Texas
Anti-Cruelty
StatutesTEXAS
STATUTES AND CODES
PENAL CODE
TITLE 9. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ORDER AND
DECENCY
CHAPTER 42. DISORDERLY CONDUCT AND RELATED OFFENSES
§
42.09. Cruelty to Animals
(a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally
or knowingly: (1) tortures an animal;
(2) fails unreasonably to
provide necessary food, care, or shelter for
an animal in the person's custody;
(3) abandons unreasonably an animal in the person's custody;
(4)
transports or confines an animal in a cruel manner;
(5) kills, seriously
injures, or administers poison to an animal, other
than cattle, horses, sheep,
swine, or goats, belonging to another
without legal authority or the owner's
effective consent;
(6) causes one animal to fight with another;
(7) uses a live animal as a lure in dog race training or in dog
coursing
on a racetrack;
(8) trips a horse;
(9) injures an animal, other
than cattle, horses, sheep, swine, or
goats, belonging to another without
legal authority or the owner's
effective consent; or
(10) seriously
overworks an animal. (b) It is a defense to prosecution under this section
that the actor was engaged in bona fide experimentation for scientific research.
(c) For purposes of this section: (1) "Abandon" includes
abandoning an animal in the person's custody
without making reasonable arrangements
for assumption of custody by
another person.
(2) "Animal"
means a domesticated living creature and wild living
creature previously
captured. "Animal" does not include an uncaptured
wild creature
or a wild creature whose capture was accomplished by
conduct at issue under
this section.
(3) "Cruel manner" includes a manner that causes
or permits unjustified
or unwarranted pain or suffering.
(4) "Custody"
includes responsibility for the health, safety, and
welfare of an animal
subject to the person's care and control,
regardless of ownership of the
animal.
(5) "Necessary food, care, or shelter" includes food,
care, or shelter
provided to the extent required to maintain the animal in
a state of
good health.
(6) "Trip" means to use an object
to cause a horse to fall or lose its
balance. (d) An offense under
Subsection (a)(2), (3), (4), (9), or (10) is a Class A misdemeanor, except that
the offense is a state jail felony if the person has previously been convicted
two times under this section.
(e) It is a defense to prosecution under
Subsection (a)(5) that the animal was discovered on the person's property in the
act of or immediately after injuring or killing the person's goats, sheep, cattle,
horses, swine, or poultry and that the person killed or injured the animal at
the time of this discovery.
(f) It is a defense to prosecution under
Subsection (a)(8) that the actor tripped the horse for the purpose of identifying
the ownership of the horse or giving veterinary care to the horse.
NOTICE:
FIRST OF TWO VERSIONS OF SUBSEC. (g)
As added by Acts 2001, ch. 54, §
3.
(g) It is a defense to prosecution for an offense under this section
that the person had a reasonable fear of bodily injury to the person or to another
by a dangerous wild animal as defined by Section 822.101, Health and Safety Code.
NOTICE: SECOND OF TWO VERSIONS OF SUBSEC. (g)
As added by Acts 2001,
ch. 450, § 1.
(g) An offense under Subsection (a)(1), (5), (6),
(7), or (8) is a state jail felony, except that the offense is a felony of the
third degree if the person has previously been convicted two times under this
section.
(h) It is an exception to the application of this section that
the conduct engaged in by the actor is a generally accepted and otherwise lawful:
(1) use of an animal if that use occurs solely for the purpose of: (A)
fishing, hunting, or trapping; or
(B) wildlife control as regulated by
state and federal law; or (2) animal husbandry or farming practice involving
livestock.
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