Senate Bill No. 562
(By Senator Sprouse)
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[Introduced February 11, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article eight, chapter sixty-one of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
nineteen-b, relating to unlawful trapping of domestic animals;
and providing for a criminal penalty.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article eight, chapter sixty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
nineteen-b, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8. CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY AND DECENCY.
§61-8-19b. Trapping domestic animals prohibited; penalties.
(a) Any person who injures or kills a domestic animal by
intentionally trapping or ensnaring or attempting to trap or
ensnare the animal is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more
than one thousand dollars or confined in a county or regional jail
for not more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned.
NOTE:
The purpose of this bill is to
create a criminal
offense of injuring or killing a house pet or other domestic animal
by the use of a trap.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.