HB 709

Bill Subjects

Animals, Livestock, And Poultry Civil Procedure Corrections Impact Crimes And Punishments Criminal Procedure Dogs Local Mandate Peace Officers And Law Enforcement

Abstract

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 525 to define terms; establish crimes of animal abuse in the first degree and animal abuse in the second degree; authorize law enforcement and animal control officers to seize and hold animals who are victims of cruelty or abuse; allow a seizing agency to seek forfeiture and reimbursement for reasonable costs of caring for seized animals from the owner of the animal in the criminal case; provide that the costs of caring for a seized animal shall apply to any offspring born to that animal while in custody; grant civil immunity to a person who enters a car containing a dog or cat believed in good faith to be in danger of death, subject to certain parameters; amend KRS 525.125 and KRS 525.130 to provide for the seizure of animals from a person charged with cruelty to animals in the first degree and from a person charged with cruelty to animals in the second degree with additional available penalties; amend KRS 525.137 to allow seizure of an animal that has been the object of sexual crimes against an animal.