite.

(r) “Rabies vector species” means the wild animal species in the state of Delaware that most commonly carry and transmit the rabies virus to other animals, including bat, racoon, skunk fox, groundhog, or feral cat.

(s) “Strict quarantine” means confinement, under restraint by leash, closed gage, or paddock, on the private premises of the owner or at another location specified by the Department or Division, of an animal in such a manner whereby there exists no opportunity for contact with other animals or humans, excepting one person, 18 years of age or older, who cares for that animal.

(t) “Scratch” means a mark or injury caused by the claws or nails of an animal.

(u) “Suspected rabid animal” means a mammal (domestic or wildlife) exhibiting clinical signs of infection with rabies (abnormal behavior with neurologic impairment) and any bat, racoon, skunk, fox, groundhog, or feral cat.