                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 3.2-6500)

As used in this chapter unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#8220;Abandon&#8221; means to desert, forsake, or absolutely give up an
animal without having secured another owner or custodian for the animal or by
failing to provide the elements of basic care as set forth in § 3.2-6503 for a
period of four consecutive days.
		&#8220;Adequate care&#8221; or &#8220;care&#8221; means the responsible
practice of good animal husbandry, handling, production, management,
confinement, feeding, watering, protection, shelter, transportation, treatment,
and, when necessary, euthanasia, appropriate for the age, species, condition,
size and type of the animal and the provision of veterinary care when needed to
prevent suffering or impairment of health.
		&#8220;Adequate exercise&#8221; or &#8220;exercise&#8221; means the
opportunity for the animal to move sufficiently to maintain normal muscle tone
and mass for the age, species, size, and condition of the animal.
		&#8220;Adequate feed&#8221; means access to and the provision of food that is
of sufficient quantity and nutritive value to maintain each animal in good
health; is accessible to each animal; is prepared so as to permit ease of
consumption for the age, species, condition, size and type of each animal; is
provided in a clean and sanitary manner; is placed so as to minimize
contamination by excrement and pests; and is provided at suitable intervals for
the species, age, and condition of the animal, but at least once daily, except
as prescribed by a veterinarian or as dictated by naturally occurring states of
hibernation or fasting normal for the species.
		&#8220;Adequate shelter&#8221; means provision of and access to shelter that
is suitable for the species, age, condition, size, and type of each animal;
provides adequate space for each animal; is safe and protects each animal from
injury, rain, sleet, snow, hail, direct sunlight, the adverse effects of heat or
cold, physical suffering, and impairment of health; is properly lighted; is
properly cleaned; enables each animal to be clean and dry, except when
detrimental to the species; during hot weather, is properly shaded and does not
readily conduct heat; during cold weather, has a windbreak at its entrance and
provides a quantity of bedding material consisting of hay, cedar shavings, or
the equivalent that is sufficient to protect the animal from cold and promote
the retention of body heat; and, for dogs and cats, provides a solid surface,
resting platform, pad, floormat, or similar device that is large enough for the
animal to lie on in a normal manner and can be maintained in a sanitary manner.
Under this chapter, shelters whose wire, grid, or slat floors (i) permit the
animals&#8217; feet to pass through the openings, (ii) sag under the
animals&#8217; weight, or (iii) otherwise do not protect the animals&#8217; feet
or toes from injury are not adequate shelter. The outdoor tethering of an animal
shall not constitute the provision of adequate shelter (a) unless the animal is
safe from predators and well suited and well equipped to tolerate its
environment; (b) during the effective period for a hurricane warning or tropical
storm warning issued for the area by the National Weather Service; or (c)(1)
during a heat advisory issued by a local or state authority, (2) when the actual
or effective outdoor temperature is 85 degrees Fahrenheit or higher or 32
degrees Fahrenheit or lower, or (3) during the effective period for a severe
weather warning issued for the area by the National Weather Service, including a
winter storm, tornado, or severe thunderstorm warning, unless an animal control
officer, having inspected an animal&#8217;s individual circumstances in clause
(c)(1), (2), or (3), has determined the animal to be safe from predators and
well suited and well equipped to tolerate its environment.
		&#8220;Adequate space&#8221; means sufficient space to allow each animal to
(i) easily stand, sit, lie, turn about, and make all other normal body movements
in a comfortable, normal position for the animal and (ii) interact safely with
other animals in the enclosure. When an animal is tethered, &#8220;adequate
space&#8221; means that the tether to which the animal is attached permits the
above actions and is appropriate to the age and size of the animal; is attached
to the animal by a properly applied collar, halter, or harness that is
configured so as to protect the animal from injury and prevent the animal or
tether from becoming entangled with other objects or animals, or from extending
over an object or edge that could result in the strangulation or injury of the
animal; is at least 15 feet in length or four times the length of the animal, as
measured from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail, whichever is greater,
except when the animal is being walked on a leash or is attached by a tether to
a lead line or when an animal control officer, having inspected an
animal&#8217;s individual circumstances, has determined that in such an
individual case, a tether of at least 10 feet or three times the length of the
animal, but shorter than 15 feet or four times the length of the animal, makes
the animal more safe, more suited, and better equipped to tolerate its
environment than a longer tether; does not, by its material, size, or weight or
any other characteristic, cause injury or pain to the animal; does not weigh
more than one-tenth of the animal&#8217;s body weight; and does not have weights
or other heavy objects attached to it. The walking of an animal on a leash by
its owner shall not constitute the tethering of the animal for the purpose of
this definition. When freedom of movement would endanger the animal, temporarily
and appropriately restricting movement of the animal according to professionally
accepted standards for the species is considered provision of adequate space.
The provisions of this definition that relate to tethering shall not apply to
agricultural animals.
		&#8220;Adequate water&#8221; means provision of and access to clean, fresh,
potable water of a drinkable temperature that is provided in a suitable manner,
in sufficient volume, and at suitable intervals appropriate for the weather and
temperature, to maintain normal hydration for the age, species, condition, size
and type of each animal, except as prescribed by a veterinarian or as dictated
by naturally occurring states of hibernation or fasting normal for the species;
and is provided in clean, durable receptacles that are accessible to each animal
and are placed so as to minimize contamination of the water by excrement and
pests or an alternative source of hydration consistent with generally accepted
husbandry practices.
		&#8220;Adoption&#8221; means the transfer of ownership of a dog or a cat, or
any other companion animal, from a releasing agency to an individual.
		&#8220;Agricultural animals&#8221; means all livestock and poultry.
		&#8220;Ambient temperature&#8221; means the temperature surrounding the
animal.
		&#8220;Animal&#8221; means any nonhuman vertebrate species except fish. For
the purposes of § 3.2-6522, animal means any species susceptible to rabies. For
the purposes of § 3.2-6570, animal means any nonhuman vertebrate species
including fish except those fish captured and killed or disposed of in a
reasonable and customary manner.
		&#8220;Animal control officer&#8221; means a person appointed as an animal
control officer or deputy animal control officer as provided in § 3.2-6555.
		&#8220;Boarding establishment&#8221; means a place or establishment other than
a public or private animal shelter where companion animals not owned by the
proprietor are sheltered, fed, and watered in exchange for a fee.
&#8220;Boarding establishment&#8221; shall not include any private residential
dwelling that shelters, feeds, and waters fewer than five companion animals not
owned by the proprietor.
		&#8220;Collar&#8221; means a well-fitted device, appropriate to the age and
size of the animal, attached to the animal&#8217;s neck in such a way as to
prevent trauma or injury to the animal.
		&#8220;Commercial dog breeder&#8221; means any person who, during any 12-month
period, maintains 30 or more adult female dogs for the primary purpose of the
sale of their offspring provided that a person who breeds an animal regulated
under federal law as a research animal shall not be deemed to be a commercial
dog breeder.
		&#8220;Companion animal&#8221; means any domestic or feral dog, domestic or
feral cat, nonhuman primate, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit not raised for human
food or fiber, exotic or native animal, reptile, exotic or native bird, or any
feral animal or any animal under the care, custody, or ownership of a person or
any animal that is bought, sold, traded, or bartered by any person. No
agricultural animal or game species, or animal actively involved in bona fide
scientific or medical experimentation shall be considered a companion animal for
the purposes of this chapter.
		&#8220;Consumer&#8221; means any natural person purchasing an animal from a
dealer or pet shop or hiring the services of a boarding establishment. The term
&#8220;consumer&#8221; shall not include a business or corporation engaged in
sales or services.
		&#8220;Dealer&#8221; means any person who in the regular course of business
for compensation or profit buys, sells, transfers, exchanges, or barters
companion animals. The following shall not be considered dealers: (i) any person
who transports companion animals in the regular course of business as a common
carrier or (ii) any person whose primary purpose is to find permanent adoptive
homes for companion animals.
		&#8220;Direct and immediate threat&#8221; means any clear and imminent danger
to an animal&#8217;s health, safety or life.
		&#8220;Dump&#8221; means to knowingly desert, forsake, or absolutely give up
without having secured another owner or custodian any dog, cat, or other
companion animal in any public place including the right-of-way of any public
highway, road or street or on the property of another.
		&#8220;Emergency veterinary treatment&#8221; means veterinary treatment to
stabilize a life-threatening condition, alleviate suffering, prevent further
disease transmission, or prevent further disease progression.
		&#8220;Enclosure&#8221; means a structure used to house or restrict animals
from running at large.
		&#8220;Euthanasia&#8221; means the humane destruction of an animal
accomplished by a method that involves instantaneous unconsciousness and
immediate death or by a method that involves anesthesia, produced by an agent
that causes painless loss of consciousness, and death during such loss of
consciousness.
		&#8220;Exhibitor&#8221; means any person who has animals for or on public
display, excluding an exhibitor licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
		&#8220;Facility&#8221; means a building or portion thereof as designated by
the State Veterinarian, other than a private residential dwelling and its
surrounding grounds, that is used to contain a primary enclosure or enclosures
in which animals are housed or kept.
		&#8220;Farming activity&#8221; means, consistent with standard animal
husbandry practices, the raising, management, and use of agricultural animals to
provide food, fiber, or transportation and the breeding, exhibition, lawful
recreational use, marketing, transportation, and slaughter of agricultural
animals pursuant to such purposes.
		&#8220;Foster care provider&#8221; means a person who provides care or
rehabilitation for companion animals through an affiliation with a public or
private animal shelter, home-based rescue, releasing agency, or other animal
welfare organization.
		&#8220;Foster home&#8221; means a private residential dwelling and its
surrounding grounds, or any facility other than a public or private animal
shelter, at which site through an affiliation with a public or private animal
shelter, home-based rescue, releasing agency, or other animal welfare
organization care or rehabilitation is provided for companion animals.
		&#8220;Groomer&#8221; means any person who, for a fee, cleans, trims, brushes,
makes neat, manicures, or treats for external parasites any animal.
		&#8220;Home-based rescue&#8221; means an animal welfare organization that
takes custody of companion animals for the purpose of facilitating adoption and
houses such companion animals in a foster home or a system of foster homes.
		&#8220;Humane&#8221; means any action taken in consideration of and with the
intent to provide for the animal&#8217;s health and well-being.
		&#8220;Humane investigator&#8221; means a person who has been appointed by a
circuit court as a humane investigator as provided in § 3.2-6558.
		&#8220;Humane society&#8221; means any incorporated, nonprofit organization
that is organized for the purposes of preventing cruelty to animals and
promoting humane care and treatment or adoptions of animals.
		&#8220;Incorporated&#8221; means organized and maintained as a legal entity in
the Commonwealth.
		&#8220;Inspector&#8221; means a State Animal Welfare Inspector employed
pursuant to § 3.2-5901.1 or his representative.
		&#8220;Kennel&#8221; means any establishment in which five or more canines,
felines, or hybrids of either are kept for the purpose of breeding, hunting,
training, renting, buying, boarding, selling, or showing.
		&#8220;Law-enforcement officer&#8221; means any person who is a full-time or
part-time employee of a police department or sheriff&#8217;s office that is part
of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof and
who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement
of the penal, traffic or highway laws of the Commonwealth. Part-time employees
are compensated officers who are not full-time employees as defined by the
employing police department or sheriff&#8217;s office.
		&#8220;Livestock&#8221; includes all domestic or domesticated: bovine animals;
equine animals; ovine animals; porcine animals; cervidae animals; capradae
animals; animals of the genus Lama or Vicugna; ratites; fish or shellfish in
aquaculture facilities, as defined in § 3.2-2600; enclosed domesticated rabbits
or hares raised for human food or fiber; or any other individual animal
specifically raised for food or fiber, except companion animals.
		&#8220;New owner&#8221; means an individual who is legally competent to enter
into a binding agreement pursuant to subdivision B 2 of § 3.2-6574, and who
adopts or receives a dog or cat from a releasing agency.
		&#8220;Ordinance&#8221; means any law, rule, regulation, or ordinance adopted
by the governing body of any locality.
		&#8220;Other officer&#8221; includes all other persons employed or elected by
the people of Virginia, or by any locality, whose duty it is to preserve the
peace, to make arrests, or to enforce the law.
		&#8220;Owner&#8221; means any person who: (i) has a right of property in an
animal; (ii) keeps or harbors an animal; (iii) has an animal in his care; or
(iv) acts as a custodian of an animal.
		&#8220;Pet shop&#8221; means a retail establishment where companion animals
are bought, sold, exchanged, or offered for sale or exchange to the general
public.
		&#8220;Poultry&#8221; includes all domestic fowl and game birds raised in
captivity.
		&#8220;Primary enclosure&#8221; means any structure used to immediately
restrict an animal or animals to a limited amount of space, such as a room, pen,
cage, compartment, or hutch. For tethered animals, the term includes the shelter
and the area within reach of the tether.
		&#8220;Private animal shelter&#8221; means a facility operated for the purpose
of finding permanent adoptive homes for animals that is used to house or contain
animals and that is owned or operated by an incorporated, nonprofit, and
nongovernmental entity, including a humane society, animal welfare organization,
society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or any other similar
organization.
		&#8220;Properly cleaned&#8221; means that carcasses, debris, food waste, and
excrement are removed from the primary enclosure with sufficient frequency to
minimize the animals&#8217; contact with the above-mentioned contaminants; the
primary enclosure is sanitized with sufficient frequency to minimize odors and
the hazards of disease; and the primary enclosure is cleaned so as to prevent
the animals confined therein from being directly or indirectly sprayed with the
stream of water, or directly or indirectly exposed to hazardous chemicals or
disinfectants.
		&#8220;Properly lighted&#8221; when referring to a facility means sufficient
illumination to permit routine inspections, maintenance, cleaning, and
housekeeping of the facility, and observation of the animals; to provide regular
diurnal lighting cycles of either natural or artificial light, uniformly
diffused throughout the facility; and to promote the well-being of the animals.
		&#8220;Properly lighted&#8221; when referring to a private residential
dwelling and its surrounding grounds means sufficient illumination to permit
routine maintenance and cleaning thereof, and observation of the companion
animals; and to provide regular diurnal lighting cycles of either natural or
artificial light to promote the well-being of the animals.
		&#8220;Public animal shelter&#8221; means a facility operated by the
Commonwealth, or any locality, for the purpose of impounding or sheltering
seized, stray, homeless, abandoned, unwanted, or surrendered animals or a
facility operated for the same purpose under a contract with any locality.
		&#8220;Releasing agency&#8221; means (i) a public animal shelter or (ii) a
private animal shelter, humane society, animal welfare organization, society for
the prevention of cruelty to animals, or other similar entity or home-based
rescue that releases companion animals for adoption.
		&#8220;Research facility&#8221; means any place, laboratory, or institution
licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture at which scientific tests,
experiments, or investigations involving the use of living animals are carried
out, conducted, or attempted.
		&#8220;Sanitize&#8221; means to make physically clean and to remove and
destroy, to a practical minimum, agents injurious to health.
		&#8220;Sore&#8221; means, when referring to an equine, that an irritating or
blistering agent has been applied, internally or externally, by a person to any
limb or foot of an equine; any burn, cut, or laceration that has been inflicted
by a person to any limb or foot of an equine; any tack, nail, screw, or chemical
agent that has been injected by a person into or used by a person on any limb or
foot of an equine; any other substance or device that has been used by a person
on any limb or foot of an equine; or a person has engaged in a practice
involving an equine, and as a result of such application, infliction, injection,
use, or practice, such equine suffers, or can reasonably be expected to suffer,
physical pain or distress, inflammation, or lameness when walking, trotting, or
otherwise moving, except that such term does not include such an application,
infliction, injection, use, or practice in connection with the therapeutic
treatment of an equine by or under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian.
Notwithstanding anything contained herein to the contrary, nothing shall
preclude the shoeing, use of pads, and use of action devices as permitted by 9
C.F.R. Part 11.2.
		&#8220;Sterilize&#8221; or &#8220;sterilization&#8221; means a surgical or
chemical procedure performed by a licensed veterinarian that renders a dog or
cat permanently incapable of reproducing.
		&#8220;Treasurer&#8221; includes the treasurer and his assistants of each
county or city or other officer designated by law to collect taxes in such
county or city.
		&#8220;Treatment&#8221; or &#8220;adequate treatment&#8221; means the
responsible handling or transportation of animals in the person&#8217;s
ownership, custody or charge, appropriate for the age, species, condition, size
and type of the animal.
		&#8220;Veterinary treatment&#8221; means treatment by or on the order of a
duly licensed veterinarian.
		&#8220;Weaned&#8221; means that an animal is capable of and physiologically
accustomed to ingestion of solid food or food customary for the adult of the
species and has ingested such food, without nursing, for a period of at least
five days.

HISTORY: 1984, c. 492, § 29-213.36; 1987, c. 488, § 3.1-796.66; 1988, c. 538;
1991, c. 348; 1993, cc. 174, 959; 1995, c. 610; 1998, c. 817; 2002, cc. 351,
500, 787; 2003, c. 1007; 2008, cc. 9, 127, 852, 860; 2011, cc. 754, 886; 2014,
c. 148; 2015, c. 492; 2018, cc. 416, 599, 780; 2019, cc. 258, 532, 848; 2020,
cc. 954, 955, 1284; 2022, c. 92.