Title 3.2, Agriculture, Animal Care, and Food

A. Any owner of an animal found to be a dangerous dog pursuant to § 3.2-6540, when such finding arose out of a separate and distinct incident, is guilty of a: 1. Class 2 misdemeanor if such dog attacks and injures or kills a cat or dog that is a companion animal belonging to anot…

A. As used in this section: "Serious injury" means an injury having a reasonable potential to cause death or any injury other than a sprain or strain, including serious disfigurement, serious impairment of health, or serious impairment of bodily function and requiring significant…

Fairfax County may enact an ordinance that prohibits persons from training dogs on residential property to attack. As used in this section, "attack" means to attack or respond aggressively, either with or without command. Any such ordinance shall exempt from its provisions the tr…

No locality shall prohibit the ownership of a particular breed of dog.

A. The Commissioner shall establish the Virginia Dangerous Dog Registry to be maintained by the Department. The State Veterinarian shall maintain information provided and posted by animal control officers or other such officials statewide on a website. All information collected f…

A. By January 31 of each year, until the animal is deceased, the owner of an animal found to be a dangerous dog pursuant to § 3.2-6540 shall update and renew the dangerous dog registration certificate obtained pursuant to § 3.2-6540.01 for a fee of $85 in the same manner as the i…

All fees collected by a locality pursuant to § 3.2-6540, 3.2-6540.01, 3.2-6540.02, 3.2-6540.03, 3.2-6540.04, 3.2-6542, or 3.2-6542.1, less the costs incurred by the animal control officer in producing and distributing any certificate or tag required by such section and any fees d…

A. The governing body of any locality of the Commonwealth may adopt, and make more stringent, ordinances that parallel §§ 3.2-6521 through 3.2-6539, 3.2-6546 through 3.2-6555, 3.2-6562, 3.2-6569, 3.2-6570, 3.2-6574 through 3.2-6580, and 3.2-6585 through 3.2-6590. Any town may cho…

The governing body of any locality may enact an ordinance regulating dangerous dogs that is parallel to § 3.2-6540, 3.2-6540.01, 3.2-6540.02, 3.2-6540.03, or 3.2-6540.04. No locality shall impose a felony penalty for violation of such ordinance.

A. Any locality may, for the preservation of public health, regulate by ordinance the keeping of animals or fowl, other than dogs and cats, within a certain distance of residences or other buildings or wells, springs, streams, creeks, or brooks, and provide that all or certain of…

Any locality that maintains or supports, in whole or in part, a public or private animal shelter may by ordinance provide that no person who acquires an animal from such shelter shall be able to sell the animal within a period of six months from the time the animal is acquired fr…

A. For purposes of this section: "Animal" shall not include agricultural animals. "Rightful owner" means a person with a right of property in the animal. B. The governing body of each county or city shall maintain or cause to be maintained a public animal shelter and shall requir…

No person shall use or accept for the purpose of medical research or experimentation any animal bearing a tag, license, or tattooed identification, unless the individual who owns such animal consents thereto in writing.

A. A private animal shelter may confine and dispose of animals in accordance with the provisions of subsections B through G of § 3.2-6546. B. Each private animal shelter shall obtain a signed statement from each of its directors, operators, staff, and animal caregivers specifying…

A. A releasing agency other than a public or private animal shelter: 1. May confine and dispose of companion animals in accordance with subsections B through G of § 3.2-6546 if incorporated and not operated for profit; 2. Shall keep accurate records of each companion animal recei…

In addition to any other requirements of this chapter, foster homes shall be subject to the following: 1. No foster home shall be operated in violation of any local zoning ordinance; and 2. No private residential dwelling and its surrounding grounds that serves as a foster home s…

A. Any individual who finds a companion animal and (i) provides care or safekeeping or (ii) retains the companion animal in such a manner as to control its activities shall within 48 hours: 1. Make a reasonable attempt to notify the owner of the companion animal if the owner can …

A. It shall be the duty of any animal control officer or other officer who may find a dog in the act of killing or injuring livestock or poultry to seize or kill such dog forthwith whether such dog bears a tag or not. Any person finding a dog committing any of the depredations me…

Any person who has any livestock or poultry killed or injured by any dog not his own shall be entitled to receive as compensation the fair market value of such livestock or poultry not to exceed $1,000 per animal or $25 per fowl if (i) the claimant has furnished evidence within 6…

The owner of any companion animal shall forthwith cremate, bury, or sanitarily dispose of the animal upon its death. If, after notice, any owner fails to do so, the animal control officer or other officer shall bury or cremate the companion animal, and he may recover on behalf of…

The governing body of each county or city shall, or each town may, employ an officer to be known as the animal control officer who shall have the power to enforce this chapter, all ordinances enacted pursuant to this chapter and all laws for the protection of domestic animals. Th…

A. Every locality employing animal control officers shall require that every animal control officer and deputy animal control officer completes the following training: 1. A basic animal control course that has been approved by the State Veterinarian. The basic animal control cour…

A. No animal control officer, humane investigator, humane society, or custodian of any public or private animal shelter shall (i) obtain the release or transfer of an animal by the animal's owner to such animal control officer, humane investigator, humane society, or custodian fo…

A. A circuit court may reappoint any person as a humane investigator for any locality within its jurisdiction if the person: 1. Was appointed as a humane investigator prior to July 1, 2003; and 2. Has never been convicted of animal cruelty or neglect, any felony, or any crime of …

A. Any humane investigator may, within the locality where he has been appointed, investigate violations of laws and ordinances regarding care and treatment of animals and disposal of dead animals. B. Each humane investigator shall carry during the performance of his powers and du…

Neither the appointment of any humane investigator, nor the performance of any service or duty by him, shall require any locality or the Commonwealth to pay any cost or expense incurred by or on behalf of a humane investigator. Any locality may reimburse any humane investigator a…

A. Upon a motion by the attorney for the Commonwealth, the circuit court that appointed a humane investigator may revoke his appointment if he is no longer able to perform the duties of a humane investigator; has been convicted of any felony, Class 1 misdemeanor, or a violation o…

It shall be the duty of the animal control officer or any other officer to capture and confine any companion animal of unknown ownership found running at large on which the license fee has not been paid. Following the expiration of the holding period prescribed in § 3.2-6546, the…

The local health director, in conjunction with the governing body of the locality, shall adopt a plan to control and respond to the risk of rabies exposure to persons and companion animals. Such plan shall set forth a procedure that promptly ensures the capture, confinement, isol…

Each local department of health shall make available to its local animal control officer and shall report to the State Department of Health any exposure report involving a dog bite to a human that is maintained with such local department of health through a state-mandated retenti…

Any humane investigator may lawfully cause to be euthanized any animal in his charge or found abandoned or not properly cared for when, in the judgment of the humane investigator and two reputable citizens called to view the same in his presence, and who shall give their written …

A. Upon receiving a complaint of a suspected violation of this chapter, any ordinance enacted pursuant to this chapter or any law for the protection of domestic animals, any animal control officer, law-enforcement officer, or State Veterinarian's representative may, for the purpo…

When an animal control officer, humane investigator, law-enforcement officer or State Veterinarian's representative finds that an apparent violation of this chapter has rendered an animal in such a condition as to constitute a direct and immediate threat to its life, safety or he…

Each animal control officer, humane investigator or State Veterinarian's representative shall interfere to prevent the perpetration of any act of cruelty upon any animal in his presence. Any person who shall interfere with or obstruct or resist any humane investigator or State Ve…

All law-enforcement officers in the Commonwealth and State Veterinarian's representatives shall enforce the provisions of this chapter to the same extent other laws in the Commonwealth are enforced.

When an affidavit is made under oath before a magistrate or court of competent jurisdiction by any animal control officer, humane investigator, law-enforcement officer, or State Veterinarian's representative that the complainant believes and has reasonable cause to believe that t…

A. Any humane investigator, law-enforcement officer or animal control officer may lawfully seize and impound any animal that has been abandoned, has been cruelly treated, or is suffering from an apparent violation of this chapter that has rendered the animal in such a condition a…

A. Any person who (i) overrides, overdrives, overloads, ill-treats, or abandons any animal, whether belonging to himself or another; (ii) tortures any animal, willfully inflicts inhumane injury or pain not connected with bona fide scientific or medical experimentation on any anim…

Any person who has been convicted of a violation of any law concerning abuse, neglect, or cruelty to animals that sells, offers for sale, or trades any companion animal is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. However, a person may dispose of animals under the provisions of a court or…

A. No person shall knowingly: 1. Promote, prepare for, engage in, or be employed in, the fighting of animals for amusement, sport, or gain; 2. Attend an exhibition of the fighting of animals; 3. Authorize or allow any person to undertake any act described in this section on any p…

Live pigeons or other birds or fowl shall not be kept or used for the purpose of a target, or to be shot at either for amusement or as a test of skill in marksmanship. It is a Class 4 misdemeanor to shoot at a bird kept or used as aforesaid, or to be a party to such shooting. Any…

A. Any locality may establish, organize, and maintain a computerized animal cruelty registry as a database of information regarding persons convicted of a felony violation of (i) cruelty to animals as provided by § 3.2-6570; (ii) animal fighting as provided by § 3.2-6571; (iii) m…

A. Every new owner of a dog or cat adopted from a releasing agency shall cause to be sterilized the dog or cat pursuant to the agreement required by subdivision 2 of subsection B of this article. B. A dog or cat shall not be released for adoption from a releasing agency unless: 1…

Any agreement used by a releasing agency pursuant to subsection B of § 3.2-6574 shall contain: 1. The date of the agreement; 2. The names, addresses, and signatures of the releasing agency and the new owner; 3. A description of the dog or cat to be adopted; 4. The date by which t…

Each new owner who signs a sterilization agreement shall, within seven days of the sterilization, cause to be delivered or mailed to the releasing agency written confirmation signed by the veterinarian who performed the sterilization. The confirmation shall briefly describe the d…

If an adopted dog or cat is lost or stolen or dies before the animal is sterilized and before the date by which the dog or cat is required to be sterilized, the new owner shall, within seven days of the animal's disappearance or death, notify the releasing agency of the animal's …