Friendly reminder

They are living creatures, so no, you don’t have the right to just “get rid of it”

It's illegal.

@adorkable
What about mosquitoes, am I not allowed to kill those?
@serosenpai
True, though I'm pretty sure it's just a misdemeanor.

No, it's pretty bad.
Think child neglect.

The prison sentence for animal abuse here is 5 years, which is still way too short

Is that the average sentence or the maximum sentence?
Also what about mosquitoes, those are animals too.

That’s the maximum. And yes they are breathing creatures too, but we’re talking about animals that are usually kept as pets, that you can be arrested over if you abandon/neglect/abuse/kill.

Is that how the law defines animals?

Well have you heard of anyone being arrested for swatting a fly?

No, but that doesn't answer the question.

The post is talking about pets, so we are talking about pets. What’s the problem here?

I'm curious as to how the law defines "animal". Google has not been helpful.

It depends what law you’re looking at. Depending on the type of animal, it’s a different law

I was looking animal cruelty laws. I can't find a legal definition of the term.

I’m unsure of what you’re looking for. The legal definition of animal?

If a mosquito was someone's pet or owned by someone then yes, you could be charged. It would be highly unlikely but it's possible.

@adorkable
Correct.

“A creature or living thing, other than human, being able to move of its own accord”. I don’t know if that’s what you were looking for though

See that's sort of the problem. Does that not include mosquitoes?

The laws about animal abuse probably exclude all insects. Are you really advocating insect rights?

He's trying to equate dogs to insects.

Just so his morbid views seem correct? Jesus

No, the law appears to equate dogs to insects on paper, but not in practice. I want to know the cause of this discrepancy.

Common sense.

Imagine how many people would be arrested for killing some sort of insect

Prisoner: what are you in jail for?
Me: killed a wasp. somehow got life.
P: you know you're gonna die here, right?
Me: yeah