Animal Welfare Act
(AniWA)

¹ A cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty shall be im­posed on any per­son who wil­fully:³⁴

a.

mis­treats, neg­lects or un­ne­ces­sar­ily over­works an an­im­al or ab­uses its dig­nity in any oth­er way;

b.

kills an an­im­al in a man­ner that causes suf­fer­ing;

c.

or­gan­ises fights between or with an­im­als in which an­im­als are tor­men­ted or killed;

d.

in­flicts pain, suf­fer­ing or harm on, or in­duces anxi­ety in an an­im­al dur­ing the course of ex­per­i­ments, un­less this is un­avoid­able for the pur­pose of the ex­per­i­ment;

e.

re­leases or aban­dons an an­im­al that is kept in the house or on the farm with the in­ten­tion of rid­ding them­selves of it.

² If the of­fend­er has ac­ted through neg­li­gence, he or she is li­able to a mon­et­ary pen­alty not ex­ceed­ing 180 daily pen­alty units.³⁵