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§ 13-2910. Cruelty to animals; interference with working or service animal;
classification; definitions
A. A person commits cruelty to animals if the person does any of the following:
1. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly subjects any animal under the person's custody
or control to cruel neglect or abandonment.
2. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly fails to provide medical attention necessary to
prevent protracted suffering to any animal under the person's custody or control.
3. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly inflicts unnecessary physical injury to any
animal.
4. Recklessly subjects any animal to cruel mistreatment.
5. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly kills any animal under the custody or control of
another person without either legal privilege or consent of the owner.
6. Recklessly interferes with, kills or harms a working or service animal without either
legal privilege or consent of the owner.
7. Intentionally or knowingly subjects any animal under the person's custody or control to
cruel neglect or abandonment that results in serious physical injury to the animal.
8. Intentionally or knowingly subjects any animal to cruel mistreatment.
9. Intentionally or knowingly interferes with, kills or harms a working or service animal
without either legal privilege or consent of the owner.
B. It is a defense to subsection A of this section if:
1. Any person exposes poison to be taken by a dog which has killed or wounded livestock or
poison to be taken by predatory animals on premises owned, leased or controlled by the
person for the purpose of protecting the person or the person's livestock or poultry, and
the treated property is kept posted by the person who authorized or performed the
treatment until the poison has been removed, and the poison is removed by the person
exposing the poison after the threat to the person, or the person's livestock or poultry
has ceased to exist. The posting required shall provide adequate warning to persons who
enter the property by the point or points of normal entry. The warning notice which is
posted shall be readable at a distance of fifty feet, shall contain a poison statement and
symbol and shall state the word "danger" or "warning".
2. Any person uses poisons in and immediately around buildings owned, leased or controlled
by the person for the purpose of controlling wild and domestic rodents as otherwise
allowed by the laws of the state, excluding any fur- bearing animals as defined in §
17-101.
C. This section does not prohibit or restrict:
1. The taking of wildlife or other activities permitted by or pursuant to title 17.
2. Activities permitted by or pursuant to title 3.
3. Activities regulated by the Arizona game and fish department or the Arizona department
of agriculture.
D. A person who is convicted of a violation of subsection A, paragraph 6 or 9 is liable as
follows:
1. If the working or service animal was killed or disabled, to the owner or agency that
owns the working or service animal and that employs the handler or to the owner or handler
for the replacement and training costs of the working or service animal and for any
veterinary bills.
2. To the owner or agency that owns a working or service animal for the salary of the
handler for the period of time that the handler's services are lost to the owner or
agency.
3. To the owner for the owner's contractual losses with the agency.
E. An incorporated city or town or a county may adopt an ordinance with misdemeanor
provisions at least as stringent as the misdemeanor provisions of this section.
F. A person who violates subsection A, paragraph 1 through 6 is guilty of a class 1
misdemeanor. A person who violates subsection A, paragraph 7 through 9 is guilty of a
class 6 felony.
G. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Animal" means a mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian.
2. "Cruel mistreatment" means to torture or otherwise inflict unnecessary
serious physical injury upon an animal or to kill an animal in a manner that causes
protracted suffering to the animal.
3. "Cruel neglect" means to fail to provide an animal with necessary food, water
or shelter.
4. "Handler" means a law enforcement officer or any other person who has
successfully completed a course of training prescribed by the person's agency or the
service animal owner and who used a specially trained animal under the direction of the
person's agency or the service animal owner.
5. "Service animal" means an animal that has completed a formal training
program, that assists its owner in one or more daily living tasks that are associated with
a productive life-style and that is trained to not pose a danger to the health and safety
of the general public.
6. "Working animal" means a horse or dog that is used by a law enforcement
agency, that is specially trained for law enforcement work and that is under the control
of a handler.
§ 13-2910.06. Defense to cruelty to animals and bird fighting
It is a defense to §§ 13-2910, 13-2910.01, 13-2910.02, 13-2910.03 and 13- 2910.04 that
the activity charged involves the possession, training, exhibition or use of a bird or
animal in the otherwise lawful sports of falconry, animal hunting, rodeos, ranching or the
training or use of hunting dogs.
Amended in 1998, 1999, 2000.
Reviewed by AAHS in September 2001.
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