Pennsylvania Statutes Title 71 P.S. State Government § 766. Reciprocal duties of forest, fish and game officers; penalties for neglect

From and after the approval of this act, it shall be the duty of each forester and forest ranger in this Commonwealth to enforce all the laws relating to forestry, fish, and game; it shall be the duty of every game-protector, deputy game-protector, or special deputy game-protector, commissioned in this Commonwealth, to enforce all the laws relating to fish, game, and forestry; it shall be the duty of every fish-warden or deputy fish-warden, commissioned in this Commonwealth, to enforce all the laws relating to game, fish, and forestry, under the direction of that department or commission into whose special care the interests of these several subjects have been entrusted, namely: All prosecutions for violation of laws relating to forestry shall be brought under the direction of the Department of Forestry; all prosecutions for violation of the fish laws shall be brought under the direction of the Department of Fisheries;  1 and all prosecutions for violations of the game laws shall be brought under the direction of the Board of Game Commissioners; and, to that end, the powers of all the officers aforesaid are hereby extended in such a way as to give them full authority to carry out the purposes of this act. It shall be the further duty of every such forester, forest ranger, game-protector, deputy game-protector, special deputy game-protector, fish-warden, and deputy fish-warden, whenever such official may have knowledge of the violation of any of the aforesaid laws, forthwith to make a full and complete report thereof to that department under which such official may be commissioned; which department, in case said law relates to a subject whose special care is entrusted to another department, shall at once forward such report to the appropriate department charged with the enforcement of said law.

Every person connected with either the Department of Forestry, or with the Department of Fisheries, or with the Game Commission, and under pay of the Commonwealth, who shall refuse or neglect to safeguard, in a reasonable way, the interests of the Commonwealth relating to either forestry, or fish, or game and wild birds, as provided for and intended by this act, or who, without prejudice to the work of that department to which he may specially belong, shall refuse or neglect to investigate to a reasonable conclusion any violation of the laws of this Commonwealth relating to either of the other departments named in this act that may be reported to him, or who may refuse or neglect to make the reports required by this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and for the first offense shall be liable to penalty of twenty-five dollars, or in lieu thereof to an imprisonment of one day for each dollar of penalty imposed, and for the second offense to double the penalty imposed for the first offense, and for the third offense shall be discharged from the service of the State; and it shall be the duty of the heads of the several departments mentioned in this act to notify the various employes of the State Government that may be under their control, and that are under the pay of the State, of the requirements of this act.