STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
460--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 4, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Agriculture -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to aggra-
vated cruelty to animals
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 353-a of the agriculture
2 and markets law, as added by chapter 118 of the laws of 1999, are
3 amended to read as follows:
4 1. A person is guilty of aggravated cruelty to animals when, with no
5 justifiable purpose, he or she intentionally kills or intentionally
6 causes serious physical injury to a companion animal or wildlife, as
7 defined in subdivision six of section 11-0103 of the environmental
8 conservation law, other than insects, with aggravated cruelty. For
9 purposes of this section, "aggravated cruelty" shall mean conduct which:
10 (i) is intended to cause extreme physical pain; or (ii) is done or
11 carried out in an especially depraved or sadistic manner.
12 2. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit or
13 interfere in any way with anyone lawfully engaged in hunting, trapping,
14 [or] fishing, or taking as provided in article eleven of the environ-
15 mental conservation law, activities deemed to be sound agricultural
16 practices pursuant to section three hundred eight of this chapter, or
17 reasonable activities for the purpose of managing pests that is in
18 accordance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations, the
19 dispatch of rabid or diseased animals, as provided in article twenty-one
20 of the public health law, or the dispatch of animals posing a threat to
21 human safety or other animals, where such action is otherwise legally
22 authorized, or any properly conducted scientific tests, experiments, or
23 investigations involving the use of living animals, performed or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00711-03-3
S. 460--A 2
1 conducted in laboratories or institutions approved for such purposes by
2 the commissioner of health pursuant to section three hundred fifty-three
3 of this article.
4 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
5 have become a law.
