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What is Animal Cruelty?

An Overview of Animal Cruelty Laws in Massachusetts

Below is a summary of the main tenets of the animal cruelty laws.

It is unlawful for an owner or custodian of an animal:

  • To fail to provide an animal with:
    – Proper food and water
    – Shelter or protection from the weather
    – Veterinary attention needed to reduce or end suffering from disease or injury
    – A sanitary environment
  • To willfully abandon an animal
  • To carry or cause an animal to be carried in or on a vehicle in a manner that endangers the animal including transport of an improperly secured animal
  • To willfully permit an animal to be subjected to unnecessary torture, suffering or cruelty
  • To subject, cause or procure an animal:
    – To be tortured or tormented
    – To be cruelly killed, beaten or mutilated
  • To fail to notify the owner or police after striking a dog or cat with a motor vehicle
  • To use animals as lure or bait in a cruel or inhuman manner
  • To transport an animal in the back of a motor vehicle unless animal is properly restrained
  • To offer or give away any live animal (including goldfish) as a prize in a game of skill or chance
  • To attend an animal fighting event; to establish or promote an exhibition of animal fighting; or to own, possess, keep or train or breed any animal to fight
  • To use live vertebrates for experiments or exhibitions in a manner that causes them pain or interferes with their normal health