Injuring or Endangering 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 helping a law enforcement officer, a military animal while it is helping a member of the Canadian Forces, or a certified service animal used by a person with a disability.

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 prosecutorA lawyer who conducts a criminal prosecution on behalf of the public. must prove depends on the exact charge. For sections 445 and 445.01, the Crown must usually prove the accused acted wilfully and without lawful excuse. This means the act was not just an accident.

For section 445, the Crown can also prove the offence by showing that poison was placed where a protected animal could easily get at it, even if the animal was not harmed.

For section 445.1, the Crown must prove unnecessary pain, suffering or injury, or one of the other animal-cruelty acts listed in that section.

For section 446, the Crown must prove wilful neglect or a failure to provide suitable food, water, shelter and care, depending on the charge.

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.

If you are convicted of killing or injuring a law enforcement, military or service animal and the offence is treated as an indictable offenceA more serious type of Canadian criminal offence., the maximum penalty is five years in prison. If a law enforcement animal, such as a trained police dog or horse, is killed, a mandatory minimum of six months in prison also applies on an indictable conviction. If the offence is prosecuted as a summary convictionUsed for lesser offences, the maximum penalty is a fine of $10,000, a jail term of two years less a day, or both.

The Code says any sentence for killing or injuring a law enforcement animal must be served consecutively to any other sentence from the same event or series of events. This consecutive-sentence rule applies to law enforcement animals only, not to military or service animals.

If you are convicted of injuring or endangering other animals and the Crown treats 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 two years less a day, or both.

For some animal offences, the court may also order you to pay the reasonable costs of caring for the animal or bird, if those costs are readily ascertainable. This cost order applies to convictions under s. 445, s. 445.1, s. 446 or s. 447. It does not apply to the separate law enforcement, military or service animal offence under s. 445.01.