717B.1  Definitions.
  As used in this chapter:
  1.  “Animal” means a nonhuman vertebrate. However, “animal” does not include any of the following:
  a.  Livestock, as defined in section 717.1.
  b.  Preserve whitetail as defined in section 484C.1.
  c.  Any game, fur-bearing animal, fish, reptile, or amphibian, as defined in section 481A.1, unless a person owns, confines, or controls the game, fur-bearing animal, fish, reptile, or amphibian.
  d.  Any nongame species declared to be a nuisance pursuant to section 481A.42.
  2.  “Animal care provider” means a person designated by a local authority to provide care to an animal which is rescued by the local authority pursuant to section 717B.5.
  3.  “Animal mistreatment” means an act described as animal abuse as provided in section 717B.2, animal neglect as provided in section 717B.3, animal torture as provided in section 717B.3A, abandonment of a cat or dog as provided in section 717B.8, or injury to or interference with a police service dog as provided in section 717B.9.
  4.  Unless the context otherwise requires, “book”, “list”, “record”, or “schedule” kept by a county auditor, assessor, treasurer, recorder, sheriff, or other county officer means the county system as defined in section 445.1.
  5.  “Commercial establishment” means a commercial establishment as defined in section 162.2 that is operating under a valid authorization issued or renewed under section 162.2A.
  6.  a.  “Convicted” means the entry of a judgment of conviction under chapter 901 or adjudicated delinquent for an act which is an indictable offense in this state or in another state under chapter 232.
  b.  “Convicted” does not mean a plea, sentence, adjudication, deferred sentence, or deferred judgment which has been reversed or otherwise set aside.
  7.  “Department” means the department of agriculture and land stewardship.
  8.  “Dispositional expenses” means expenses incurred by a local authority in rescuing an animal as provided in section 717B.5, maintaining the animal until the conclusion of a dispositional proceeding as provided in section 717B.4, or disposing of the animal as provided in section 717B.4.
  9.  “Euthanasia” means the same as defined in section 162.2.
  10.  “Injury” means an animal’s disfigurement; the impairment of an animal’s health; or an impairment to the functioning of an animal’s limb or organ, including physical damage or harm to an animal’s muscle, tissue, organs, bones, hide, or skin.
  11.  “Law enforcement officer” means a regularly employed member of a police force of a city or county, including a sheriff, who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the criminal laws of this state.
  12.  “Local authority” means a city as defined in section 362.2 or a county as provided in chapter 331.
  13.  “Maintenance” means to provide on-site or off-site care to neglected animals.
  14.  “Responsible party” means a person who owns or maintains an animal.
  15.  “Serious injury” means an injury that constitutes an animal’s protracted or permanent disfigurement, the protracted or permanent impairment of an animal’s health, the protracted or permanent impairment of the functioning of an animal’s limb or organ, or the loss of an animal’s limb or organ.
  16.  “Threatened animal” means an animal that is abused as provided in section 717B.2, neglected as provided in section 717B.3, or tortured as provided in section 717B.3A.
  17.  “Veterinarian” means a veterinarian licensed pursuant to chapter 169 who practices veterinary medicine in this state.
94 Acts, ch 1103, §12; 2000 Acts, ch 1148, §1; 2002 Acts, ch 1119, §200, 201; 2002 Acts, ch 1130, §2; 2013 Acts, ch 90, §201; 2020 Acts, ch 1111, §3, 4
Referred to in §717D.1, 717F.7, 717F.10
Section amended and editorially internally renumbered and redesignated