Is animal cruelty a felony?

Animal abuse is already a felony in 13 states and in Washington, DC., but it had been previously classified with other miscellaneous crimes, making it impossible to get a handle on the patterns of animal-abuse crimes. read more

For more than three decades, the Animal Legal Defense Fund has been fighting to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. read more

Many law schools now offer specific courses on the subject, all 50 states have animal cruelty felony provisions (most of felony provisions are for malicious, willful, or aggravated animal cruelty (language varies from state to state) when only four had such penalties in 1986, and the FBI just this year started collecting data on arrests for animal cruelty, which was previously lumped into the “other crimes” category. read more