Bill Text: MS HB505 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Crimes; clarify criminal offense of cruelty to dogs or cats.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2011-02-01 - Died In Committee [HB505 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2011-HB505-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2011 Regular Session
To: Agriculture; Judiciary B
By: Representative Bennett
House Bill 505
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-41-16, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THE CRIMINAL OFFENSE OF MALICIOUS OR MISCHIEVOUS INJURY TO A DOG OR CAT; TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN ACTIVITIES WILL NOT CONSTITUTE THE CRIMINAL OFFENSE; TO AMEND SECTIONS 97-41-1, 97-41-5, 97-41-7, 97-41-9, 97-41-17, 97-41-21 AND 97-41-23, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-41-16, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-41-16. (1) (a) If any person, knowingly or with criminal negligence, shall torture, torment, unjustifiably injure, deprive of necessary sustenance including food or drink, cruelly beat or mutilate any dog or cat, or cause any other person to do same, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or be imprisoned by no less than six (6) months, or both.
(b) If any person, maliciously, either out of a spirit of revenge or wanton cruelty, or who shall mischievously torture, mutilate, starve, disfigure, burn, kill, maim or wound, or unjustifiably injure any dog or cat, or cause any person to do the same, he shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction, shall be fined not less than One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00), nor more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or be imprisoned not less than twelve (12) months nor more than five (5) years, or both.
(c) For purposes of this section, each incident of cruelty and each dog or cat injured or killed shall constitute the basis for a separate offense.
(2) In addition to such fine or imprisonment which may be imposed, the court shall order that restitution be made to the owner of such dog or cat. The measure for restitution in money shall be the current replacement value of such loss and the actual veterinarian fees, special supplies, loss of income and other cost incurred as a result of actions in violation of subsection (1) of this section.
(3) (a) Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting a person from:
(i) Defending himself or herself or another person from physical or economic injury being threatened or caused by a dog or cat.
(ii) Injuring or killing an unconfined dog or cat on the property of the person, if the unconfined dog or cat is believed to constitute a threat of physical injury or damage to any animal under the care or control of such person or to any wildlife that is found on the person's property.
(iii) Acting under the provisions of Section 95-5-19 to protect poultry or livestock from a trespassing dog that is in the act of chasing or killing poultry or livestock.
(iv) Engaging in practices that are licensed or lawful under the Mississippi Veterinary Practice Act, Section 73-39-51, et seq., or engaging in activities by any licensed veterinarian while following accepted standards of practice of the profession within the State of Mississippi, including the euthanizing of a dog or cat.
(v) Rendering emergency care, treatment, or assistance to a dog or cat that is abandoned, ill, injured, or in distress related to an accident or disaster, if the person rendering the care, treatment, or assistance is acting in good faith.
(vi) Performing accepted agricultural and animal husbandry practices with regard to livestock or poultry, which involve the use of dogs in such practices.
(vii) Training for, or participating in, a rodeo, equine activity, dog show, event sponsored by a kennel club or other bona fide organization that promotes the breeding or showing of dogs, or other competitive event which involves the lawful use of dogs.
(viii) Engaging in accepted practices of dog or cat identification.
(ix) Engaging in lawful activities that are regulated by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.
(x) Performing scientific and medical activities undertaken by research and education facilities or institutions that are:
1. Regulated under the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act, 7 USCS 2131 et seq., as in effect on July 1, 2011;
2. Regulated under the provisions of the Health Research Extension Act of 1985, Public Law No. 99-158; or
3. Subject to any other applicable state or federal law or regulation governing animal research as in effect on July 1, 2011.
(xi) Disposing of or destroying certain dogs under authority of Sections 19-5-50, 21-19-9 and 41-53-11, which allow counties, municipalities and certain law enforcement officers to destroy dogs running at large without proper identification indicating that such dogs have been vaccinated for rabies.
(b) If the owner or person in control of a dog or cat is precluded, by natural or other causes beyond his reasonable control as described in this subsection (5), from acting to prevent an act or omission that might otherwise constitute an allegation of the offense of simple cruelty to a dog or cat or the offense of aggravated cruelty to a dog or cat, then that person shall not be guilty of the offense. Natural or other causes beyond the reasonable control of the person include, without limitation, acts of God, declarations of disaster, emergencies, acts of war, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, floods or other natural disasters.
(4) The provisions of this section shall not be construed to:
(a) Apply to any animal other than a dog or cat.
(b) Create any civil or criminal liability on the part of the driver of a motor vehicle if a dog or cat is accidentally injured or killed as a result of being hit by the vehicle.
(5) (a) Except as otherwise provided in Section 97-35-47 for the false reporting of a crime, a person, who, in good faith and acting without malice, reports a suspected incident of simple or aggravated cruelty to a dog or cat to a local animal control, protection or welfare organization, a local law enforcement agency or the Mississippi Department of Public Safety shall be immune from civil and criminal liability for reporting the incident.
(b) A licensed veterinarian or a person acting at the direction of a licensed veterinarian, who in good faith and acting without malice, participates in the investigation of the alleged offense of cruelty to a dog or cat, or makes a decision or renders services regarding the care of a dog or cat that is involved in the investigation, shall be immune from civil and criminal liability for those acts.
SECTION 2. Section 97-41-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-41-1. Except as otherwise provided in Section 97-41-16 for a dog or cat, if any person shall override, overdrive, overload, torture, torment, unjustifiably injure, deprive of necessary sustenance, food, or drink; or cruelly beat or needlessly mutilate; or cause or procure to be overridden, overdriven, overloaded, tortured, unjustifiably injured, tormented, or deprived of necessary sustenance, food or drink; or to be cruelly beaten or needlessly mutilated or killed, any living creature, every such offender shall, for every offense, be guilty of a misdemeanor.
SECTION 3. Section 97-41-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-41-5. Except as otherwise provided in Section 97-41-16 for a dog or cat, if any person shall carry, or cause to be carried by hand or in or upon any vehicle or other conveyance, any creature in a cruel or inhuman manner, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
SECTION 4. Section 97-41-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-41-7. Except as otherwise provided in Section 97-41-16 for a dog or cat, if any person shall confine, or cause to be confined, in any stable, lot, or other place, any living creature, without supplying the same during such confinement with a sufficient quantity of good and wholesome food and water, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
SECTION 5. Section 97-41-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-41-9. Except as otherwise provided in Section 97-41-16 for a dog or cat, if any person be the owner or have the custody of any living creature and unjustifiably neglect or refuse to furnish it necessary sustenance, food, or drink, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
SECTION 6. Section 97-41-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-41-17. Every person who shall willfully and unlawfully administer any poison to any horse, mare, colt, mule, jack, jennet, cattle, deer, * * * hog, sheep, chicken, duck, goose, turkey, pea-fowl, guinea-fowl, or partridge, or shall maliciously expose any poison substance with intent that the same should be taken or swallowed by any horse, mare, colt, mule, jack, jennet, cattle, * * * hog, sheep, chicken, duck, goose, turkey, pea-fowl, guinea-fowl, or partridge, shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the Penitentiary not exceeding three (3) years, or in the county jail not exceeding one (1) year, and by a fine not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00).
SECTION 7. Section 97-41-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-41-21. (1) An individual shall not do either of the following:
(a) Willfully and maliciously assault, beat, harass, injure, or attempt to assault, beat, harass or injure, a dog that he or she knows or has reason to believe is a guide or leader dog for a blind individual, a hearing dog for a deaf or audibly impaired individual, * * * a service dog for a physically limited individual, or a support dog for a mobility impaired person as described in Sections 43-6-151 through 43-6-155.
(b) Willfully and maliciously impede or interfere with, or attempt to impede or interfere with, duties performed by a dog that he or she knows or has reason to believe is a guide or leader dog for a blind individual, a hearing dog for a deaf or audibly impaired individual, * * * a service dog for a physically limited individual, or a support dog for a mobility impaired person as described in Sections 43-6-151 through 43-6-155.
(2) An individual who violates subsection (1) is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than ninety (90) days or a fine of not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or both.
(3) In a prosecution for a violation of subsection (1), evidence that the defendant initiated or continued conduct directed toward a dog described in subsection (1) after being requested to avoid or discontinue that conduct or similar conduct by a blind, deaf, audibly impaired, physically limited or mobility impaired individual being served or assisted by the dog shall give rise to a rebuttable presumption that the conduct was initiated or continued maliciously.
(4) A conviction and imposition of a sentence under this section does not prevent a conviction and imposition of a sentence under Section 97-41-16 pertaining to the offense of cruelty to a dog or cat, or any other applicable provision of law.
(5) As used in this section:
(a) "Audibly impaired" means the inability to hear air conduction thresholds at an average of forty (40) decibels or greater in the individual's better ear.
(b) "Blind" means having a visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the individual's better eye with correction, or having a limitation of the individual's field of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angular distance not greater than twenty (20) degrees.
(c) "Deaf" means the individual's hearing is totally impaired or the individual's hearing, with or without amplification, is so seriously impaired that the primary means of receiving spoken language is through other sensory input, including, but not limited to, lip reading, sign language, finger spelling or reading.
(d) "Harass" means to engage in any conduct directed toward a guide, leader, hearing or service dog that is likely to impede or interfere with the dog's performance of its duties or that places the blind, deaf, audibly impaired or physically limited individual being served or assisted by the dog in danger of injury.
(e) "Injure" means to cause any physical injury to a dog described in subsection (1).
(f) "Maliciously" means any of the following:
(i) With intent to assault, beat, harass or injure a dog described in subsection (1).
(ii) With intent to impede or interfere with duties performed by a dog described in subsection (1).
(iii) With intent to disturb, endanger or cause emotional distress to a blind, deaf, audibly impaired or physically limited individual being served or assisted by a dog described in subsection (1).
(iv) With knowledge that the individual's conduct will, or is likely to, harass or injure a dog described in subsection (1).
(v) With knowledge that the individual's conduct will, or is likely to, impede or interfere with duties performed by a dog described in subsection (1).
(vi) With knowledge that the individual's conduct will, or is likely to, disturb, endanger or cause emotional distress to a blind, deaf, audibly impaired or physically limited individual being served or assisted by a dog described in subsection (1).
(g) "Physically limited" means having limited ambulatory abilities and includes, but is not limited to, having a temporary or permanent impairment or condition that does one or more of the following:
(i) Causes the individual to use a wheelchair or walk with difficulty or insecurity.
(ii) Affects sight or hearing to the extent that an individual is insecure or exposed to danger.
(iii) Causes faulty coordination.
(iv) Reduces mobility, flexibility, coordination or perceptiveness.
SECTION 8. Section 97-41-23, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-41-23. (1) It is unlawful for any person to willfully and maliciously taunt, torment, tease, beat, strike, or to administer, expose or inject any desensitizing drugs, chemicals or substance to any public service animal. Any person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) and be imprisoned not more than five (5) days, or both.
(2) Any person who, without just cause, purposely kills or injures any public service animal is guilty of a felony and upon conviction shall be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) and be imprisoned not more than five (5) years, or both.
(3) For purposes of this section, the term "public service animal" means any animal trained and used to assist a law enforcement agency, public safety entity or search and rescue agency.
(4) A conviction and imposition of a sentence under this section does not prevent a conviction and imposition of a sentence under Section 97-41-16 pertaining to the offense of cruelty to a dog or cat, or any other applicable provision of law.
(5) Any person guilty of violating subsection (2) of this section shall also be required to make restitution to the law enforcement agency or owner aggrieved thereby.
(6) The provisions of this section shall not apply to the lawful practice of veterinary medicine.
SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
