Cruelty to Animals

All states have broad statutes that prohibit neglect or cruel treatment of animals. Some also bar specific acts—for example, abandoning an animal or leaving it in a car without proper ventilation.

Neglect

Neglecting animals and causing them to suffer is against the law everywhere. For example, a state may make it a crime not to provide "food, water, protection from the elements, or other care needed for an animal's health and well-being."  Some states are more specific; in California, for example, it is illegal to leave an unattended animal tethered for more than three hours a day. (California Health & Safety Code section 122335.)  Some cities impose more detailed requirements in their local ordinances.

Unless a statute requires that the neglect be malicious, it doesn't matter that someone accused of neglecting animals didn't intend to be cruel. Under most statutes, it is enough that someone knowingly neglected animals. For example, a farmer who left cattle to starve because the market price of cattle dropped could be convicted under a neglect statute.

Cruelty

Malicious (intentionally mean) cruelty is punished more severely than other cruelty to animals. Typically, it’s punished by a state prison sentence, a fine of several thousand dollars, or both. 

Typically, a state statue might prohibit some or all of the following:

• torturing or seriously overworking an animal
• failing unreasonably to provide necessary food, care, or shelter for an animal
• abandoning an animal
• transporting or confining an animal in a cruel manner
• killing, injuring, or poisoning another person’s animal without legal authority or the owner's consent
• causing one animal to fight with another, or
• using a live animal as a lure in dog race training or racing.

Pet Shops and Puppy Mills

Some states have specific anti-cruelty laws that apply to pet stores, where animals are sometimes treated as just more merchandise.  Similar rules may apply to "puppy mills," the dog-breeding operations that provide pet shops across the country with puppies to sell. (Reputable dog breeders never sell their animals to pet stores.) Conditions are often deplorable, and they may be found in violation of local or state anti-cruelty laws or federal laws regulating interstate transport of animals.

Dog Fighting

Putting two animals in a ring and having them tear at each other is, obviously, animal cruelty of an extreme sort. Organized dog fighting is outlawed under specific state and federal statutes as well as by generic anti-cruelty laws.

Organized dog fighting is a felony in every state. (NFL quarterback Michael Vick went to prison after pleading guilty to felony charges stemming from an extensive dogfighting operation run from property he owned.)The Federal Animal Welfare Act also punishes dog fighting, if the dog was moved across state lines to fight, with a year in prison and fines up to $5,000. 

Putting a dog in the ring to fight is not the only conduct these laws punish. In many states, being a spectator at a dog fight is a felony; in almost all the rest, it’s a misdemeanor (a less serious crime). In only a couple of states is it legal. Laws in some states require veterinarians to tell notify law enforcement if they come across any dog injuries or deaths they think were inflicted in a dog fight.