Definitions [Effective Jan. 1, 2027].
Del. Code tit. 16, § 3000F
in effectFor purposes of this subchapter:
(1) “Animal rescue organization” means an animal welfare society or other nonprofit organization that accepts custody of animals for the purpose of finding permanent adoptive homes for the animals and uses a network of foster homes to maintain the animals. An “animal rescue organization” does not do any of the following:
a. Maintain a facility or physical structure for housing animals until final disposition.
b. Breed animals.
c. Obtain animals in exchange for payment or compensation from any person that breeds or brokers the animals.
(2) “Animal shelter” means a public or private facility that includes a physical structure and which provides temporary or permanent shelter to stray, abandoned, abused, or owner-surrendered cats or dogs, and that is operated, owned, or maintained by a duly incorporated humane society, animal welfare society, or other nonprofit organization for the purpose of providing for and promoting the welfare, protection, and humane treatment of animals. In addition to sheltering cats or dogs, the facility may also shelter other species. “Animal shelter” does not include individuals providing temporary foster care to animals in their home or an animal rescue organization.
(3) “Department” means the Department of Health and Social Services or its duly authorized representatives.
(4) “Ear-tip” means the removal of approximately a quarter-inch off the tip of a cat’s left ear while the cat is anesthetized to help identify the cat as having been sterilized and vaccinated for rabies at the time of ear-tipping.
(5) “Free-roaming cat program” means a program in which visibly healthy cats admitted to a shelter, not placed for adoption, and lacking discernible owner identification, are sterilized, vaccinated against rabies, ear-tipped, and returned to a safe location where they were found or, if necessary, appropriately relocated. However, no free-roaming cat or feral cat shall be relocated to public lands managed for wildlife or outdoor recreation activities, including but not limited to lands owned or managed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the Delaware Department of Agriculture, the National Park Service or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife or to lands recognized to be located within coastal migratory bird flyways.
(6) “Foster home” means the temporary shelter for an animal provided by an individual in that individual’s home while the animal is in the custody of the animal rescue organization or animal shelter.
(7) “Isolation” means the physical separation and confinement of an animal or group of animals who are infected with a communicable disease from nonisolated animals to prevent or limit the transmission of the disease.
(8) “Intake” means the number of live animals for which an animal shelter assumes custody and are admitted for temporary shelter and care. “Intake” includes all animals admitted to the shelter, a foster home, or a satellite location.
(9) “Licensed veterinary technician” means an individual licensed as a veterinary technician pursuant to Title 24.
(10) “Quarantine” means the physical separation and confinement of an animal or group of animals who have or may have been exposed to a contagious disease and who do not show signs or symptoms of communicable disease from nonquarantined animals to prevent or limit the transmission of the disease.
(11) “Return to field” means a program whereby community cats that have been admitted to an animal shelter are returned to the place they were found after being processed as an intake, sterilized, ear-tipped, and vaccinated against rabies.
(12) “Person” means corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint-stock companies, this State, a county or a municipality of this State, as well as individuals.
Source: DE Code (Official Site)URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title16/c030f/sc01/index.htmlFetched: 10/4/2026