The Veterinary and Livestock Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Forestry and Marine Resources urges all participants to refrain from using animals (such as snakes, chickens, dogs, etc.) as part of their performances during our annual Carnival celebrations.
This practice is both immoral and unethical, and it misrepresents certain sectors of our society. It is also offensive to our local, regional, and international veterinary communities.
To ensure compliance with international regulations, Grenada’s animal cruelty laws are referenced in this document to encourage full public adherence.
Offences of Cruelty
(1) If any person—
- shall cruelly beat, kick, ill-treat, over-ride, over-drive, over-load, torture, infuriate, or terrify any animal, or shall cause or procure, or, being the owner, permit any animal to be so used, or shall, by wantonly or unreasonably doing or omitting to do any act, including any act connected with a lock-out or strike, or causing or procuring the commission or omission of any act, cause any unnecessary suffering, or, being the owner, permit any unnecessary suffering to be so caused to any animal
- shall convey or carry, or cause or procure or being the owner, permit to be conveyed or carried any animal in such manner or position as to cause that animal any unnecessary suffering.
- shall cause, procure, or assist at the fighting or baiting of any animal, or shall keep, use, manage, or act or assist in the management of, any premises or place for the purpose, or partly for the purpose, of fighting or baiting any animal, or shall permit any premises or place to be so kept, managed or used, or shall receive or cause or procure any person to receive money for the admission of any person to such premises or place
- shall willfully, without any reasonable cause or excuse, administer, or cause or procure, or being the owner, permit the administration of any poisonous or injurious drug or substance to any animal, or shall willfully, without any reasonable cause or excuse, cause any such substance to be taken by any animal
- shall subject, or cause or procure, or being the owner, permit to be subjected, any animal to any operation which is performed without due care and humanity; or
- shall obstruct or prevent, by means of threats or in any other manner whatsoever, any other person from carrying out due care of an animal,
such person shall be guilty of an offence of cruelty within the meaning of this Act and shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine of $3,000 and to imprisonment for 9 months.
For the purposes of this section, an owner shall be deemed to have permitted cruelty within the meaning of this Act if he or she shall have failed to exercise reasonable care and supervision in respect of the protection of the animal therefrom:
Provided that where an owner is convicted of permitting cruelty within the meaning of this Act by reason only of him or her having failed to exercise such care and supervision, he or she shall not be liable to imprisonment without the option of a fine.
Nothing in this section shall render illegal any act done by a duly qualified medical practitioner or by a qualified veterinary surgeon which may be lawfully done under the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876, by a person licenced under that Act, or shall apply—
- to the commission or omission of any act in the course of the destruction or the preparation for destruction of any animal as food for mankind, unless such destruction or such preparation was accompanied by the infliction of unnecessary suffering; or
- to the coursing or hunting of any captive animal, unless such animal is liberated in an injured, mutilated, or exhausted condition; but a captive animal shall not, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be coursed or hunted before it is liberated for the purpose of being coursed or hunted or after it has been recaptured, or if it is under control
Powers of Police Officers
A police officer has power to apprehend without a warrant any person who he or she has reason to believe is guilty of an offence under this Act, which is punishable by imprisonment without the option of a fine, whether upon his or her own view thereof or upon the complaint and information of any other person who shall declare his or her name and place of abode to such police officer.
Where a person having charge of a vehicle or animal is apprehended by a police officer for an offence under this Act, it shall be lawful for that or any other police officer to take charge of the vehicle or animal, and to deposit the same in some place of safe custody, until the termination of the proceedings or until the court shall direct such vehicle or animal to be delivered to the person charged or the owner, and the reasonable costs of such detention, including the reasonable costs of veterinary treatment where such treatment is required, shall, in the event of a conviction in respect of the animal, be recoverable from the owner summarily as a civil debt or, where the owner himself or herself is convicted, shall be part of the costs of the case.
The Ministry urges everyone to have a safe and enjoyable carnival!
Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Forestry, and Marine Resources…ensuring food and nutrition security for all!
