Official Code of Georgia Annotated
Title 4. ANIMALS · Chapter 14. STERILIZATION OF DOGS AND CATS IN SHELTERS
4-14-2. Definitions.
Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.
As used in this chapter, the term:
- (1)
“Animal shelter” means any facility operated by or under contract for the state or any county, municipal corporation, or other political subdivision of the state for the purpose of impounding or harboring seized, stray, homeless, abandoned, or unwanted dogs, cats, and other animals; any veterinary hospital or clinic operated by a veterinarian or veterinarians which operates for such purpose in addition to its customary purposes; and any facility operated, owned, or maintained by a duly incorporated humane society, animal welfare society, or other nonprofit organization for the purpose of providing for and promoting the welfare, protection, and humane treatment of animals.#
- (2)
“Humane society” means any unincorporated nonprofit organization existing for the purpose of prevention of cruelty to animals.#
- (3)
“Public or private animal refuge” means harborers of unwanted animals of any breed, including crossbreeds, who provide food, shelter, and confinement for a group of dogs, a group of cats, or a combination of dogs and cats.#
- (4)
“Sexually mature animal” means any dog or cat that has reached the age of 180 days or six months or more.#
- (5)
“Sterilization” means rendering a dog or cat unable to reproduce by the surgical removal of its reproductive organs or by rendering a dog unable to reproduce by intratesticular injection approved by the federal government pursuant to 21 U.S.C. Section 360 as of March 7, 2014.#
History
Code 1981, § 4-14-2, enacted by Ga. L. 1994, p. 999, § 1; Ga. L. 2014, p. 371, § 4/SB 290.
Amendments
The 2014 amendment, effective July 1, 2014, rewrote paragraph (5). See Editor’s notes for applicability.
Editor's notes
Ga. L. 2014, p. 371, § 6/SB 290, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2014, and shall apply to all violations and confiscations which occur on or after that date.”
Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).
Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.
Text read from t4-6-(v4)-pdf.pdf, Volume V4, 2013 edition, 2025 supplement, pages 50 to 51; merge action: replaced; file SHA-256 9d1b53199f62.