---
title: O.C.G.A. § 4-14-2. Definitions.
collection: code
id: 4-14-2
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 4-14-2 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/4-14-2
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/4-14-2.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/4-14-2/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t4-6-(v4)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=e24c7bd9_0#page=50
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/4-14.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/4-14-1.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/4-14-3.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: ANIMALS / STERILIZATION OF DOGS AND CATS IN SHELTERS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 4-14-2. Definitions.

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.

## 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.”

## Amendments

The 2014 amendment, effective July 1, 2014, rewrote paragraph (5). See Editor’s notes for applicability.