Section 44. No person shall import into the commonwealth any equine animal without a certificate relative to such animal from a laboratory approved by the United States Department of Agriculture, dated within one year from the time of such importation certifying a negative test for infectious equine anemia by a method approved by the United States Department of Agriculture for detecting said disease. Whoever violates any provisions of this section, or of any rule or regulation promulgated hereunder, shall be punished for a first offense by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars and for any subsequent offense by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than two and one-half years, or both.