Section 13 — Destruction of suffering animals.

13. Destruction of suffering animals.―(1) Where the owner of an animal is convicted of an 

offence under section 11, it shall be lawful for the court, if the court is satisfied that it would be cruel 

to keep the animal alive, to direct that the animal be destroyed and to assign the animal to any suitable 

person for that purpose, and the person to whom such animal is so assigned shall, as soon as possible, 

destroy such animal or cause such animal to be destroyed in his presence without unnecessary 

suffering, and any reasonable expense incurred in destroying the animal may be ordered by the court 

to be recovered from the owner as if it were a fine: 

Provided that unless the owner assents thereto, no order shall be made under this section except 

upon the evidence of a veterinary officer in charge of the area.  

(2) When any magistrate, commissioner of police or district superintendent of police has reason to 

believe that an offence under section 11 has been committed in respect of any animal, he may direct 

the immediate destruction of the animal, if in his opinion, it would be cruel to keep the animal alive.  

(3) Any police officer above the rank of a constable or any person authorised by the State 

Government in this behalf who finds any animal so diseased or so severely injured or in such a 

physical condition that in his opinion it cannot be removed without cruelty, may, if the owner is 

absent or refuses his consent to the destruction of the animal, forthwith summon the veterinary officer 

in charge of the area in which the animal is found, and if the veterinary office certifies that the animal 

is mortally injured or so severely injured or in such a physical condition that it would be cruel to keep 

it alive, the police officer or the person authorised, as the case may be may, after obtaining orders 

from a magistrate, destroy the animal injured or cause it to be destroyed 
2
[in such manner as may be 

prescribed].  

(4) No appeal shall lie from any order of a magistrate for the destruction of an animal.  

CHAPTER IV 

 EXPERIMENTATION ON ANIMALS