ABUSE OF CORPSE.
A person commits an offense if the person, without legal authority, knowingly:
– disinters, disturbs, damages, dissects, in whole or in part, carries away, or treats in an offensive manner a human corpse;
– conceals a human corpse knowing it to be illegally disinterred;
– sells or buys a human corpse or in any way traffics in a human corpse;
– transmits or conveys, or procures to be transmitted or conveyed, a human corpse to a place outside the state; or
– vandalizes, damages, or treats in an offensive manner the space in which a human corpse has been interred or otherwise permanently laid to rest.
An offense under this section is a state jail felony, except that an offense under Subsection (a)(5) is a Class A misdemeanor.
In this section, “human corpse” includes:
– any portion of a human corpse;
– the cremated remains of a human corpse; or
– any portion of the cremated remains of a human corpse.
If conduct constituting an offense under this section also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the actor may be prosecuted under either section or both sections.
It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the actor:
– as a member or agent of a cemetery organization, removed or damaged anything that had been placed in or on any portion of the organization’s cemetery in violation of the rules of the organization; or removed anything:
– placed in the cemetery in violation of the rules of the cemetery organization; or
– placed in the cemetery by or with the cemetery organization’s consent but that, in the organization’s judgment, had become wrecked, unsightly, or dilapidated.
CRUELTY TO LIVESTOCK ANIMALS.
A person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly:
– tortures a livestock animal;
– fails unreasonably to provide necessary food, water, or care for a livestock animal in the person’s custody;
– abandons unreasonably a livestock animal in the person’s custody;
– transports or confines a livestock animal in a cruel and unusual manner;
– administers poison to a livestock animal, other than cattle, horses, sheep, swine, or goats, belonging to another without legal authority or the owner’s effective consent;
– causes one livestock animal to fight with another livestock animal or with an animal;
– uses a live livestock animal as a lure in dog race training or in dog coursing on a racetrack;
– trips a horse; or
– seriously overworks a livestock animal.
Definition:
“Abandon” includes abandoning a livestock animal in the person’s custody without making reasonable arrangements for assumption of custody by another person.
“Cruel manner” includes a manner that causes or permits unjustified or unwarranted pain or suffering.
“Custody” includes responsibility for the health, safety, and welfare of a livestock animal subject to the person’s care and control, regardless of ownership of the livestock animal.
“Livestock animal” means:
– cattle, sheep, swine, goats, ratites, or poultry commonly raised for human consumption;
– a horse, pony, mule, donkey, or hinny;
– native or nonnative hoofstock raised under agriculture practices; or
– native or nonnative fowl commonly raised under agricultural practices.
– “Necessary food, water, or care” includes food, water, or care provided to the extent required to maintain the livestock animal in a state of good health.
– “Torture” includes any act that causes unjustifiable pain or suffering.
– “Trip” means to use an object to cause a horse to fall or lose its balance.
It is an exception to the application of this section that the conduct engaged in by the actor is a generally accepted and otherwise lawful form of conduct occurring solely for the purpose of or in support of:
– fishing, hunting, or trapping; or
– wildlife management, wildlife or depredation control, or shooting preserve practices as regulated by state and federal law; or animal husbandry or agriculture practice involving livestock animals.
This section does not create a civil cause of action for damages or enforcement of this section.
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