Proposal to toughen penalties for animal abuse and abandonment

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill would extend criminal protection to vertebrate animals, including wild ones, which are currently excluded, and would replace the term "explotación sexual" (sexual exploitation) with "abuso sexual" (sexual abuse) to cover any kind of sexual aggression against the animal.
2. It would raise prison sentences for animal abuse: from six months to two years and six months for the basic offense, and from two years and one day to three years if the animal dies, so the most serious cases exceed two years and can lead to actual prison time.
3. It would expand the list of aggravating circumstances from four to eight, adding the use of another animal as an instrument, abuse by the person responsible for the animal's care, organized crime, and profit-making activity. In those cases, sentences would be imposed in the upper half of the range, along with permanent loss of ownership or possession of the animal.
4. It would also toughen penalties for cruelty and abandonment: cruel treatment of a vertebrate animal or of any other animal in an unauthorized show would carry three months to one year in prison, and abandonment in dangerous conditions would carry the same prison sentence instead of only a fine.
5. It would create a new penalty: permanent loss of the right of ownership and/or possession of the abused animal, so the judge can permanently remove the animal from the abuser.
6. This is a bill introduced by Unidos Podemos-En Comú Podem-En Marea and accepted for processing by the Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados); it is not an approved law. If passed, it would take effect the day it is published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (official state gazette).

Who it affects

• People who abuse or abandon vertebrate animals: They would face higher prison sentences and permanent loss of the animal.
• People whose jobs or businesses involve animals: They could receive longer special bans from working with animals and from owning them.
• Animal owners and caregivers: They could permanently lose ownership or possession of the animal if they abuse it.
• Judges and courts: They would have more aggravating circumstances and a new penalty to protect abused animals.

Words worth knowing

Tipo básico

The simplest version of a crime, with no aggravating circumstances.

Inhabilitación especial

A penalty that bars the convicted person from doing something specific, such as owning animals or working in a trade, for the period set by the judge.

Ensañamiento

Causing the animal unnecessary, cruel suffering beyond what is needed to cause the injury.

Decomiso

A measure by which the court takes away the object or animal connected to the crime from the convicted person.

Proposición de ley

A bill introduced by members of parliament; it must go through several steps before becoming law.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries