New Hampshire General Laws
1878
TRESPASSES, MALICIOUS INJURIES, ETC.
SECTION 26. If any person shall overdrive, overload, drive when overloaded, overwork, torture, torment, deprive of necessary sustenance, cruelly beat, mutilate, or cruelly kill, or cause or procure to be so overdriven, overloaded, driven when overloaded, overworked, tortured, tormented, deprived of necessary sustenance, cruelly beaten, mutilated, or cruelly killed any animal, and if any person having the charge and custody of any animal, either as owner or otherwise, shall inflict unnecessary cruelty upon the same, or unnecessarily fail to provide the same with proper food, drink, shelter, or protection from the weather, he shall for every such offense be punished by imprisonment in jail not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION 27. If any owner, possessor, or person having the charge or custody of any animal shall cruelly abandon the same, or carry the same, or cause the same to be carried in or upon any vehicle or otherwise, in an unnecessarily cruel or inhuman manner, or knowingly and willfully authorize or permit the same to be subjected to unnecessary torture, suffering or cruelty of any kind, he shall be punished for every such offense in the manner provided in the preceding section.
SECTION 28. No railroad company, in the carrying or transportation of animals, shall permit the same to be confined in cars for a longer period than twenty-eight consecutive hours, without unloading the same for rest, water, and feeding, for a period of at least five consecutive hours, unless prevented from so unloading by storm or other accidental causes. In estimating such confinement, the time during which the animals have been confined without rest on connecting roads from which they are received, shall be included; it being the intent of this act to prohibit their continuous confinement beyond the period of twenty-eight hours, except upon contingencies herein before stated. Animals so unloaded shall be properly fed, watered, and sheltered during such rest by the owner or person having the custody thereof, or in case of his default in so doing, then by the railroad company transporting the same, at the expense of said owner or person in custody thereof, and said company shall in such case have a lien upon such animals for food, care, and custody furnished, and shall not be liable for any detention of such animals authorized by this section, shall for each and every such offense forfeit and pay a penalty of not more than five hundred dollars; provided, however, that when animals shall be carried in cars in which they can and do have proper food, water, space and opportunity for rest, the foregoing provisions in regard to their being unloaded shall not apply.
SECTION 29. If any person shall be found violating the laws in relation to cruelty to animals he may be arrested and held without warrant in the same manner as in case of persons found breaking the peace; and the persons making an arrest with or without warrant shall use reasonable diligence to give notice thereof to the owner of animals found in the charge or custody of the person arrested, and shall properly care and provide for such animals until the owner thereof shall take charge of the same within sixty days from the date of said notice. And the person making such arrest shall have a lien on said animals for the expense of such care and provision.
SECTION 30. When complaint is made on oath or affirmation to any magistrate authorized to issue warrants in criminal cases, that the complainant believes, and has reasonable cause to believe, that the laws in relation to cruelty to animals have been or are being violated in any particular building or place, such magistrate, if satisfied there is reasonable cause for such belief, shall issue a search-warrant authorizing any sheriff, deputy-sheriff, constable, or police officer to search such building or place; but no such search shall be made after sunset, unless specially authorized by the magistrate, upon satisfactory cause shown.