11 Worst States To Be An Animal

2. Iowa

Iowa’s legislation features plenty of prohibitions, including against abuse, neglect, intentional neglect resulting in injury or death, torture, as well as the abandonment of cats and dogs, abuse of livestock owned by another person and livestock neglect. There’s no mention of what happens when you abuse your own livestock, but that’s just in line with the state’s definition of “animals” – nonhuman vertebrates without livestock, game, fur-bearing animals, fish, reptiles, and amphibians, unless they’re owned, confined or controlled by a person.

The only situation where these actions are considered felonies are in case of animal torture and only if it’s a subsequent offense and not the first, in which case it’s only considered to be aggravated misdemeanor.

The harshest punishment one can see for abusing animals is a 5 year prison sentence and a $7,500 fine.