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Texas Cruelty to Animals Statutes
Health and Safety Code
Title 10. Health and Safety of Animals
Chapter 821. Treatment and Disposition of Animals
Subchapter A. Treatment of Animals
821.001. Definition
821.002. Treatment of Impounded Animals
821.004. Knowledge or Acts of Corporate Agent or Employee
821.021. Definition
SECTION 2. Sections 821.022-821.025, Health and Safety
Sec. 821.023. HEARING; ORDER OF DISPOSITION [SALE] OR
RETURN OF ANIMAL.
In this subchapter, "animal" includes every living dumb creature.
(a) A person who impounds or causes the impoundment of an animal under state law or municipal ordinance shall supply the animal with sufficient wholesome food and water during its confinement.
(b) If an animal impounded under Subsection (a) continues to be without necessary food and water for more than 12 successive hours, any person may enter the pound or corral as often as necessary to supply the animal with necessary food and water. That person may recover the reasonable cost of the food and water from the owner of the animal. The animal is not exempt from levy and sale on execution of a judgment issued to recover those costs.
The knowledge and acts of an agent or employee of a corporation in regard to an animal transported, owned, or used by or in the custody of the corporation are the knowledge and acts of the corporation.
In this subchapter, "cruelly treated" includes tortured, seriously overworked, unreasonably abandoned, unreasonably deprived of necessary food, care, or shelter, cruelly confined, or caused to fight with another animal.
Code, are amended to read as follows:
Sec. 821.022. SEIZURE OF CRUELLY TREATED ANIMAL.
(a) If a
peace officer [county sheriff, constable, or deputy constable] or
an officer who has responsibility for animal control in a county or
municipality has reason to believe that an animal has been or is
being cruelly treated, the officer [he] may apply to a justice court
or magistrate in the county or to a municipal court in the
municipality in which the animal is located for a warrant to seize
the animal.
(b) On a showing of probable cause to believe that the
animal has been or is being cruelly treated, the court or magistrate
shall issue the warrant and set a time within 10 calendar days of
the date of issuance for a hearing in the appropriate justice court
or municipal court to determine whether the animal has been cruelly
treated.
(c) The officer executing the warrant shall cause the animal
to be impounded and shall give written notice to the owner of the
animal of the time and place of the hearing.
(a) A finding in a [county] court of competent
jurisdiction that the owner of an animal is guilty of an offense
under Section 42.09, Penal Code, involving the animal is prima
facie evidence at a hearing authorized by Section 821.022 that the
animal has been cruelly treated.
Sec. 821.024. SALE OR DISPOSITION OF CRUELLY TREATED
ANIMAL.
(b) A statement of an owner made at a hearing provided for
under this subchapter is not admissible in a trial of the owner for
an offense under Section 42.09, Penal Code.
(c) Each interested party is entitled to an opportunity to
present evidence at the hearing.
(d) If [Except as provided by Subsection (e), if] the court
finds that the animal's owner has cruelly treated the animal, the
owner shall be divested of ownership of the animal, and the court
shall:
(1) order a public sale of the animal by auction;
(e) A [If the] court that finds that an [the] animal's owner
has cruelly treated the animal shall order the owner to pay all
court costs, including costs of:
(2) order the animal given to a nonprofit animal
shelter, pound, or society for the protection of animals; or
(3) order the animal humanely destroyed if the court
decides that the best interests of the animal or that the public
health and safety would be served by doing so.
(1) investigation;
the
owner shall be divested of ownership and the court shall order a
public sale of the animal by auction, order the animal given to a
nonprofit animal shelter, pound, or society for the protection of
animals, or order the animal humanely destroyed if the court
decides that the best interests of the animal or that the public
health and safety would be served by doing so. In this subsection,
"farm livestock" means cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, mules, horses,
jacks, jennets, or poultry raised or used on a farm or ranch for
food or for the production of legal income].
(2) expert witnesses;
(3) housing and caring for the animal during its
impoundment;
(4) conducting any public sale ordered by the court;
and
(5) humanely destroying the animal if destruction is
ordered by the court [and that the animal is farm livestock,
(f) The court may order that an animal disposed of under
Subsection (d)(1) or (d)(2) be spayed or neutered at the cost of the
receiving party.
(g) The court shall order the animal returned to the owner
if the court does not find that the animal's owner has cruelly
treated the animal.
(a) Notice of an auction ordered under this subchapter
must be posted on a public bulletin board where other public notices
are posted for the county or municipality. At the auction, a bid by
the former owner of a cruelly treated animal or the owner's
representative may not be accepted.
Sec. 821.025. APPEAL.
(b) Proceeds from the sale of the animal shall be applied
first to any costs owed by the former owner under Section 821.023(e)
[the expenses incurred in caring for the animal during impoundment
and in conducting the auction]. The officer conducting the auction
shall pay any excess proceeds to the justice or municipal court
ordering the auction. The court shall return the excess proceeds to
the former owner of the animal.
(c) If the officer is unable to sell the animal at auction,
the officer [he] may cause the animal to be humanely destroyed or
may give the animal to a nonprofit animal shelter, pound, or society
for the protection of animals.
(a) An owner of an animal ordered
sold at public auction as provided in this subchapter may appeal the
order to a county court or county court at law in the county in which
the justice or municipal court is located. As a condition of
perfecting an appeal, the owner must file an appeal bond in an
amount determined by the justice or municipal court to be adequate
to cover the estimated expenses incurred in housing and caring for
the impounded animal during the appeal process. The decision of the
county court or county court at law may not be further appealed. An
owner may not appeal an order:
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
(1) to give the animal to a nonprofit animal shelter,
pound, or society for the protection of animals; or
(b) While an appeal under this section is pending, the
animal may not be:
(2) to humanely destroy the animal.
(1) sold[, destroyed,] or given away as provided by
Sections 821.023 and 821.024; or
(2) destroyed, except under circumstances which would
require the humane destruction of the animal to prevent undue pain
to or suffering of the animal [821.022-821.024].
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;
(b) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the actor was engaged in bona fide experimentation for scientific research.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(g) An offense under Subsection (a)(1), (5), (6), (7), or 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.
(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
(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
(2) animal husbandry or farming practice involving livestock.
(B) wildlife control as regulated by state and federal law; or
Title 3. Juvenile Justice Dode
Chapter 54. Judicial Proceedings
54.0407. Cruelty to Animals: Counseling Required
If a child is found to have engaged in delinquent conduct constituting an offense under Section 42.09, Penal Code, the juvenile court shall order the child to participate in psychological counseling for a period to be determined by the court.
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