Bill Text: MS HB373 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Crimes; revise crime of animal cruelty and exempt certain activities from constituting the crime.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Failed) 2011-02-01 - Died In Committee [HB373 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2011-HB373-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2011 Regular Session
To: Agriculture; Judiciary B
By: Representatives Brown, Whittington
House Bill 373
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-41-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE CRIME OF ANIMAL CRUELTY; TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN MISDEMEANOR AND FELONY DEGREES OF THE CRIME; TO CLARIFY AND REVISE THE ELEMENTS OF THE OFFENSE; TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS RELATING TO THE CRIME; TO SPECIFICALLY EXEMPT CERTAIN ACTIVITIES FROM CONSTITUTING THE CRIME; TO REPEAL SECTIONS 97-41-3, 97-41-5, 97-41-7, 97-41-9, 97-41-13, 97-41-15, 97-41-16 AND 97-41-17, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH RELATE TO THE VARIOUS PROHIBITIONS AGAINST CRUELTY TO ANIMALS AND THE ELEMENTS OF THE OFFENSE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-41-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-41-1. (1) For the purposes of Chapter 41, Title 97, Mississippi Code of 1972, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed in this subsection (1), unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "Animal" means any nonhuman mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian.
(b) "Owner" means a person who has control, custody, possession, title or other legal interest in an animal.
(c) "Adequate care" means care sufficient to preserve the health and well-being of an animal and, except for emergencies or circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the guardian, includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(i) Food of sufficient quality and quantity to allow for normal growth or maintaining of body weight;
(ii) Access to potable water of a drinkable temperature in sufficient quantity for an animal or group of animals;
(iii) Shelter that protects an animal from the adverse effects of weather and extreme temperatures which is species and breed appropriate;
(iv) Veterinary care sufficient to relieve distress from unreasonable, unnecessary or unjustifiable injury, neglect or disease;
(v) Adequate exercise to prevent debility;
(vi) If the animal is enclosed, adequate ventilation for normal breathing to prevent injury or suffering, lighting cycles of either natural or artificial light, and an area free of excess waste, debris or other contaminants that could injure or adversely affect the animal's health.
(d) "Torture" means an act primarily taken to inflict pain or suffering that causes unreasonable, unnecessary or unjustifiable serious bodily injury or death.
(2) A person shall * * * be guilty of simple animal cruelty if he knowingly, intentionally or recklessly:
(a) Abandons or leaves an animal at a location without providing for or arranging for the animal's continued sustenance;
(b) Fails to provide adequate care for an animal;
(c) Causes unreasonable, unnecessary or unjustifiable physical pain, stress or injury to an animal including, but not limited to, overriding, or overdriving to the point of exhaustion, kicking, hitting, tormenting or inhumanely carrying or transporting an animal in a manner that restricts the animal from normal postural adjustments or causes hyperthermia or hypothermia, confining or tethering an animal in a manner that restricts the animal from normal postural adjustments, access to food, water or shelter, or poses or causes damage or injury; or
(d) Causes any act listed in this subsection (2) to be done.
(3) A person shall be guilty of the felony of aggravated animal cruelty if he knowingly, intentionally or maliciously starves, dehydrates, tortures, poisons, beats, burns, shoots or otherwise mutilates an animal, resulting in serious bodily injury or death to the animal.
(4) (a) A first conviction of simple animal cruelty shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), imprisonment in jail not to exceed six (6) months, or both.
(b) A second conviction of simple animal cruelty shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00) nor more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), imprisonment in jail not less than one (1) nor more than six (6) months, or both.
(c) A third or subsequent conviction of simple animal cruelty shall constitute a felony.
(5) A conviction of a felony under this section shall be punishable by a fine of not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections not to exceed five (5) years, or both.
(6) For purposes of this section, each incident of cruelty and each animal treated cruelly shall constitute the basis for a separate offense.
(7) For any conviction under this section, the court may order restitution to the animal's owner as well as to law enforcement agencies, or animal control organizations or societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals, for the costs of investigation, sheltering, transporting, rehabilitation and other costs related to securing the conviction.
(8) In addition to other prescribed penalties, a person convicted under this section may be prohibited by the court from possessing an animal or animals or from residing or working where animals are kept.
(9) A person convicted under this section, in addition to any other punishment that may be imposed, may be ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation and treatment.
SECTION 2. (1) Any and all of the activities associated with or incidental to the lawful practices and activities described in this section are not violations of Chapter 41, Title 97, Mississippi Code of 1972, or any other state law pertaining to the criminal offense of animal cruelty. Those exempt activities include:
(a) Fishing, or hunting or trapping of wildlife, as regulated by state law or by rule or regulation of the Department of Marine Resources or the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks;
(b) Activities conducted for scientific or medical research or for teaching, as governed by generally acceptable standards, and subject to review by an institutional animal care and use committee recommended by the American Veterinary Medical Association;
(c) Accepted animal husbandry practices, including slaughter; or
(d) Accepted veterinary practices performed by a licensed veterinarian or authorized agent thereof.
(2) Nothing in Chapter 41, Title 97, Mississippi Code of 1972, shall be construed as prohibiting a person from injuring or killing an animal, except those animals otherwise protected by state or federal law, reasonably believed to constitute a threat of injury or death to humans, livestock, poultry or other domestic or lawfully kept animals.
(3) Any law enforcement officer, animal control officer, veterinarian, or agent of a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals who, acting in good faith, humanely euthanizes or causes to be euthanized any animal found neglected or abandoned and injured, diseased or severely debilitated past reasonable recovery, shall not be held criminally or civilly liable for that action.
(4) A veterinarian or other person who, in good faith, reports a suspended incident of animal cruelty to a local law enforcement agency or society for the prevention of cruelty to animals shall not be held civilly liable for that action.
SECTION 3. Section 97-41-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, which relates to the authority of certain officers to kill an injured, diseased or useless animal, is repealed.
SECTION 4. Section 97-41-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, which prohibits the carrying of an animal in a cruel manner, is repealed.
SECTION 5. Section 97-41-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, which prohibits confining animals without food or water, is repealed.
SECTION 6. Section 97-41-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, which prohibits the owner or custodian of an animal to neglect or refuse to furnish it with sustenance, is repealed.
SECTION 7. Section 97-41-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides penalties for the crimes of cruelty to animals, is repealed.
SECTION 8. Section 97-41-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, which prohibits malicious injury to livestock, is repealed.
SECTION 9. Section 97-41-16, Mississippi Code of 1972, which prohibits malicious injury to a dog or cat, is repealed.
SECTION 10. Section 97-41-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, which prohibits administering poison to an animal, is repealed.
SECTION 11. The provisions of Section 2 of this act shall be codified in Chapter 41, Title 97, Mississippi Code of 1972.
SECTION 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2011.
