West Virginia
Displaying 11 - 20 of 38
Title |
Summary |
|---|---|
| WV - Assistance Animal - Assistance Animal/Guide Dog Laws | The following statutes comprise the state's relevant assistance animal and guide dog laws. |
| WV - Charleston - Chapter 10: Animals (Article IV. Urban Deer Management) |
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| WV - Cruelty - Consolidated Cruelty Statutes | These West Virginia statutes comprise the state's anti-cruelty and animal fighting provisions. If any person cruelly mistreats, abandons or withholds proper sustenance, including food, water, shelter or medical treatment, necessary to sustain normal health and fitness or to end suffering or abandons any animal to die, or uses, trains or possesses any domesticated animal for the purpose of seizing, detaining or maltreating any other domesticated animal, he or she is guilty of a misdemeanor. If any person intentionally tortures or maliciously kills an animal, or causes, procures or authorizes any other person to torture or maliciously kill an animal, he or she is guilty of a felony. The provisions of this section do not apply to lawful acts of hunting, fishing, trapping or animal training or farm livestock, poultry, gaming fowl or wildlife kept in private or licensed game farms if kept and maintained according to usual and accepted standards of livestock, poultry, gaming fowl or wildlife or game farm production and management. The section also prohibits animal fighting, making it a felony if the animal is a dog or other fur-bearing animal ("canine, feline, porcine, bovine, or equine species whether wild or domesticated"), and a misdemeanor if not (i.e., cockfighting). |
| WV - Cruelty, reporting - § 9-6-9a. Mandatory reporting suspected of animal cruelty by adult protective service workers | These West Virginia statutes require that an adult protective services worker, a child protective services worker, or a law enforcement officer who responds to an alleged domestic violence incident, who form a reasonable suspicion that an animal is the victim of cruelty, shall report their suspicion to the county humane society within twenty-four hours. |
| WV - Dangerous - § 19-20-21. License fee for keeping vicious or dangerous dog. | These West Virginia statutes provide that any person who owns or harbors any dog, cat or other domesticated animal, whether licensed or unlicensed, which bites any person, shall confine and quarantine the animal for a period of ten days for rabies observation. The state apparently has a prohibition against owning a dangerous dog, such that no person shall own, keep or harbor any dog known by him to be vicious, dangerous, or in the habit of biting or attacking other persons, whether or not such dog wears a tag or muzzle. However, another section provides that any person who keeps a dog which is generally considered to be vicious, for the purpose of protection, shall acquire a special license therefor from the county assessor and then keep the dog restrained/enclosed. |
| WV - Dangerous - § 20-2-16. Dogs chasing deer | This West Virginia statute states that, except as provided in § 20-2-5j enacted in 2020, no person may permit or use his or her dog to hunt or chase deer. A natural resources police officer shall take into possession any dog known to have unlawfully hunted or chased deer. If the owner of the dog can be determined, the dog shall be returned to the owner. If the owner of the dog cannot be determined, the natural resources police officer shall deliver the dog to the appropriate county humane officer or facility consistent with the provisions of this code. |
| WV - Disaster planning - Emergency Support Function 11 | This excerpt of West Virginia's Emergency Operations Plan contains Emergency Support Function 11, Agriculture and Natural Resources. Within ESF 11, there is a brief mention of household pets. |
| WV - Dogs - Consolidated Dog Laws | These West Virginia statutes comprise the state's dog laws. Among the provisions include registration requirements, rabies control, and hunting laws that impact dogs. |
| WV - Dogs, deer - § 20-2-5j. Leashed dogs for tracking mortally wounded deer or bear | This West Virginia law enacted in 2020 provides that a person who is legally hunting and reasonably believes he or she has mortally wounded a deer or bear may use leashed dogs to track and locate the mortally wounded deer or bear. The hunter is also permitted to use a dog handler of leashed dogs to track and locate the mortally wounded deer or bear. The hunter or the dog handler shall maintain physical control of the leashed dogs at all times. |
| WV - Domestic Violence - § 48-27-503. Permissive provisions in protective order. | In West Virginia, the terms of a protective order may include awarding the petitioner the exclusive care, possession, or control of any animal owned, possessed, leased, kept or held by either the petitioner or the respondent or a minor child residing in the residence or household of either the petitioner or the respondent and prohibiting the respondent from taking, concealing, molesting, physically injuring, killing or otherwise disposing of the animal and limiting or precluding contact by the respondent with the animal. Furthermore, West Virginia mandates that law enforcement officers who suspect animal cruelty during an alleged incident of domestic violence must report that suspicion and the grounds therefor to the county humane officer within twenty-four hours of the response to the alleged incident of domestic violence. |