Sec. 1. 7 MRSA §4011, sub-§1, ¶¶E and F, as amended by PL 1997, c. 456, §5, are further amended to read:

E. Deprives an animal that the person owns or possesses of necessary sustenance, necessary medical attention, proper shelter, protection from the weather or humanely clean conditions; or

F. Keeps or leaves a domestic animal on an uninhabited or barren island lying off the coast of the State during the month of December, January, February or March without providing necessary sustenance and proper shelter; or.

Sec. 2. 7 MRSA §4011, sub-§1, ¶G, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 456, §6, is repealed.

Sec. 3. 17-A MRSA c. 34 is enacted to read:

CHAPTER 34

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

§821.__Confined animal hunting

1. A person is guilty of operating a confined animal hunting operation if the person sells or offers to sell an opportunity to hunt an animal that is owned, controlled, confined or artificially enclosed for the purpose of facilitating the opportunity to hunt the animal.

2.__For the purposes of this section, "hunt" means to pursue for the purpose of killing, wounding or otherwise harming.

3. Operating a confined animal hunting operation is a Class E crime.

SUMMARY

The current cruelty-to-animals law prohibits hunting or selling for the purpose of hunting any animal that is not covered by the provisions of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 12, Part 10. This bill repeals the current law and inserts in the Maine Criminal Code a prohibition on confined animal hunting operations, described as selling or offering to sell the opportunity to hunt an animal that is owned, controlled, confined or artificially enclosed for the purpose of facilitating the opportunity to hunt the animal. In this bill, operation of confined animal hunting operations is a Class E crime.