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Introduced Version Senate Bill 144 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted


Senate Bill No. 144

(By Senators Rowe, Kessler, Caldwell, Edgell, Sprouse and McKenzie)

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[Introduced February 16, 2001; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section nineteen, article eight, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to preventing cruelty to animals during extreme weather conditions.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section nineteen, article eight, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8. CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY AND DECENCY.
§61-8-19. Cruelty to animals; penalties; exclusions.
(a) If any person cruelly mistreats, abandons or withholds proper sustenance, including food, water, shelter or medical treatment necessary to sustain normal health and fitness or to end suffering or abandons any animal to die, or during extreme weather conditions fails to take special measures to prevent freezing, heat exhaustion, or other severe injury, or uses, trains or possesses any domesticated animal for the purpose of seizing, detaining or maltreating any other domesticated animal, he or she is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or confined in the county jail not more than six months, or both so fined and confined.
(b) Any person, other than a licensed veterinarian or a person acting under the direction or with the approval of a licensed veterinarian, who knowingly and willfully administers or causes to be administered to any animal participating in any contest any controlled substance or any other drug for the purpose of altering or otherwise affecting said animal's performance is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars.
(c) Any person convicted of a violation of this section shall forfeit his or her interest in any such animal and all interest in such animal shall vest in the humane society or county pound of the county in which said conviction was rendered, and such person shall, in addition to any fine imposed, be liable for any costs incurred or to be incurred by the humane society or county pound as a result.
(d) For the purpose of this section, the term "controlled substance" shall have the same meaning ascribed to it by subsection (d), section one hundred one, article one, chapter sixty-a of this code.
(e) The provisions of this section do not apply to lawful acts of hunting, fishing, trapping or animal training or farm livestock, poultry, gaming fowl or wildlife kept in private or licensed game farms if kept and maintained according to usual and accepted standards of livestock, poultry, gaming fowl or wildlife or game farm production and management, nor to humane use of animals or activities regulated under and in conformity with the provisions of 7 U.S.C. §2131 et seq. and the regulations promulgated thereunder, as both such statutes and regulations are in effect on the effective date of this section.
(f) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, any person convicted of a second violation of said subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor and, shall be confined in jail for a period of not less than ninety days nor more than one year, fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or both. The incarceration set forth in this subsection shall be mandatory unless the provisions of subsection (g) of this section are complied with.
(g) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, no person who has been convicted of a second or subsequent violation of the provisions of subsection (a) of this section may be granted probation until the defendant has undergone a complete psychiatric or psychological evaluation and the court has reviewed such evaluation. Unless the defendant is determined by the court to be indigent, he or she shall be responsible for the cost of said evaluation.
(h) In addition to any other penalty which can be imposed for a violation of this section, a court may, as a condition of probation, prohibit any person so convicted from possessing or owning any animal or type of animal during the period of probation.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to include the failure to take preventive measures during extreme weather conditions as part of the definition of animal cruelty, and therefore, to make such an act or failure to act a crime.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
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