(1) A person commits the offense of cruelty to animals in the first degree if the person intentionally or knowingly:

Attorney's Note

Under the Hawaii Revised Statutes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class C felonyup to 5 yearsup to $10,000
For details, see Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-660
criminal case

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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 711-1108.5

  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
(a) Tortures, mutilates, or poisons or causes the torture, mutilation, or poisoning of any pet animal or equine animal resulting in serious bodily injury or death of the pet animal or equine animal; or
(b) Kills or attempts to kill any pet animal belonging to another person, without first obtaining legal authority or the consent of the pet animal’s owner.
(2) Subsection (1)(a) shall not apply to:

(a) Accepted veterinary practices;
(b) Activities carried on for scientific research governed by standards of accepted educational or medicinal practices; or
(c) Cropping or docking as customarily practiced.
(3) Subsection (1)(b) shall not apply to:

(a) Humane euthanasia of any animal by an animal control officer, duly incorporated humane society, duly incorporated society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or duly authorized governmental agency in accordance with American Veterinary Medical Association accepted standards; or
(b) Conduct which the actor believes to be necessary to avoid an imminent harm or evil to the actor, another person, or an animal; provided that the harm or evil sought to be avoided by such conduct is greater than that sought to be prevented by this section and is justifiable as provided in § 703-302 for choice of evils; provided further that, for purposes of this paragraph, as the justification described in § 703-302 shall also apply to conduct which the actor believes to be necessary to avoid an imminent harm or evil to an animal.
(4) Whenever any pet animal or equine animal is so severely injured that there is no reasonable probability that its life can be saved, the animal may be immediately destroyed without creating any offense under this section.
(5) Cruelty to animals in the first degree is a class C felony. In addition to any fines and imprisonment imposed under this section, any person convicted under this section shall be prohibited from possessing or owning any pet animal or equine animal for a minimum of five years from the date of conviction.

For the purposes of this section, “person” means any individual; any firm, partnership, joint venture, association, limited liability company, corporation, estate, trust, receiver, or syndicate; or any other legal entity.

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