The New York State Senate

                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 6077--A

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                            February 24, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  ROSENTHAL, BENEDETTO, HOYT, LUPARDO, MAISEL,
  MAYERSOHN, MILLMAN, KAVANAGH, PHEFFER, PAULIN, TITONE  --  Multi-Spon-
  sored  by -- M.  of A. BING, BOYLAND, COLTON, GABRYSZAK, LIFTON, REIL-
  LY, SWEENEY, WEISENBERG -- read once and referred to the Committee  on
  Agriculture  --  committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
  as amended and recommitted to said committee

AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation  to  aggra-
  vated cruelty to animals

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, 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 conserva-
tion  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 prop-
erly conducted scientific tests, experiments, or investigations  involv-
ing 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.
                                                           LBD06116-02-9

A. 6077--A                          2

institutions  approved  for  such purposes by the commissioner of health
pursuant to section three hundred fifty-three of this article.
  S  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
have become a law.