US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

                                  TITLE  18
                            CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
                                  CHAPTER 70
                       TRESPASS AND MALICIOUS INJURIES
                                 TO PROPERTY
    18-7039.  KILLING AND OTHERWISE MISTREATING POLICE DOGS, POLICE HORSES,
SEARCH AND RESCUE DOGS AND ACCELERANT DETECTION DOGS. (1) Definitions:
    (a)  "Police dog" shall include:
         (i)   "Bomb detection dog" means a dog trained to locate bombs or
         explosives by scent;
         (ii)  "Narcotic detection dog" means a dog trained to locate
         narcotics by scent;
         (iii) "Patrol dog" means a dog trained to protect a peace officer and
         to apprehend a person;
         (iv)  "Tracking dog" means a dog trained to track and find a missing
         person, escaped inmate or fleeing felon.
    (b)  "Police horse" means any horse which is owned, or the service of
    which is employed, by a law enforcement agency for the principal purpose
    of aiding in detection of criminal activity, enforcement of laws and
    apprehension of offenders.
    (c)  "Search and rescue dog" means a dog which is trained to locate lost
    or missing persons, victims of natural or man-made disasters, and human
    bodies.
    (d)  "Accelerant detection dog" means a dog which is used exclusively for
    accelerant detection, commonly referred to as arson canines.
    (2)  The provisions of this section shall apply to police dogs and police
horses used by peace officers, including any used by a corrections officer in
the performance of the officer's duties, and to search and rescue dogs and
accelerant detection dogs used by peace officers or certified handlers under
the supervision of a peace officer. The provisions of this section shall apply
when the animals are on duty and when not on duty.
    (3)  Any person who willfully and maliciously and with no legal
justification, and with intent to inflict such injury or death, personally
causes the death, destruction, or serious physical injury including bone
fracture, loss or impairment of function of any bodily organ, wounds requiring
extensive suturing, or serious crippling, of any police dog, police horse,
search and rescue dog or accelerant detection dog, shall be guilty of a felony
under this section and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state
penitentiary for a period not to exceed five (5) years, or by a fine not to
exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both such fine and imprisonment.
    (4)  Any person who willfully, maliciously and with no legal
justification, throws, hurls or projects at a police dog, police horse or
search and rescue dog, any rock, object or other substance which is used in
such a manner as to be capable of producing injury and likely to produce
injury or kicks, strikes, beats, or torments any police dog, police horse or
search and rescue dog is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by
imprisonment for not more than one (1) year or by a fine not exceeding one
thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both such fine and imprisonment.
    (5)  Any person who willfully and maliciously and with no legal
justification, interferes with or obstructs any police dog, police horse or
search and rescue dog being used by any peace officer in the discharge of the
officer's duties by teasing, agitating, harassing such animals, or who causes
another person or persons, animal or animals, to do likewise, is guilty of a
misdemeanor and shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one (1)
year or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both such
fine and imprisonment.
    (6)  In any case in which a defendant is convicted of a violation of the
provisions of this section, the defendant shall be ordered to make restitution
to the agency owning the animal and employing the peace officer for any
veterinary bills, replacement costs of the animal if it is disabled or killed,
and the salary of the peace officer for the period of time his or her services
are lost to the agency.
    (7)  The provisions of this subsection do not apply to peace officers or
veterinarians who terminate the life of such a police dog, police horse or
search and rescue dog for the purpose of relieving the police dog, police
horse or search and rescue dog of undue pain or suffering.