SENATE, No. 1767

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED JANUARY 14, 1997

By Senators BENNETT and CAFIERO

An Act concerning the exhibition of certain wild animals, amending R.S.4:22-26.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. R.S.4:22-26 is amended to read as follows:

    4:22-26. A person who shall:

    a. Overdrive, overload, drive when overloaded, overwork, torture, torment, deprive of necessary sustenance, or cruelly beat or otherwise abuse or needlessly mutilate or kill a living animal or creature;

    b. Cause or procure to be done by his agent, servant, employee or otherwise an act enumerated in subsection "a." of this section;

    c. Inflict unnecessary cruelty upon a living animal or creature of which he has charge or custody either as owner or otherwise, or unnecessarily fail to provide it with proper food, drink, shelter or protection from the weather;

    d. Receive or offer for sale a horse which by reason of disability, disease or lameness, or any other cause, could not be worked without violating the provisions of this article;

    e. Keep, use, be connected with or interested in the management of, or receive money or other consideration for the admission of a person to, a place kept or used for the purpose of fighting or baiting a living animal or creature;

    f. Be present and witness, pay admission to, encourage, aid or assist in an activity enumerated in subsection "e." of this section;

    g. Permit or suffer a place owned or controlled by him to be used as provided in subsection "e." of this section;

    h. Carry, or cause to be carried, a living animal or creature in or upon a vehicle or otherwise, in a cruel or inhuman manner;

    i. Use a dog or dogs for the purpose of drawing or helping to draw a vehicle for business purposes;

    j. Impound or confine or cause to be impounded or confined in a pound or other place a living animal or creature, and shall fail to supply it during such confinement with a sufficient quantity of good and wholesome food and water;

    k. Abandon a maimed, sick, infirm or disabled animal or creature to die in a public place;

    l. Willfully sell, or offer to sell, use, expose, or cause or permit to be sold or offered for sale, used or exposed, a horse or other animal having the disease known as glanders or farcy, or other contagious or infectious disease dangerous to the health or life of human beings or animals, or who shall, when any such disease is beyond recovery, refuse, upon demand, to deprive the animal of life;

    m. Own, operate, manage or conduct a roadside stand or market for the sale of merchandise along a public street or highway; or a shopping mall, or a part of the premises thereof; and keep a living animal or creature confined, or allowed to roam in an area whether or not the area is enclosed, on these premises as an exhibit; except that this subsection shall not be applicable to: a pet shop licensed pursuant to P.L.1941, c.151 (C.4:19-15.1 et seq.); a person who keeps an animal, in a humane manner, for the purpose of the protection of the premises; or a recognized breeders' association, a 4-H club, an educational agricultural program, an equestrian team, a humane society or other similar charitable or nonprofit organization conducting an exhibition, show or performance, or circuses properly licensed as exhibitors by the United States Department of Agriculture pursuant to the federal "Animal Welfare Act," 7 U.S.C. 2131, et seq., and authorized by the appropriate permits required by local ordinance, State and federal law;

    n. Keep or exhibit a wild animal at a roadside stand or market located along a public street or highway of this State; a gasoline station; or a shopping mall, or a part of the premises thereof, except if the person is a circus properly licensed as an exhibitor by the United States Department of Agriculture pursuant to the federal "Animal Welfare Act," 7 U.S.C. 2131, et seq., and has been authorized to keep or exhibit the wild animal by the appropriate permits required by local ordinance, State and federal law;

    o. Sell, offer for sale, barter or give away or display live baby chicks, ducklings or other fowl or rabbits, turtles or chameleons which have been dyed or artificially colored or otherwise treated so as to impart to them an artificial color;

    p. Use any animal, reptile, or fowl for the purpose of soliciting any alms, collections, contributions, subscriptions, donations, or payment of money except in connection with exhibitions, shows or performances conducted in a bona fide manner by recognized breeders' associations, 4-H clubs or other similar bona fide organizations;

    q. Sell or offer for sale, barter, or give away living rabbits, turtles, baby chicks, ducklings or other fowl under two months of age, for use as household or domestic pets;

    r. Sell, offer for sale, barter or give away living baby chicks, ducklings or other fowl, or rabbits, turtles or chameleons under two months of age for any purpose not prohibited by subsection q. of this section and who shall fail to provide proper facilities for the care of such animals;

    s. Artificially mark sheep or cattle, or cause them to be marked, by cropping or cutting off both ears, cropping or cutting either ear more than one inch from the tip end thereof, or half cropping or cutting both ears or either ear more than one inch from the tip end thereof, or who shall have or keep in his possession sheep or cattle, which he claims to own, marked contrary to this subsection unless they were bought in market or of a stranger;

    t. Abandon a domesticated animal;

    u. For amusement or gain, cause, allow, or permit the fighting or baiting of a living animal or creature;

    v. Own, possess, keep, train, promote, purchase, or knowingly sell a living animal or creature for the purpose of fighting or baiting that animal or creature; or

    w. Gamble on the outcome of a fight involving a living animal or creature--

    Shall forfeit and pay a sum not to exceed $250.00, except in the case of a violation of subsection "t." a mandatory sum of $500, and $1,000 if the violation occurs on or near a roadway, to be sued for and recovered, with costs, in a civil action by any person in the name of the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

(cf: P.L.1991, c.108, s.2.)

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill provides that the keeping or exhibiting of a wild animal or other type of animal along a roadway, at a market, or at a shopping mall by a circus properly licensed as an exhibitor by the United States Department of Agriculture and authorized to keep or exhibit the animal by the appropriate permits required by local ordinance, State and federal law, shall not constitute an act of cruelty pursuant to R.S.4:22-26.