What is the punishment for killing an animal and how can the killer be brought to justice?

Good day, dear readers!

In November, the Federal Portal of Draft Regulatory Legal Acts completed a public discussion of a draft law developed by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on the introduction of administrative liability for violating the rules for keeping animals and for cruelty to them.

In ch. 8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation proposes to add new elements of administrative offenses:

Administrative liability for animal abuse

At the federal level, administrative sanctions are not provided. However, any subject of the Russian Federation has the right to establish administrative liability for cruelty to animals, but it is established only in some regions:

• Moscow. For cruel treatment, transportation, or organization of illegal performances, accompanied by injuries and death of the animals participating in them, a fine of up to 2.5 thousand for individuals and for legal entities of up to 20 thousand rubles is imposed.
• Saint Petersburg. For transporting animals in unacceptable conditions, for intentionally depriving a pet of food and water, for unauthorized painful and mutilating experiments on living beings, a fine of up to 5 thousand for an individual and up to 100 thousand rubles for a legal entity is imposed.
• Nizhny Novgorod. For unauthorized docking of dogs' ears and tails, pulling out teeth and cutting off claws that does not comply with veterinary standards, a fine of up to 5 thousand for an individual, up to 40 thousand rubles for a legal entity is imposed.
• Primorsky Krai. High fines are given for catching stray and wild animals for the purpose of captivity, breeding for killing for meat and skins.
• Krasnodar region. Microchipping of pets is mandatory. Liability is provided for violation of the requirements for the treatment of domestic animals, determined by the legislation of the region on their maintenance and protection. Incurs a fine - for individuals 2 thousand rubles, for legal entities - 10 thousand rubles.

However, not all regions of the country provide for administrative sanctions. But this does not mean that inadequate people, sadists and dog hunters can act with impunity. For such individuals, there is criminal liability in all regions.

Abuse Shelter

As for shelters, a fine of 50 thousand rubles is quite a serious amount, says Maria Lezhneva, the founder of the Animal Welfare Association.

“Most institutions are in a pretty bad situation and are always looking for money. There are shelters that fulfill municipal contracts, but they also have small budgets. A huge number of violations occur due to the fact that the money allocated for a range of services is simply not enough. It is more profitable for contractors to kill an animal than to spend money on its maintenance,” Lezhneva notes.

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According to animal rights activists, not all shelters want to save animals; many are focused on making money. Sometimes the conditions of detention can already be regarded as cruel treatment. The dogs have nothing to eat, sterilization can be carried out without anesthesia, the food is expired meat, lists Angela Kutny, a volunteer at shelters near Moscow.

— People save on wages, so they often hire people who don’t like animals as workers. They do not stand on ceremony with a dog that needs to be taken out for a walk; they will simply take it with a noose and abruptly pull it out. There are only a few responsible,” states Kutny.

You are animals, gentlemen.

Photo: TASS/Alexander Shcherbak

Another problem is ignorance. Judging by the terms of reference in municipal contracts, some regions are not even aware that the country has a CAT program (trapping, sterilization, vaccination, release). It is provided for by the Responsible Animal Care Act, adopted in December 2021.

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The Animal Welfare Association regularly reviews contracts and notes errors and ambiguities in them. The destruction of animals has become the norm to which contractors have become accustomed. On a map of regions you can compare how humane a particular area is, where documents are in order and where they are not. Fortunately, the situation has become more favorable in the last year.

— Thanks to the fact that last year we deployed many people and taught them to work according to the law, this year there are much fewer obvious violations in the documentation. But it’s difficult to be completely sure that what is written on paper does not diverge from the real thing,” said Maria Lezhneva.

Criminal liability for killing an animal

Criminal liability for cruelty to animals comes under Article 245 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation dated June 13, 1996 No. 63-FZ (as amended on December 27, 2018) “Cruelty to animals.” For criminal liability it is necessary - cruelty to animals, resulting in their death or injury, for the purposes of:

• causing suffering and pain;
• for hooligan reasons;
• for selfish reasons.

The court does not distinguish consequences for objects of the animal world according to severity. Equal criminal penalties are applied for both killing an animal and mutilating it.

The subject of this crime is animals - wild, domestic, any. The necessary sign is the occurrence of death or injury. Abuse can be expressed:

1. In actions:
   beating;
2. use for competitions;
3. sale for fights and bleeding;
4. sacrifice according to cult rites;
5. conducting experiments;
6. cutting off limbs;
7. burning;
8. hunting in inhumane ways and others.
9. Inactive:
   deprivation of food and drink;
10. intentionally leaving others in a life-threatening situation.

Organizers of dog, cock and any other fights also face criminal penalties under Article 245 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In practice, this is quite difficult to prove.

Criminal liability is brought only if the person who committed the crime has reached 16 years of age and is sane - understands what he is doing and what consequences are possible.

Teenagers under 16 years of age are also punished, but in a different way - they are registered with the commission for minors. The commission decides what to do with the juvenile offender:

• apply educational measures, conduct an explanatory conversation;
• transfer the case to the court to send the teenager to a closed educational institution.

Part 1 art. 245 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Punishment under Part 1 of Article 245 is possible as follows:

1. A fine of up to 80 thousand rubles (or a deduction of 6 months’ income).
2. Up to 15 days of compulsory work.
3. Correctional labor or restriction of freedom for up to 12 months.
4. Arrest for up to six months.
5. Imprisonment up to 3 years.

Criminal liability under Article 245 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Article 245, which provides criminal penalties for cruelty to animals, has not undergone major changes for a very long time. Perhaps only twice - since the adoption of the last code - has the punishment been (slightly) increased under this article.

Article 245 has 2 parts:

1. The first involves bringing one person to justice, the second - a group of people. The first provides for punishment in the form of a fine of up to 80,000 rubles or correctional labor for up to 1 year, or restriction of freedom for up to 1 year. In 2010, 180 hours of compulsory labor were added to the list of punishments for this part, which in 2011 “turned” into 360 hours.
2. For the second part, the punishment is, naturally, more severe. A fine of 300,000 rubles or imprisonment for up to 2 years. Also in 2010, mandatory work was added (up to 240 hours).

Important: liability under Article 245 is provided only in cases of injury or death of an animal/animals and in the mandatory presence of at least one of the following signs:

• hooligan motive;
• use of sadistic methods;
• committing a crime in front of minors;
• selfish goals.

It is obvious that the current law is imperfect, since flayers can be prosecuted under the existing article only in cases of injury or death of animals.

Example: an adult flayer Ivanov, in front of young schoolchildren, slowly drowned a cat in a bucket, periodically beating the animal for scratching. This subhuman can only be judged by Article 245 if the cat dies, unable to withstand the abuse. If, with the last of his strength, the unfortunate animal breaks free and runs away, the sadist will remain unpunished.

Situations where animal torturers escape even a meager punishment are not uncommon. And it is precisely this state of affairs that prompted animal rights activists, ordinary people and concerned government officials to introduce draft amendments to the current Criminal Code in order to toughen penalties under Article 245 and supplement its composition with other, no less terrible than murder and mutilation, illegal acts against animals.

How to sue an animal killer?

Witnesses to a murder or owners of an animal killed by a third party should do one of the following:

• The owner of a pet or an eyewitness who observed a cruel reprisal against a stranger or a stray animal needs to report it to law enforcement agencies. Cases involving cruelty to any animal object are dealt with by officers from the police department at the scene of the crime. A criminal case is heard in the court in whose jurisdiction the crime occurred.
• The owner must file a claim in court for compensation for material damage (pets and livestock are included in the category of property). If property is damaged, the offender must compensate the cost of the killed animal.

“The main thing is not the amount, but the inevitability of punishment”

The problem of cruelty to animals has been widely discussed in society for quite some time. Last November, there was a scandal with the mass killing of dogs in a shelter in the village of Karluk, Irkutsk region. In March 2021, at a holding point in Yakutsk, animal rights activists discovered about 100 animal corpses. The issue of improper care of animals in circuses and small zoos is increasingly being raised.

However, as Vladimir Burmatov, head of the Duma Committee on Ecology and Environmental Protection, noted in a conversation with Izvestia, the media agenda of recent years did not become decisive in the proposal of a package of amendments.

You are animals, gentlemen.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Ilya Naimushin

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— I prepared it a year and a half ago. The bill was sent to the government, where it remained until recently, says the deputy. “Then, together with Pavel Krasheninnikov, we finalized the document so that it could be adopted promptly and so that the text would be effective. All we need is government feedback. We have a good law on the treatment of animals, one of the most advanced today. In three years, we have covered a path that other countries take decades to travel.

Vladimir Burmatov posted details of the new bill on his Instagram account. A discussion immediately developed in the comments under the post. According to some users, the amount of fines is greatly underestimated and will not correct unscrupulous owners. The deputy is ready to argue with this:

— Whenever it comes to responsibility, many people perceive it as insufficient. I partly share these judgments and I would also like the range of fines to be more serious. But the fines are set in proportion to acts of a similar severity as provided for in the Code of Administrative Offences. And for some circus tent, a punishment of 200 thousand rubles is actually ruinous.

The fines will also be significant for citizens, the deputy believes. It is not the amount that is important, but the impossibility of escaping punishment.

You are animals, gentlemen.

Photo: TASS/Sergey Karpukhin

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This initiative was made by the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology and Environmental Protection

“There are actions that do not lead to the death of the animal, but are nevertheless cruel. Recently, such crimes have become “younger”; the statistics on them are sad. Many knackers are minors and therefore evade responsibility. But if the parents receive a fine of 15 thousand rubles, they will arrange for their offspring such that next time he will use his head, says Burmatov.

In what cases is there no punishment for killing an animal?

The crime must be committed only with direct intent, that is, the criminal is aware of the consequences and desires them. The following will not be held criminally liable:

• a minor under 16 years of age;
• an insane, mentally ill person;
• defending himself from a wild animal, an aggressive alien pet or a pack of stray dogs;
• a motorist who hits a wild or stray animal crossing the road.

In the case of self-defense , which leads to the death of the attacking animal, it is not the person who defended himself who is punished, but the owner who did not take care of proper education, equipment when walking, or training the pet. For example, if the defender causes more than average harm to health, the owner of the animal will have to answer under Article 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of June 13, 1996 No. 63-FZ (as amended on December 27, 2018) “Causing grievous harm to health through negligence.” When defending against aggressive stray dogs, the defender is also not punished.

Hitting an animal relates strictly to a road accident; in this case, administrative liability is not applied. The driver is punished only for violating traffic rules, if any. If the animal is not stray, the owner will have to pay financial damages for killing. If a wild animal is shot down, the damage is assessed depending on its value and rarity in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia dated December 8, 2011 No. 948 (as amended on November 17, 2017) “On calculating the amount of damage caused to hunting resources.”

The tailed sufferer: how animal rights are protected

The European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals 1987 guarantees freedom from hunger and thirst, discomfort, pain, injury, disease, freedom from natural behavior and freedom from fear and stress. The 1986 European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals Used for Experimental or Other Scientific Purposes prohibits the testing of cosmetics, household chemicals and medicines on them. In Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland there are no stray dogs and free sterilization of stray cats is provided. Russia has not signed any of these acts, and the number of stray dogs alone in our country reached 4 million by August 2018 (according to the European Society of Dog and Animal Welfare).

Germany

In 2002, Germany was the first to enshrine animal rights protection in its Constitution. Euthanasia of healthy animals is prohibited in this country. All pets are licensed and their owners pay tax. For example, for a dog you will have to pay €100-150 (RUB 7,500-11,000*) per year, if you decide to get a second one - already €200-300 (RUB 15,000-22,500) regardless of the size of the animal. Taxes on cats are significantly lower. Even in houses where keeping animals is prohibited, residents have the right to bring pets as guests for three months. All this is provided for by the German animal protection law, and to comply with it, a special profession has even been created - animal protection.

Greece

Since 2012, Greece has had an animal protection law that prohibits the euthanasia of healthy animals and their exploitation for entertainment purposes. Owners of four-legged animals must register with the municipality, it costs €3 (226 rubles) - the money goes to the fund for helping homeless animals. If a pet with a microchip is lost, the owner must report it within five days to avoid problems in the future. If a person no longer wants or cannot keep an animal, he can give it to a municipal shelter. The prosecutor has the right to seize pets from owners who are found to be cruel. Such people are subsequently deprived of the right to have a pet. Cruelty to animals is punishable by imprisonment for up to 1 year and a fine of up to €15,000 (1.1 million rubles), theft of animals is punishable by imprisonment for up to 6 months and a fine of €3,000 (225,000 rubles).

Austria

Austria's 2004 animal welfare law makes it a crime to keep chickens in cramped cages, cut off dogs' tails and ears, tie up livestock with tight ropes, use wild animals in circuses, place kittens and puppies in stuffy pet store windows, and dogs – on a chain or choke collar. For all these crimes, a fine ranges from €2,000 to 15,000 (RUB 150,000 - RUB 1.1 million). Authorities can also seize an animal from its owner for cruelty.

Switzerland

In 2008, a very progressive law on the rights of animals came into force in Switzerland: now their interests are taken into account in court when dividing property in the event of a divorce of the owners. If a four-legged animal is injured due to human fault, a judge may order that you pay for treatment from a veterinarian, even if these costs exceed the value of the animal. Pets cannot be confiscated to pay off a debt. If a person finds a pet, he is obliged to organize a search for its owner and inform the competent authorities. After two months of searching, the animal becomes the property of the person who found it. Animal lawyers have been working in certain regions of Switzerland since 2007.

Italy

In Italy, you can go to jail and receive a fine of €10,000 (RUB 750,000) for abandoning a cat or dog. In Turin, dog owners must take them for walks at least three times a day - otherwise they will have to pay up to €500 (RUB 37,500). You cannot dye pets' fur, crop ears or tails, or sell goldfish in plastic bags. The Vatican decided that dogs have a soul, and since then they have the right to enter a Catholic church and stay there for as long as they want.

The GfK study involved 27,000 respondents aged 15 years (over 16 years in Russia) from 22 countries. Each respondent could choose several answer options at once.

Holland

In 2006, the Party for Animals, an organization that fights for animal rights, including with the aim of enshrining them in the Constitution, entered the Dutch parliament. Since 2015, the use of wild animals in circuses has been prohibited in the Netherlands. You will have to pay a tax for keeping a pet, and if punished, the person will face three years in prison and a fine of €17,000 (RUB 1.3 million).

Spain

Spain in 2008 recognized the right of every great ape to life, liberty and protection from cruelty. Now this country has banned experiments on monkeys and keeping them in circuses, and the living conditions of monkeys in zoos have been improved.

Every pet in Spain must have a special chip and be registered as someone's owner. If an animal escapes, you must report this to the authorities within three days, otherwise the owner will bear all the costs of keeping it in a special institution. It is prohibited to feed stray animals and display animals older than two months in store windows. If the animal was thrown into the street, the owner will be held accountable.

Czech

In the Czech Republic, all pets must be microchipped and have documents, and a tax must be paid for their maintenance - while for the first animal in a private house it is lower than for subsequent ones and in an apartment. According to the law, the landlord does not have the right to refuse a tenant if he has a dog. The latter, by the way, must be registered with local authorities.

This country has a special service for catching stray animals and a system of shelters. If you adopt an animal from a shelter, the owner is exempt from tax for a year - but pays for treatment and castration (sterilization). Traveling with an animal on any public transport is free, but dogs require a muzzle. The activities of fur farms were also banned in the Czech Republic: the owners of such enterprises received financial compensation from the state and closed.

Great Britain

The first law protecting animals from cruelty appeared in Great Britain back in 1822. The British Parliament granted rights and freedoms to 7 million dogs, 8 million cats, 650,000 horses, 2 million rabbits and all poultry. Violating animal rights in the UK carries penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment.

New Zealand

In 2021, New Zealand officially recognized that all animals are sentient beings and banned research and experiments on them, hunting and trapping. This country has also launched a project to eradicate by 2050 predators - rats, stoats and possums - previously imported into the country. According to the New Zealand government, pests kill an estimated 25 million native birds every year, including the critically endangered kiwi. Birds are also being killed by cats, so the country's regional council recently proposed banning them in the future, and having existing cats registered, microchipped and sterilized.

Australia

In Australia, many states have an animal welfare charity, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Its officers have the power to investigate cases of criminal acts against animals and punish those responsible.

Argentina

At the end of 2014, the Association of Professional Animal Rights Lawyers of Buenos Aires filed a petition in court for the illegal imprisonment of the orangutan Sandra, who had spent about 20 years in the zoo. The plaintiffs stated that orangutans are emotionally very close to humans, therefore, they feel better in a semi-wild environment. The judge rejected the complaint several times, but ultimately agreed that the orangutan was a free non-human person unlawfully imprisoned. Sandra was sent to one of the Brazilian reserves. And in 2021, another Argentine judge ordered the release of chimpanzee Cecilia from the Mendoza zoo, whose conditions of detention had a negative impact on his health.

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India

This state went even further and declared that dolphins should be considered as non-human persons with the right to be considered individuals. Since then, dolphinariums have been banned in the country. Also in India you cannot test cosmetics and their ingredients on animals. All cows in this country are considered sacred. If a cow is on the street without its owner, you must immediately inform the police, and killing it is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Hunting is prohibited in all Indian states except Jammu and Kashmir. A single violation of this ban will result in up to 7 years in prison and a fine of about 9,000 rubles. Indian authorities can punish you with 1-2 months in prison for negligent treatment of pets.

Thailand

In Thailand, the rights of elephants are enshrined in law: they have passports and health insurance, and only those from 14 to 60 years old can work, but no more than eight hours a day. After 60 years, each elephant who lived in captivity is given an allowance by the state in the form of peeled bananas, and they are kept in special nursing homes.

Bolivia

In 2009, this Latin American country banned the use of domestic and wild animals in circuses. For violating the law, show organizers are required to pay a fine and transfer the animals into state custody. The trainers were given time to move the performers into their natural habitat.

USA

In the USA, a law has been passed according to which all animals with owners must undergo surgical sterilization - otherwise the owner faces a fine of $500 (about 33,000 rubles) or forced labor for up to 40 hours. The only exceptions are for champion dogs and exhibition winners, police dogs and guide dogs, as well as animals used by breeders. In addition, it is illegal to own more than nine animals in the United States.

3%

– so many people convicted in the Russian Federation for cruelty to animals have been sentenced to imprisonment (according to the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court).

In Connecticut, volunteers work as lawyers to protect the rights of abused animals - interviewing witnesses and experts, filling out documents, appearing in court. As a rule, most of them are law school students.

Japan

In Japan, no one has the right to kill, injure or cause suffering to animals without a good reason - the violator faces a prison sentence, as well as community service or a fine of about 600,000 rubles. For throwing an animal into the street or refusing to feed (water) without a good reason, the fine is about 300,000 rubles. And in 2000, the Japanese Parliament passed a law making people responsible for their pets. To implement it, special parks for walking dogs were built in cities, and new residential complexes began to be built with the expectation that domestic animals could live in them (for this purpose, special openings were made in the entrance doors, the floors were made of claw-resistant coating, and ventilation was enhanced). Experiments on animals are allowed in Japan, but they can only be carried out using the minimum permissible number of animals and causing them as little mental and physical suffering as possible.

Russia

In Russia, general rules on property apply to animals (Article 137 of the Civil Code). In addition, a law on wildlife has been in force since 1995, and from 2021 on the responsible treatment of animals. Since 2022, legal entities and individual entrepreneurs engaged in the maintenance and use of animals in zoos, animal parks, circuses, animal theaters, dolphinariums and oceanariums are required to obtain a license.

Cruelty to animals resulting in their death or injury, if this act was committed for hooligan or selfish motives, using sadistic methods or in the presence of minors, is punishable by a fine of up to 80,000 rubles, correctional labor or arrest of up to six months. The same act, committed by a group of persons or an organized group or repeatedly, is punishable by a fine of 100,000 to 300,000 rubles. or imprisonment for up to two years (Article 245 of the Criminal Code). “Cruelty to animals is investigated very poorly, however, there is nothing special regarding this category of cases: this is the general situation with the investigation in the country,” says a partner at the law firm Capital Legal Services Capital Legal Services Federal Rating. PPP group/Infrastructure projects group Arbitration proceedings (medium and small disputes - mid market) group Land law/Commercial real estate/Construction group Intellectual property (Registration) group Dispute resolution in courts of general jurisdiction group Antimonopoly law (including disputes) group Bankruptcy (including disputes ) (mid market) group Corporate law/Mergers and acquisitions (high market) group Private capital group Intellectual property (Consulting) group Tax consulting and disputes (Tax consulting) Company profile, member of the FPA Council Irina Onikienko.

According to statistics from the Judicial Department under the Supreme Court, 110 people were convicted of cruelty to animals in 2021. “For comparison, in 2012 in the UK, which has a population 2.5 times smaller than ours, 160,000 cases were investigated and 4,168 people were found guilty in court. In Russia, the law enforcement system in relation to animals practically does not work, which is illustrated by the penalties imposed. The court usually imposes a fine on the offender or restriction of freedom for up to 1 year, most often 6-8 months. For example, in the Sverdlovsk region, the owner threw a puppy, kittens, a rabbit and snails out of the window. The puppy died from his injuries. The owner was sentenced to 9 months of restriction of freedom (N 22-1700/2018),” Onikienko said.

“The reaction to cruelty to an animal should, in fact, be no different from the reaction to beating a person. Both are unacceptable and are punishable by law. But in practice, with an animal, everything is much more complicated: you need to record the fact of causing harm, get a certificate from a veterinary clinic, and find witnesses. But even if all this happens, the chances of success are too small.”

Irina Onikienko

According to the law, if a person finds a pet, he must return it to the owner or report it to the police (local government body). While searching for the owner, the animal can be kept (Article 230 of the Civil Code). If the owner of a pet treats it cruelly, the animal can be redeemed through the court. The ransom price is determined by agreement of the parties, and in case of a dispute - by the court (Article 241 of the Civil Code). In practice, this rule is rarely applied: in 2016-2018, courts of general jurisdiction considered only four cases of animal redemption. Thus, in Yaroslavl, one of the volunteers acquired 15 cats through the court from an owner who did not monitor their health, as a result of which the pets had many diseases (No. 2-655/2017). “Despite the legislator’s attempts to ensure the protection of animals, the provisions of the law do not fully work, as evidenced by isolated cases of judicial practice. Basically, everything ends in out-of-court agreements between the former and new owners. In the absence of such agreements, it is problematic to prove the improper treatment of animals, determine the adequate amount of ransom and other conditions of transfer,” noted the head of the Department of Legal Regulation of Economic Activities of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Law, Professor Gulnara Ruchkina.

Now in Russia there are approximately 600 official shelters at the state, municipal and private levels. “In large cities, no more than one or two shelters exist at the expense of the local budget. The state pays for the maintenance of the animal in the shelter and other expenses only for six months. Assuming that during this time the animal will find an owner. The rest of the time, animals are maintained through private donations or destroyed,” Onikienko said.

The article uses materials from Wikipedia, the National Tourist Union, specialized resources, as well as open sources.

* – here and further in the text the approximate amount in rubles is indicated as of the date of writing the article.

• Alina Mikhailova