What's happening
This bill expands aggravated cruelty to animals to include wildlife, with exceptions for legal hunting, fishing, and agricultural practices.
Why it matters
Expanding the law to protect wildlife as well as companion animals means that acts of severe cruelty—such as torturing or intentionally inflicting extreme pain—toward wild animals (not just pets) can now be prosecuted as aggravated cruelty, closing a significant gap in animal protection.
The bill specifically exempts legal hunting, fishing, trapping, agriculture, scientific research, and necessary dispatching of dangerous or diseased animals, aiming to avoid criminalizing accepted practices while still targeting wanton or sadistic acts.
By including wildlife, the legislation could deter acts like poaching or the intentional torture of wild animals for entertainment or revenge, potentially improving New York’s reputation and standards for animal welfare.
The new law may increase legal consequences for those who harm wildlife in particularly egregious ways, providing law enforcement and prosecutors with clearer authority to address extreme animal cruelty cases outside traditional pet abuse scenarios.
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Who cares
Wildlife protection advocates
The bill would extend aggravated animal cruelty protections to wildlife other than insects when intentional killing or serious injury has no justifiable purpose and involves extreme pain or especially depraved or sadistic conduct.
Prosecutors and law enforcement agencies
The bill would expand the aggravated cruelty provision beyond companion animals to cover qualifying acts against wildlife.
Farmers
The bill would expressly exempt activities deemed sound agricultural practices from the aggravated cruelty provision.
Hunters, trappers and anglers
The bill would preserve the existing exemption for lawful hunting, trapping and fishing while extending aggravated cruelty protections to wildlife.
Headline styles
Protect Wildlife from Cruelty
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
10 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to codes
- Reported referred to codes
- Referred to agriculture
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Protect Wildlife from Cruelty
In Senate Committee · Domestic Animal Welfare · Sponsor Luis R. Sepúlveda
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
663
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL, BENEDETTO, PAULIN, RAIA, ENGLE- BRIGHT, WEPRIN, OTIS, DiPIETRO, SANTABARBARA, FAHY, BUCHWALD -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. COLTON, DINOWITZ, GLICK, HEVESI, LIFTON, LUPARDO, McDONOUGH, PERRY -- read once and referred to the Committee on Agriculture
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to aggravated cruelty to animals
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 353-a of the agriculture and markets law, as added by chapter 118 of the laws of 1999, are amended to read as follows:
1. A person is guilty of aggravated cruelty to animals when, with no justifiable purpose, he or she intentionally kills or intentionally causes serious physical injury to a companion animal or wildlife, as defined in subdivision six of section 11-0103 of the environmental conservation law, other than insects, with aggravated cruelty. For purposes of this section, "aggravated cruelty" shall mean conduct which: (i) is intended to cause extreme physical pain; or (ii) is done or carried out in an especially depraved or sadistic manner.
2. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit or interfere in any way with anyone lawfully engaged in hunting, trapping, or fishing, as provided in article eleven of the environmental conservation law, activities deemed to be sound agricultural practices pursuant to section three hundred eight of this chapter, the dispatch of rabid or diseased animals, as provided in article twenty-one of the public health law, or the dispatch of animals posing a threat to human safety or other animals, where such action is otherwise legally authorized, or any properly conducted scientific tests, experiments, or investigations involving the use of living animals, performed or conducted in laboratories or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01851-01-9
A. 663 2
institutions approved for such purposes by the commissioner of health pursuant to section three hundred fifty-three of this article.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.