2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIVE - Agriculture (§§ 1 — 4706) › Chapter 58 - Animal Protection and Welfare Act (§§ 1660 — 1684) › Subchapter I - General Provisions (§§ 1660 — 1663) › § 1660 - Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning stated below:
(a) Abandonment. — Means the voluntary dereliction or remissness, whether temporary or permanent, of the responsibilities of the animal’s custodian.
(b) Animal. — Means any mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, cetacean, and any other superior phyla animal in captivity or under the control of any person, or any animal protected by federal or Commonwealth laws or by municipal ordinances.
(c) Stray animal. — An animal with no known custodian.
(d) Safety collar. — Means a collar that applies pressure to the neck of the animal when the animal pulls in a direction against the will of the custodian, or when the custodian pulls to temporarily restrain the animal’s movement.
(e) Continuous care. — Means the preventive care that a prudent person would minister on an animal to prevent injuries, diseases or permanent severe or deadly conditions.
(f) Minimal care. — Means sufficient care to preserve the health and welfare of an animal, except for emergencies or circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the custodian. This includes but is not limited to the requirements stated below:
(1) Quantity and quality of enough food to allow for the growth or maintenance of the normal body weight of the animal.
(2) Open and proper access to drinking water, at a temperature that is fit for drinking and in sufficient amount to satisfy the needs of the animal.
(3) Access to a stable, house or any other structure able to protect the animal from bad weather conditions, as well as an appropriate place to sleep that protects the animal from excessive cold, heat and humidity.
(4) Being provided with the veterinary care that a prudent person would deem necessary to protect the animal from suffering; this includes vaccination and preventive care.
(5) Continuous access to an area. — Continuous access to an area is:
(A) For the animal to have an adequate space to exercise as necessary for its health. Inadequate spaces lead to weakness, stress or abnormal patterns of behavior.
(B) A temperature agreeable with the animal’s health, in attention of its natural habitat.
(C) Proper ventilation.
(D) Regular daylight cycles, whether by means of natural or artificial lighting.
(E) A clean environment, free from excessive waste or other pollutants that might affect the animal’s health.
(g) Commercial animal breeder. — A natural or juridical person engaged in breeding animals for sale.
(h) Provisional custody. — Means the custody granted by a judge in a custody or possession deprivation action, or when a protection order is issued against the animal’s custodian, for a defined term, subject to review until the conclusion of the proceedings.
(i) Emergency. — Means any situation the animal may be experiencing which poses an imminent risk to its safety, health or bodily integrity.
(j) Euthanasia. — Means a humane method which inflicts a quick and painless death.
(k) Custodian. — Means the natural or juridical person who has the control, custody, possession or ownership over an animal.
(l) Bodily injury. — Means physical trauma, or a loss of or decrease in functions or pain not consistent with reasonable training and management techniques.
(m) Severe bodily injury. — Means a bodily injury that poses the risk of death or which causes disfigurement, a prolonged health condition, or a prolonged loss and/or disability in terms of the functions of an extremity or a bodily organ.
(n) Abuse. — Means all acts or omissions of a person, whether or not the custodian, which cause or places the animal at risk of sustaining harm to its health and to its bodily and/or emotional integrity. The necessary efforts contemplated in §§ 107 et seq. of Title 12, known as the “New Puerto Rico Wildlife Act”, and in Regulation No. 6765 of March 12, 2004, as amended, of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, are hereby excluded from this definition.
(o) Negligence. — Means a kind of abuse consisting in the dereliction of the duties or the remissness in exercising the powers of adequately providing minimal and continuous care to an animal; to be remiss in the duties of providing care and supervision.
(p) Police officer or animal control officer. — Includes any member of a force established under any law to discharge police functions, duties or powers under the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This includes, without the listing being construed as a limitation, the members of the Puerto Rico Police, municipal police officers, the members of the Rangers Corps of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, the inspectors of the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the inspectors of the Department of Health and the Commonwealth Animal Control Office (OECA, Spanish acronym).
(q) Protection order. — Means any mandate issued in writing under the seal of a court, whereby measures are pronounced against an animal abuser so that he/she abstains from engaging in or carrying out certain acts or conducts that constitute abuse and/or neglect.
(r) Person. — Means an individual, corporation, trust, association, society or any other legal entity, whether natural or juridical.
(s) Possession. — Means to have the physical custody or to exercise dominion or control over an animal.
(t) Imminent risk. — Means any situation that endangers the health, safety, or physical or emotional welfare of an animal.
(u) Unnecessary suffering. — Means to cause a suffering that is not necessary to ensure the safety, health, or welfare of the animal or other beings within its environment.
(v) Torture. — Means an action taken with the prime purpose of inflicting or prolonging pain.
(w) Physical trauma. — Means fractures, cuts, burns, bruises or other bodily injuries and/or wounds in the animal’s body.
(x) Veterinarian. — Means a person that holds a degree as Doctor in Veterinary Medicine, licensed by the Veterinarian Examining Board, and a member in good standing of the Veterinarians’ College.
History —Aug. 4, 2008, No. 154, § 1.2.