38 verified laws filed under Animals & Pets, each checked against the statute and sourced.
The claim that it is illegal to keep a donkey in a bathtub in Georgia is a fabricated legal myth with no basis in any Georgia statute, ordinance, or regulation. No equivalent law has been found in any other U.S. state either.
The claim that Californians must obtain a hunting licence before trapping or killing mice is false. In reality, California law explicitly exempts house mice from all trapping licence requirements and even legally obliges residents to exterminate rodents for public health reasons.
The claim that Texas law specifically prohibits shooting a buffalo from the second story of a hotel is a popular internet myth. No such statute has ever been found in the Texas legal record.
Florida law prohibits any person from intentionally feeding or enticing wild American alligators or crocodiles with food. Violations are a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
California law prohibits anyone from eating — or using for any purpose — a frog that dies during a frog-jumping contest. The dead frog must instead be destroyed as soon as possible.
The claim that peacocks are banned from crossing roads in parts of California is false. If anything, California municipalities have laws protecting peacocks — not restricting their movement.
A widely circulated claim holds that Pennsylvania has a law making it illegal to tie an onion to a dog's tail. No such statute, ordinance, or regulation exists anywhere in Pennsylvania's legal code.
Declawing cats is illegal in six U.S. states — New York, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and California — plus the District of Columbia. There is no federal ban, and the procedure remains legal at the state level in the other 44 states.
It is illegal in New York State to declaw a cat for cosmetic or convenience reasons. The state became the first in the U.S. to enact such a ban when Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the legislation on July 22, 2019.
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, it is illegal to feed, attempt to feed, or harass wild dolphins and other marine mammals in U.S. waters. However, the popular claim that merely 'talking to' or passively observing dolphins is illegal overstates the law.
Israel's 1962 Pig-Raising Prohibition Law bans raising, keeping, or slaughtering pigs across the entire country — not just within city limits. The ban is national in scope but includes a carve-out for towns with large Christian populations.
The claim that South Korea requires special permits to own a dog with a tail longer than a certain length is completely false. No such law exists in any South Korean statute, regulation, or ordinance.