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July 17, 1969

Honorable John C. White Commissioner ofAgriculture P. 0. Drawer BE Austin, Texas 78711

Dear Mr. White: Opinion No. M-434
Re: Whether certain feeding demonstrations using white rats inwhich the diet of one group of rats is unbalanced constitutes the offense of cruelty to animals as defined by Article 182,Vernon's Civil Statutes andwhether such demonstrations come within the purview of Articles 4587 and 4588, Vernon's Civil Statutes, and are experiments requiring compliance with said statutes.

Your have recently requested the opinion of this office as towhether certain feeding demonstrations involving white rats come within the scope ofArticles 182, 4587 and 4588 ofVernon's Civil Statutes. You describe these demonstrations inyour letter as follows:

"Dairy Council, Inc. furnishes white rats and instructions for the conduct of feeding demonstrations in classrooms throughout the State ofTexas. The purpose of these demonstrations is to impress upon school-age youngsters the importance tohealth and growth of aproper andbalanced diet and the nutritional value of milk.
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Honorable John C.White, page 2 (M-434)

"Thedemonstrations are primarily of two types. In one demonstration, both groups of rats are fed a desirable, balanced diet: however, one group receives no milk. The other type of demonstration is one inwhich one group is fed awellbalanced diet while the other is fed an unbalanced diet with excessive starches, fats and sweets. It should be emphasized that in all demonstrations, the animals receive an adequate amount of food. The difference is in the combination of foods. Attached to this request as Exhibit 'A'isabooklet published by Dairy Council, Inc.which fully explains the types of demonstrations conducted."
You ask our opinion as to: 1. Whether Article 182prohibits the above described feedingdemonstrations, and 2. Whether such demonstrations are "experiments" under the provisions ofArticles 4587 and 4588 forwhich a Penal bond is required. Article 182,Vernon's Civil Statutes, reads as follows:

"It shall be unlawful for any person to overdrive, wilfully overload, drive when overloaded, overwork, torture, torment, deprive of necessary sustenance, unnecessarily or cruelly beat, or needlessly mutilate orkill any animal or carry any animal inor upon anyvehicle, or otherwise, ina cruel or inhuman manner, or cause orprocure the same tobe done, orwho having the charge or custody of any animal unnecessarily fails toprovide it with proper food, drink or curelly abandons it." (Emphasis supplied.)
In connection with your first question, it isobserved that only unnecessarily failing to provide an animal with proper food isprohibited by said statute.
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Honorable John C.White, page 3 (M-434)

We have carefully examined thematerial accompanying your opinion request which you designated as Exhibit "A". Said exhibit describes indetail the demonstrations inquestion and the amount of food, etc., tobe utilized. However, whether or not thewhite rats are unnecessarily deprived of proper food is in our opinion a question cd factwhich this office cannot determine. If it could be shown as amatter of fact that the ratswere not being unnecessarily deprived of proper food, then itwould be our opinion that the demonstration in question does not constitute cruelty to animals as provided inArticle 182,Vernon's Civil Statutes.
Your second question involves the applicability ofArticles 4587 and 4588 ofVernon's Civil Statutes. Article 4587 gives to theAnatomical Board of the State ofTexas the "power to authorize incorporated schools and colleges to experiment on the lower animals under bond." Article 4588 requires the posting of bond conditioned that all dead human bodies shall be used, and that all experiments on the lower animals shall be conducted,only for the promotion ofmedical science. Articles 4587 and 4588 ofVernon's Civil Statutes and Article 531 of the Texas Penal Code are codifications of an act passed in 1907by the 30th Legislature of the State ofTexas, said act being found inChapter 53,page 117 of theActs of 1907. It isapparent from reading the entire act that the primary concern of the Legislature was the traffic and experimentation indead human bodies. Only Sections 5and 6 of this act, codified as Articles 4587 and 4588 ofVernon's Civil Statutes mention "lower animals." Article 4587, in referring to the lower animals, merely provides that theAnatomical Board has the "power" to authorize institutions and individuals to experiment on the lower animals under bond. These statutory provisions are not exclusive and the approval of theAnatomical Board isnot required inall instances.
We therefore hold that Articles 4587 and 4588 do not require the approval of theAnatomical Board or the posting ofbond in

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order that demonstrations referred to inyour opinion request be conducted in the schools of Texas.
SUMMARY Whether demonstrations onwhite rats in the schools of Texas inorder to demonstrate the effects of malnutrition isprohibited by Article 182,V.C.S., isa question of fact. Articles 4587 and 4588,V.C.S., are not applicable to such demonstrations and the approval of the Anatomical Board prior toholding the demonstrations isunnecessary and no bond need be secured and posted.

Prepared by James McCoy Assistant Attorney General
APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE
Kerns Taylor, Chairman George Kelton, Vice-Chairman
James Quick John Banks Wardlow Lane Neil Williams
HAWTHORNE PHILLIPS Executive Assistant

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