QUICK TAKEAWAY
Injuring or Endangering Animals: It is a crime to kill or cause injury to any animal that is aiding the police, military or someone with a disability, under s.445.01 (1) of the Criminal Code. If you kill or injure any other domestic animal you can be charged under s.445 (1) of the Code. The maximum penalty upon conviction is five years in prison for certain animals and two years in jail for other animals.
Table of Contents:
What is Killing or Injuring Certain Animals?
Section 445.01 (1) of the Criminal Code makes it an offence to wilfully and without lawful excuse, kill, maim, wound, poison or injure a law enforcement animal while it is aiding a law enforcement officer. It is also a crime to take any of those actions against a military animal that is aiding a member of the Canadian Forces in carrying out that member's duties, or any service animal that may be aiding someone with a disability.
What Is Injuring or Endangering Other Animals?
Section 445 (1) of the Code makes it an offence to wilfully and without lawful excuse kill, maim, wound, poison or injure dogs, birds or animals that are kept for a lawful purpose. It is also a crime to place poison in such a position that it may easily be consumed by dogs, birds or animals that are kept for a lawful purpose.
What the Crown Must Prove
With both the charge of killing or injuring certain animals (animals that assist the police, military or people with disabilities) and injuring or endangering other animals (dogs, birds or animals that are kept for a lawful purpose), the Crown prosecutorLawyers who prosecutes charges on behalf of the Crown must prove that you intentionally did something that wounded or fatally injured an animal. If the actions that led to the injury or death were unintentional, that could be a defence.
Treated as a Summary Conviction or Indictable Offence
The charges of killing or injuring certain animals and injuring or endangering other animals are both considered hybrid offences, meaning they can be prosecuted as indictable offences or summary convictions. You will receive a harsher sentence if you are convicted of an indictable offence.
What Are the Penalties?
If you are convicted of killing or injuring a law enforcement or service animal and the offence is treated as an indictable offenceIndictable offences are more-serious criminal offences, the maximum penalty is five years in prison. If the offence is prosecuted as a summary convictionUsed for lesser offences, the maximum penalty is a fine of $10,000, a two-year jail term, or both.
The Code notes that any sentence imposed for killing or injuring a service animal will be served consecutively to any other punishment imposed on you for convictions arising out of the same series of events.
If you are convicted of injuring or endangering other animals and the Crown elects to treat the charge as an indictable offence, the maximum penalty is five years in prison. If the charge is prosecuted as a summary conviction, the maximum penalty is a $10,000 fine, a jail term of up to two years less a day, or both.
In addition, you may also be ordered to pay a person or an organization that has taken care of an animal or a bird confiscated as a result of the arrest that led to your conviction “if the costs are readily ascertainable.”
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Knight & Pritchett LLP
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Glossary of Legal Terms
Crown prosecutor
Lawyers who act for the federal, provincial and territorial governments and prosecute people accused of crimes on behalf of the Crown.
Indictable offence
Indictable offences are the most serious offences under the Criminal Code and they come with more serious punishments, up to a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Summary conviction
Summary convictions are used for lesser offences with penalties, fines and short jail time. They reflect the majority of offences as defined in the Code.
