SECTION 154. Killing or rendering of horses; licenses; application; notice to director of animal health; fees

A person engaged in or desiring to engage in the business of killing horses, or in the rendering of horses or other animals, shall annually in March apply for a license to the board of health of the town where such business is to be carried on. The application shall be in writing and signed by the persons desiring to carry on such business, or, if the applicant is a corporation, by a duly authorized officer thereof. It shall state the names in full and the addresses of all persons desiring to carry on such business, or, if a corporation is the applicant, the names of all its officers, and the street or other place where the business is to be conducted. The board of health of a town may grant such licenses after it is satisfied that the applicants have a suitable building and plant in a situation approved by said board, and that they have suitable trucks or wagons for the removal of dead animals. The license shall state the name of the licensee, the situation of the building or establishment where the business is to be carried on, and shall continue in force until April first of the year next ensuing unless sooner revoked. The board of health shall keep a record of such licenses granted by it, and shall notify the director of animal health of the granting of any such license, giving the name and address of the licensee. Unless otherwise established in a town by town meeting action and in a city by city council action, and in a town with no town meeting by town council action, by adoption of appropriate by-laws and ordinances to set such fees, the fee for a license shall not exceed one dollar, and a license may be revoked at any time by the board of health, but in no event shall any such fee be greater than ten dollars. Licensees shall report to the director of animal health, in such form and at such times as he may order, every animal received by them which is infected with a contagious disease. No unlicensed person shall carry on the business of killing horses or of rendering horses or other animals. So much of section thirty of chapter one hundred and twenty-nine as provides that no person shall knowingly sell an animal with a contagious disease shall not apply to any person who sells such animal to a licensee under this section, if such animal is to be killed or rendered at the establishment of such licensee. Whoever violates this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than three months, or both.