2023 Hawaii Revised Statutes › Title 37. Hawaii Penal Code › 711. Offenses Against Public Order › 711-1109 Cruelty to animals in the second degree.

§711-1109 Cruelty to animals in the second degree.
(1) A person commits the offense of cruelty to animals in the second degree if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly:
(a) Overdrives, overloads, tortures, torments, beats, causes substantial bodily injury to, or starves any animal, or causes the overdriving, overloading, torture, torment, beating, or starving of any animal;
(b) Deprives a pet animal of necessary sustenance or causes that deprivation;
(c) Mutilates, poisons, or kills without need any animal other than insects, vermin, or other pests; provided that the handling or extermination of any insect, vermin, or other pest is conducted in accordance with standard and acceptable pest control practices and all applicable laws and regulations;
(d) Keeps, uses, or in any way is connected with or interested in the management of, or receives money for the admission of any person to, any place kept or used for the purpose of fighting or baiting any bull, bear, cock, or other animal, and includes every person who encourages, aids, or assists therein, or who permits or suffers any place to be so kept or used;
(e) Carries or causes to be carried, in or upon any vehicle or other conveyance, any animal in a cruel or inhumane manner;
(f) Confines or causes to be confined, in a kennel or cage, any pet animal in a cruel or inhumane manner;
(g) Tethers, fastens, ties, or restrains a dog to a doghouse, tree, fence, or any other stationary object, or uses a trolley, trolley with swivels, pulley, cable, running line, or trolley lacking swivels at each end that is designed to attach a dog to two stationary objects in a configuration that endangers the dog, including preventing the dog from obtaining necessary sustenance;
(h) Tethers or restrains a dog under the age of six months unless the dog is engaged in an activity supervised by its owner or an agent of its owner;
(i) Tethers or restrains a dog by a tow or log chain;
(j) Tethers or restrains by means of choke collar, pinch collar, or prong collar unless the dog is engaged in an activity supervised by its owner or an agent of its owner; or
(k) Assists another in the commission of any act specified in paragraphs (a) through (j).
(2) Subsection (1)(a), (b), (c), (e), (f), (g), and (h) shall not apply to:
(a) Accepted veterinary practices;
(b) Activities carried on for scientific research governed by standards of accepted educational or medicinal practices; or
(c) Pest control operations conducted pursuant to chapter 149A by a pest control operator licensed pursuant to chapter 460J, if the pest control is performed under a written contract.
(3) Whenever any animal is so severely injured that there is no reasonable probability that its life or usefulness can be saved, the animal may be immediately destroyed without creating any offense under this section.
(4) Cruelty to animals in the second degree is a misdemeanor, except that if the offense involves ten or more pet animals in any one instance, then cruelty to animals in the second degree is a class C felony. [L 1972, c 9, pt of §1; am L 1986, c 192, § §1, 2; am L 1998, c 173, §2; am L 2007, c 114, §4; am L 2009, c 160, §1; am L 2011, c 226, §1; am L 2013, c 210, §2; am L 2021, c 182, §1]
Law Journals and Reviews
Cruelty to Animals: Recognizing Violence Against Nonhuman Victims. 23 UH L. Rev. 307 (2000).
Case Notes
Constitutionality upheld. 61 H. 136, 597 P.2d 590 (1979).