From Serious to Entertaining: Blogs on Legal Matters

If you plan on keeping a pet or already keep one, you should know some important pet laws to ensure you provide the best for your pet and avoid situations that would put you and your pet at any risk. Here are examples of such pet laws.

Illegal Pets

Before keeping a particular animal as a pet, find out whether it is illegal to have such a pet in your state. Even though you might get away with it, you might not be able to offer the best care for that pet. Why?

Offering the best care for your pet means being able to offer a suitable habitat that mimics the environment your pet thrives in when in the wild, providing the correct food and taking your pet to the vet for veterinary services.

If a pet is deemed illegal in your state, know that you won't be able to find veterinary services or food for that pet. Instead of caring for it, you would be making it live in conditions that are unfavourable for survival, meaning your pet might die before its lifespan.

Animal Cruelty

Under the Animal Care and Protection Act of 2001, it is a criminal offence to act violently towards pets and to fail to provide the best care for your pet. Ensure you provide the right kind of housing that should meet the minimum size requirements; the bigger, the better. You should also ensure you carry out thorough research on the pet you want to keep so that you understand what the pet needs to thrive and live comfortably and healthily.

If you are found to have acted in a way that is related to animal cruelty, you are charged with an infraction, where you have to pay a hefty fine.  You can also be charged with a misdemeanour, where you can serve a sentence of up to one year.

Rental Pet Rules

Your landlord has the right to allow or disallow the keeping of pets in their rental apartments. The reasons given are to protect people who might be allergic to those pets, to prevent pet noise disturbances that can be annoying and to avoid apartment damage (some pets destroy fixtures in the apartment).

To ensure that the landlord has a right to kick you out if you disobey a no pets allowed rule, they include a clause in your tenancy agreement that if you keep a pet, you agree to be kicked out. If you must keep a pet, find an apartment that allows pets.

For more information, contact a pet law service.