Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)

Marginal note:Causing damage or injury

• 446. (1) Every one commits an offence who

  • (a) by wilful neglect causes damage or injury to animals or birds while they are being driven or conveyed; or

  • (b) being the owner or the person having the custody or control of a domestic animal or a bird or an animal or a bird wild by nature that is in captivity, abandons it in distress or wilfully neglects or fails to provide suitable and adequate food, water, shelter and care for it.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (2) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of

  • (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years; or

  • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term of not more than six months or to both.

• Marginal note:Failure to exercise reasonable care as evidence

  (3) For the purposes of proceedings under paragraph (1)(a), evidence that a person failed to exercise reasonable care or supervision of an animal or a bird thereby causing it damage or injury is, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, proof that the damage or injury was caused by wilful neglect.

Marginal note:Keeping cockpit

• 447. (1) Every one commits an offence who builds, makes, maintains or keeps a cockpit on premises that he or she owns or occupies, or allows a cockpit to be built, made, maintained or kept on such premises.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (2) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of

  • (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or

  • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term of not more than eighteen months or to both.

• Marginal note:Confiscation

  (3) A peace officer who finds cocks in a cockpit or on premises where a cockpit is located shall seize them and take them before a justice who shall order them to be destroyed.

Marginal note:Order of prohibition or restitution

• 447.1 (1) The court may, in addition to any other sentence that it may impose under subsection 444(2), 445(2), 445.1(2), 446(2) or 447(2),

  • (a) make an order prohibiting the accused from owning, having the custody or control of or residing in the same premises as an animal or a bird during any period that the court considers appropriate but, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, for a minimum of five years; and

  • (b) on application of the Attorney General or on its own motion, order that the accused pay to a person or an organization that has taken care of an animal or a bird as a result of the commission of the offence the reasonable costs that the person or organization incurred in respect of the animal or bird, if the costs are readily ascertainable.

• Marginal note:Breach of order

  (2) Every one who contravenes an order made under paragraph (1)(a) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Application

  (3) Sections 740 to 741.2 apply, with any modifications that the circumstances require, to orders made under paragraph (1)(b).