California
Anti-Cruelty StatutesCALIFORNIA
PENAL CODE
PART 1. OF CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
TITLE 14. MALICIOUS MISCHIEF
§
597. Cruelty to animals
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (c) of this section or Section 599c, every
person who maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, tortures, or wounds
a living animal, or maliciously and intentionally kills an animal, is guilty of
an offense punishable by imprisonment in the state prison, or by a fine of not
more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment,
or, alternatively, by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year,
or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the
fine and imprisonment.
(b)
Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (a) or (c), every person who overdrives,
overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures, torments, deprives of
necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter, cruelly beats, mutilates, or cruelly
kills any animal, or causes or procures any animal to be so overdriven, overloaded,
driven when overloaded, overworked, tortured, tormented, deprived of necessary
sustenance, drink, shelter, or to be cruelly beaten, mutilated, or cruelly killed;
and whoever, having the charge or custody of any animal, either as owner or otherwise,
subjects any animal to needless suffering, or inflicts unnecessary cruelty upon
the animal, or in any manner abuses any animal, or fails to provide the animal
with proper food, drink, or shelter or protection from the weather, or who drives,
rides, or otherwise uses the animal when unfit for labor, is, for every such offense,
guilty of a crime punishable as a misdemeanor or as a felony or alternatively
punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony and by a fine of not more than twenty
thousand dollars ($20,000).
(c)
Every person who maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, or tortures any
mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, or fish as described in subdivision (d), is
guilty of an offense punishable by imprisonment in the state prison, or by a fine
of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment,
or, alternatively, by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year,
by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine
and imprisonment.
(d)
Subdivision (c) applies to any mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, or fish which
is a creature described as follows: -
(1)
Endangered species or threatened species as described in Chapter 1.5 (commencing
with Section 2050) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code. -
(2) Fully protected birds
described in Section 3511 of the Fish and Game Code. -
(3)
Fully protected mammals described in Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4700)
of Part 3 of Division 4 of the Fish and Game Code. -
(4)
Fully protected reptiles and amphibians described in Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 5050) of Division 5 of the Fish and Game Code. -
(5)
Fully protected fish as described in Section 5515 of the Fish and Game Code. This
subdivision does not supersede or affect any provisions of law relating to taking
of the described species, including, but not limited to, Section 12008 of the
Fish and Game Code. (e)
For the purposes of subdivision (c), each act of malicious and intentional maiming,
mutilating, or torturing a separate specimen of a creature described in subdivision
(d) is a separate offense. If any person is charged with a violation of subdivision
(c), the proceedings shall be subject to Section 12157 of the Fish and Game Code.
(f) Upon the conviction of a person charged with a violation of this section by
causing or permitting an act of cruelty, as defined in Section 599b, all animals
lawfully seized and impounded with respect to the violation by a peace officer,
officer of a humane society, or officer of a pound or animal regulation department
of a public agency shall be adjudged by the court to be forfeited and shall thereupon
be awarded to the impounding officer for proper disposition. A person convicted
of a violation of this section by causing or permitting an act of cruelty, as
defined in Section 599b, shall be liable to the impounding officer for all costs
of impoundment from the time of seizure to the time of proper disposition.
Mandatory
seizure or impoundment shall not apply to animals in properly conducted scientific
experiments or investigations performed under the authority of the faculty of
a regularly incorporated medical college or university of this state.
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